Deep winter comes to the Lakes. Our tiny village of Sedgwick is perilous – already lacking in footways, people are strapping spiked soles onto their shoes in order to get around,
But the beauty remains … is even enhanced by the glittering danger.
And tomorrow is expected to be even colder…
-🔷-
©Stephen Tanham 2024
All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12
ProMax.
Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher.
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A Lion in Winter
by Steve Tanham
It’s there quite clearly in the trunk. A lion, claws embedded firmly in the old wood to support its descending weight. Head down, eyes fixed on, well, you!
Microseconds from reaching the ground, where it will be lord of life and death.
I’ve passed here many times, but never seen it before. That’s the joy of winter light. It’s a whole n’other world out there. Darker, inscrutable and somehow visceral…
It makes you reflect on ancient life
Another winter night for our skin-wearing ancestors. The importance of home and the hearthfire. The power of instincts and their associated energies.
Dramatic stuff, I thought, chewing the last of the cheesy wotsits thoughtfully.
“I wonder what else is hidden in the wood?” I muttered it to the empty parkland, abandoned by everyone except the collie and me, due to the cold wind and almost lightless sky. We don’t usually have it all to ourselves.
Time was short, as we were late meeting up with my wife – who had the car, and thus our fast way home. Our rendezvous was to be the cafe of Leven’s Hall, still several minutes away.
It would have to be ‘scan and snap’ with interpretation over a cup of tea, back home, later.
We moved on, prepared (indeed enabled) by the need for speed and therefore the inability of the mind to interfere with those vital first impressions!
And then we were approaching the A6 road, and the most dangerous place on its entire length to cross! Animal instincts to the fore!
But first, and no matter how late it is, it’s the done thing to stop and take in the sheer elegance of this old bridge … and reflect on how the river mirrors life, ever returning us – richer in experience -to the source.
Safely across without being sworn at by speeding motorists, we recovered our composure in time to compose this view of the majesty of Leven’s ancestral hall. An Elizabethan masterpiece which survives intact – with its period gardens.
-🔷-
©Stephen Tanham 2024
All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12
ProMax.
Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher.
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The massive concentration of vapour-trails over the familiar presence of the Midland Hotel set me musing with a smile: we could be being invaded!
I walked up the promenade a little way to get a better view of the invasion. Tess was grumbling and pulling at the lead. She’d had a ‘frantic fifteen’ (minutes) chasing her favourite ball on a beach – newly opened to dogs for the winter – and was in no mood for speculative investigating…
‘We’ were due a coffee from the Rotunda Bar; a casual venue, dog-friendly and facing the beach at the top of the Midland Hotel’s Art Deco steps.
But the intense blue sky and the feeling that something was going on ‘up there’ drew me away from that precious refreshment.
I’d seen them before; mysterious alignments between near objects and suspiciously similar distant ones!
Now fully alerted, I moved around to the front of the Midland Hotel to study the bright sky and its mysterious markings.
And there they were: chasing the great orb of the day star across our skies.
The danger – if danger it was – had passed, but the blue left peacefully behind spoke only of the gentle morning, undisturbed once more.
-🔷-
©Stephen Tanham 2024
All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12 ProMax.
Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher.
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Decidedly ‘November’ in Grange…
Time for that coffee.
-🔷-
©Stephen Tanham 2024
All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12
ProMax.
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When the final colours of autumn fade, there comes a time when a photographer’s attention changes to shape…
The fractal structures that propelled the fluids of life from Mother Earth to leaf, flower and fruit are revealed in near-monochrome starkness.
Other ‘forms’, some man-made, emphasise this distinction and evolution. Their shapes invite a ‘softening’ technique when taking this kind of photograph. This suggests an approach for the whole set, which I promptly redo!
Our final shot (above) takes this ‘softening’ technique to the extreme, and makes the image more like a painting.
-🔷-
©Stephen Tanham 2024
All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12
ProMax.
Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers courses in deeper self-understanding alongside a monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one sharing their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation.
