What my haiku^photo practice looks like
Painters have live drawing; this is a photographic sketchbook
I thought it would help illustrate all this talk about haiku and photography if I show a handful of my photographs that are my practice. Haiku are not supposed to have titles, they don’t require explanation, and they should generally be able to be appreciated by anyone, without knowing context, the artist’s biography, or having any particular subject-matter interest. Like haiku poems, like origami, they are little delights, made photojournalistically, and shared. I sometimes feel like a caricature artist, making a quick sketch for you, handing it over, and moving on.*
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What you might notice is that they are candid; they are uncropped and thus composed in the moment; they’re a little formal and kinda simple. They should feel natural. And with luck they give you a moment to pause and maybe smile.
*And I differentiate this practice from what I’d call a “kintsugi^photograph” — where a great deal of work is done to set up and craft an image. More on that here:
