haiku::photo 8 — mornings
The Haiku Foundation welcomes you to haiku::photo.
M. H. Rubin says
Greetings photographer-poets,
There were fewer submissions this month, which I hope is not so much a sign of your interest but rather the coming of summer schedules.
This month’s winners:
Beverly Jay
With that said, here’s a wonderful haiku, this month’s first place:
It’s a cool little moment, and the juxtaposition and simplicity are clear. It’s nicely on topic and executed beautifully, and doesn’t feel too constructed to me. It reminds me of some of the great work of photographer Elliot Erwitt (check out his work), but in particular, this one:
Anne Fox
This second one doesn’t feel as much on topic, but I think it’s a strong haiku — subtle, quiet, evocative, curious. I like its simplicity and mystery. It might be harder to see the haiku in it, but hopefully you’ll give it some time.
Honorable mentions:
Dan Campbell
I like this simple shot, and it has many haiku attributes – I gave it an honorable mention only because it is a little obvious (I’ve seen this shot before) and also a bit too perfect again, the hat and cane are nice, but too nice for me.
Dan Campbell
This next one is sweet, but it feels a little on the nose, and maybe even set-up. But maybe most importantly, it only has a single beat. There’s the subject, and that’s it. Compare that to this submission back in March – which feels to me both more authentic and comprised of a couple beats. And if we keep going on this theme, I wanted to share another photo by the master Elliott Erwitt, who captured the same sort of image but with far more haiku-feeling to me than the others.
Compare Erwitt to the other submissions – doesn’t it feel more real, more natural, more in context, more delight in the ordinary? Erwitt, like Henri Cartier-Bresson, seemed to thrive in this space. I hope they inspire.
Beverly Jay
How did our voters see it?
Beverly Jay 37 points
Dan Campbell 18 points
Dan Campbell 15 points
Our Next Focus: mornings
What we’re looking for: photos that capture your morning rituals
A haiku should be a reasonably ordinary moment, and the moments we often don’t notice are the everyday things that happen over and over—until they don’t. Take a look at your mornings, what is something so ordinary you’d never think to document it, but it’s very personal, very unique to you, and oddly sweet. Can you find that in your day and reflect it in your haiku-photo?
— M. H. Rubin
How to participate:
First, view Rubin’s site. Once your feel you have a grasp of the principles, take some photos that align with this month’s theme. Select your best, and submit them below by midnight May 31. Voting runs June 3 – 10. Results, commentary and the new topic will be announced here on troutswirl on June 15. Good luck!
Note: This isn’t haiga! There should be no text attached to your photos. What we are looking for is, precisely, haiku::photo!
haiku::photo SUBMIT
Curated by internationally renowned photographer M. H. Rubin, haiku::photo is an opportunity to combine two areas of artistic knowledge. Anyone with a camera can explore the application of haiku principles to the craft of photography., first by viewing Rubin’s site, then by posting their best efforts related to our monthly theme here on the THF site. The result is a visual kukai, and results will be housed in the haiku::photo archive.
Comments (5)
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“Olga-Leskiw-Suzuki_fine-tuning”
Did anyone else notice the young boy next to the older man in this photo?
I didn’t — but it doesn’t change my feelings about the photo. It’s not particularly haiku in nature because of the heavy processing involved here, it almost looks like an etching, which is cool, but clearly manipulated. The figures along side the older man are also pretty hard to discern, so i’d say the rhythm isn’t strong — the pair of beats should be more easily noticed or the timing going to be way off (like a song where the drummer is off rhythm) — they also don’t totally read as “young boy” so the juxtaposition isn’t strong. It’s a cool image, but in my interpretation, not all that haiku.
Thank you for your thoughtful critique. One point I am curious about, however, is the reference to “heavy processing.”
Were there clearly stated guidelines regarding the amount of post-processing permitted, and did I simply overlook them? If so, that’s on me. If not, then I wonder whether processing should be part of the evaluation criteria after the fact.
Most photographers and photographic artists make use of creative tools available to them—cloning, textures, filters, tonal adjustments, painterly treatments, and countless other techniques. These are all part of the artistic toolbox. If the intention is to consider only minimally processed images, that is perfectly valid, but it would be helpful if that expectation were stated from the outset.
The more interesting question for me is whether the image succeeds or fails as a haiku image, regardless of the tools used to create it.
Of course there are numerous cool processes for photography – i love them – but i find them antithetical to the haiku feeling i find as translated into photographs. a haiku doesn’t rhyme, it doesn’t feel heavy-handed or manipulated. When I look at photos i believe they exhibit haiku when i’m not pulled out of the image by the process. Sure it’s hard to say what constitutes process or fakery in the art form, but i use my gut to sense if an image feels manipulated.
And yes, there are guidelines – in the form of my observations in photography and learnings from haiku – and of course they are debatable, but all can be found in the http://www.haikuphoto.com introduction.
On a small point: haiku can rhyme, but certainly don’t have to. “Unrhymed” means “no rhyme scheme, rhyme is not required.” Not “haiku mustn’t rhyme.” I have a file full of impeccable examples from Bashō through Shiki to contemporary anglophone haiku that make good use of rhyme.