Contact via: rivingtide@gmail.com
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Last Leaves
by Steve Tanham
There’s always a day when you know you are walking among the ‘last of the leaves’.
Following the River Kent along the last mile of its length is a good way to experience the ´final fading’ of the Autumn landscape.
The steep banks of the river are covered in a variety of old trees – some of them dating back over a hundred years.
The final stretch, before the steep steps up to the A6, has a veritable carpet of fallen leaves, as in the opening photograph.
It’s a sobering moment – saying goodbye to the vast swathe of now-fading leaves … but the vibrancy of the spring is not far away.
-🔷-
©Stephen Tanham 2024
All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12
ProMax.
Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers a monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one sharing their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation.
Contact: stevetemeq@gmail.com
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Mid-afternoon; a phone call from one of the best friends from my college days saying that her journey to our twice a year reunion had gone better than expected and that she would be a hour early.
Would we be in or should she park up somewhere and join us, later?
Tess the collie was overdue a decent walk. A man in a big Landrover had come to give our log-burner its annual service. Tess had waited patiently but it was wearing thin…
I could feel the cogs whirring. My subconscious mind had spotted a potentially dovetail.
Come off the motorway at Carnforth, I said. Follow the A6 north and turn into Levens Hall and we’ll meet you in the cafe … I glanced at my watch. Forty minutes time…
Tess did not like my pace through what is one of the county’s most beautiful landscapes. I was practically dragging her by the time we crossed the A6 and entered the central estate of the hall – and its cafe. From here – after our coffee and cake – we would have a lift home.
But by then, my camera had in it three of the best sunset-filled shots I have ever taken
Shared here … I hope you like them.
-🔷-
©Stephen Tanham 2024
All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12
ProMax.
Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers a monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one sharing their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation
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And out into the misty morning
by Steve Tanham
One of the advantages of taking Tess the collie out for her first dog-walk of the day is that feeling of being ‘immersed’ in the sights, smells and sounds of the seasons.
Here in Cumbria, the summer fades off abruptly and the chilly early morning air is accompanied by often beautiful mists. The dog loves this time of year – perhaps favourite doggy smells are heightened by the encroaching moisture.
At the very start of the walk, the old canal path (to which our garden has direct access) takes you past the aqueduct – the old centre of Sedgwick that used to be a key feature of the Preston-Kendal canal. Now closed and drained, it provides a haven for wildlife, and also affords great views across the village’s houses to the minor fells between us and Kendal town centre, only four miles distant.
There’s a certain ‘soft’ quality to the whole experience; a sense that this is to be savoured before the long Cumbrian winter and its icy winds blow it all away…
The elevated canal path is higher than the rest of the village and affords great views down into the few streets. The summer – with its abundant foliage – obscures this, but the autumn thinning leaves begin to reveal it in its faded green and gold glory – especially when caught by the rays of the rising sun.
As we walk, the mist begins to thin out) This is the upper structure of the aqueduct – look at the steepness of those massive stone steps none of which are uniform. Not to be risked if there is any chance of ice. The village council built the more softly sloping path in the previous photo to provide an alternative and prevent accidents. I once fell down four of those steps and it hurt…
Arriving later in Morecambe to meet up with Bernie’s sister, we are faced with the most beautiful sky. Autumn offers such a mixture of colours, but its glory is brief and to be seized…
-🔷-
©Stephen Tanham 2024
All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12 ProMax.
Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers a monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one sharing their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation.
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Above the folded, faded parasols
Long-closed as dripping bathers left
To lave and lather sun-screen
From bodies exhausted with indolence.
Abandoned paperbacks part-read
discarded, folded with sticky fingers
in pages marked for tomorrow…
Point, mute, at the sky.
+++
Where
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Patterns like wild beasts’ pelts stretch
From Africa to seas once crossed by
Portuguese navigators whose outer space
Was ocean, vast, un-mapped and fierce.
+++
Laying aside the new notepad
No longer virgin..
