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Haiku and Photography
A comparison of the Art of Haiku and Photography by Erin Knott, Andy Jones, Jessica Villarreal, and Amanda Aukerman. February 27, 2008. See haiku examples in the Haiku Photos Slide Show.
“A picture’s worth a thousand words.” This well-known phrase explains how a picture, as simple as it is, can be worth so much. It not only capture’s the exact moment the picture was taken, exactly as it happened, but it also is able to capture the memories that went with that moment. Even without the specific memories of when the pictures being taken, the picture is still effective. They are able to bring about imaginative responses from anyone; even if the viewer has no idea what was really going on the moment the picture was taken. However, the imaginative response that pictures encourage isn’t unique to only photography, it also occurs within haiku. There are numerous parallels between haiku and photography.
Both haiku and photography are able to capture a specific moment in time. Haiku captures that moment through words, while pictures capture it through an image. Though haiku uses very few words, if written well, it gives you a very vivid image in your mind of what is happening within the haiku. This is the same in pictures, although you may not know exactly what was happening at the time, you are able to make up a story to go along with the picture. It doesn’t need to be very specific in order to evoke a response, it can be extremely simple and sometimes the most simple haiku and pictures are the ones that are the best.
In a way, pictures and haiku are opposites. For a haiku, the reader is given a set of words and with those words the reader is able to imagine an image or a sort of video in their mind that goes along with the words. With photography, we are given an image and with that image, we are able to come up with a story in our head of what has gone on during the time that picture was taken. Haiku gives us words that we turn into images and photography gives us an image that we turn into words.
Although they may be opposites in some ways, they also seem to work in tandem. For any given haiku, a person should be able to pick an image that they feel represents the haiku. Also, for any given picture, a person should be able to find a haiku that they believe represents the pictures. It is also possible to write a haiku that goes along with a picture, or take a picture that goes along with a haiku. Haiga is a specific form of haiku, where an image is accompanied by a haiku.
According to reedscontemporaryhaiga.com, “Haiga is a haiku painting. Hai refers to the poem or haiku and ga means painting.” Traditional Japanese haiga uses brush calligraphy, which is very simple. It accompanies the haiku, showing the beauty of simplicity. Contemporary haiga, however, it is more of the juxtaposition of a photograph with a haiku. The haiku can be placed anywhere on that image, or the image can be placed anywhere with the haiku. Just as in haiku alone, where the placement and choice of words and punctuation is incredibly important, where the haiku and picture are placed relative to each other is important. For instance, if I were to make a haiga using the haiku,
a plum scented wind
in the land of haikai
blows triumphant.
Sodo, Haiku: An Anthology, 12
I may want to include a picture of a plum tree being blown by a strong gust of wind. I would probably make the choice to place the first two lines near the plum tree, but the third farther away, as if it were blown away in the wind. This kind of choice would make the haiku more effectively used with the picture, instead of them being two separate things together.
Also, with a haiku, multiple people will almost definitely not pick out the exact same pictures that go along with haiku. This is because although they may be reading the same haiku as the other people who have read it, people can have infinite imagined responses going along with a haiku. This has to do with a person’s upbringing, life experiences, mood and many other factors. Therefore, although the general idea within the pictures they have chosen may be the same, the small nuances that go with the picture will be very different. For example, when reading the haiku:
city park
the stone hero’s dark side
hides a drug deal
Swede, AU, 24
I personally imagined a drug deal happening in the shadow of the statue of Balto in Central park. However, many other people probably didn’t have their mind go directly to the statue of Balto. I thought of that because I was in Central Park this summer and I remember being very excited when I saw that statue. This was because the children’s movie made about Balto when I was very young was one of my favorite movies. Many people had very different responses than I did, which proves that haiku causes different responses in different people. So, when I was looking for a picture for this haiku, I immediately went to a picture of the statue of Balto in Central Park, though many other people would have had different pictures.
Another way haiku and photography are similar are that they can both be either serious or funny. Some haiku and photography take a very serious look at life. They look at the problems that are going on at a specific moment and cause people to reflect on them. However, there are also many haiku and pictures that are purely funny and that is what they were meant to be. They cause the reader/viewer to smile and laugh. They aren’t meant to make the reader/viewer think seriously, they are just to make the person happy while they are reading it.
Another similarity between haiku and pictures is that haiku and photos can both be presented in sequences. Haiku sequences build on one another. Photo sequences can be the same way such as slideshows of wedding photos. Photos can also capture a moment in several images just as a haiku uses several words, or several haiku. Imagine a hurdler leaping over hurdles. You can take several very quick shots with a good camera of him mid-jump, or you can take several images of him in different positions during his race.
Haiku and photography work very well together. They both share the same characteristics that make them good in compared to other haiku and pictures. Both haiku and photography can be very simple and yet very effective. They capture a specific moment in time and evoke a strong imagined response. Though they have some differences, they have generally the same purpose even when viewed separately. But, when viewed together, they work extremely well. They feed off of each other, creating a more vivid story within the reader’s mind.
Works Cited
Swede, George. Almost Unseen: Selected Haiku of George Swede. Brooks Books, 2000.
Bowers, Faubion. The Classic Tradition of Haiku: An Anthology. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 1996.
Emrich, Jeanne. “What is Haiga?.” Reeds: Contemporary Haiga. 1 March 2008. http://www.reedscontemporaryhaiga.com/
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