Alone and briefly shamed,
I think of dinner…
…….ooo……
©️ Stephen Tanham 2024
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I remember my opening thought was ‘how am I going to convey the size and beauty of this place with mere photographs!?’
I had never heard of the Gouffre Géant (giant caves) of Cabrespine, though my son had. He’s of the techno-literati who can get detailed information on his iPhone within seconds – all of it relevant to where you are.
We were doing day trips: Father-Son-Grandson (two years old) – from the lovely city of Carcassonne using a small Renault rental car.
I knew there were giant caves here in the Occitanie region of southern France, but I had no idea how beautiful they could be.
The Gouffre géant – a giant underground chasm, is located 25 km from Carcassonne, and its presence dominates the small village of Cabrespine nestled high in the Clamoux gorges, at the foot of the Pic de Nore (1211m), close to the Pyrenees.
Cabrespine’s chasm and cave system is considered one of the ten most beautiful caves in the world and one of the largest – yet, unlike many of its peers, it is open to the public.
Part of the reason for this is the use of non-intrusive but extensive steel barriers to prevent ingress to the more dangerous areas of the cave floor and steep walls.
One of the reasons for this Géant’s success is that you can enter directly into the cave then onto the (optional) steel walkway that penetrates to the middle of the vast space.
To put the size into context, the cave is a near-spherical chamber that would happily swallow the Eiffel Tower… or about fifty Arc De Triomphes!
The tiny figure in the above photo (actually a dummy of a climber) and highlighted by the mauve spotlight is a (literally) moving tribute to the tenacity and bravery of the cavers who discovered the cave in the 1930s, using only hand tools, ropes and pulleys – and that after hiking for twenty miles to get here!
At the bottom of the chasm, there is an underground river with a blue marbled bed. This river continues through the Grotte de Limousis and finally emerges again beneath the Lastours Cathar châteaux, over twenty km away.
The Cabrespine ‘géant’ is famous for its wealth of crystallisations: aragonite, curtains, columns, waterfalls… all stars of the show, as well as the usual display of impossibly old stalagmites and stalagtites.
As per my title for the post, it was far more than a cave. There is a definite ‘hallowed’ feeling about this beautiful and startling space.
In my view, it is impossible not to feel the emotions of awe and wonder of the place. There is a vivid sense of the energy of ‘earth’, in all its meanings…
Truly a temple of the underworld.
(Above: colours in a way you’ve never seen them before)
Emerging from the underground wonder, there is a strong need for refreshments!
-🔷-
©Stephen Tanham 2024
All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12 ProMax.
Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers a monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one sharing their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation.
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Someday soon in their lifetimes, our children will look back on ‘old photos’ like this, and smile at the hilarious lengths of wire we used to have to carry round – together with the multi-plug adaptors – to keep alive our small army of electronic devices.
Their pocket-sized multi-phased, bio-safe, adaptive ‘boosters’ will transmit low power around and – probably through – human bodies in domestic settings.
Personally, I can’t wait, and hope to live long enough to enjoy the new ‘freedom from cables’.
We’re enjoying a few days in Scotland. Couldn’t resist it! I hope to post some shots of the gorgeous autumn colours to follow!
Oh, yes… And here’s a fantasy image (made in NightCafe AI) of what the dream power box might look like. Size of a matchbox, of course … whatever that was.
-🔷-
©Stephen Tanham 2024
All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12ProMax or created using NightCafe Studio Al.
Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers a monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one on their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation.
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It’s hard to say why I like this view of the shore houses at Bolton-le-Sads so much. It’s probably because, at this point in the final walk of the day, Tess the collie is ‘waggy-tail’ happy and leading the way around the deep tidal channel and back to the car via a tricky and unmarked route which sees us jumping over some of the smaller tidal pools.
The peace of the sky is a fitting contrast to our wet-footed clambering back to the footpath!
©Stephen Tanham 2024
All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12
ProMax or created using NightCafe Studio Al.
Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers a monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one on their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation.
Sun in Gemini 
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