Coming Soon — haiku::photo!
The Haiku Foundation announces haiku::photo, our latest interactive feature, and different from anything we’ve (and you’ve!) ever done before.
“What if I told you that many of the greatest photographs of the past hundred years — unintentionally and unknowingly — reflect the rules of haiku?
“The things that make a photograph great usually aren’t technical — sharp focus, bright colors, megapixels — and have little to do with your camera or equipment. For a century, photographers have struggled to explain what they were really doing that made their images work, especially when it comes to composition. People discuss content, but rarely form.
“What I’ve found is that the invisible form of great photographs, if you had to put words to it, would be haiku.
“You’ve created haiku with words. The same approach applies to photography.
“Each rule of haiku has a visual counterpart. Take kigo, for instance. In poetry it denotes the season. In photography it can certainly place an image in a season, but it can more interestingly express the deeper meaning — the ephemeral cycles of life, the transience of all things. A camera is a time collector. It doesn’t just document objects; it freezes moments. Does your image capture the moment? That’s the photographic kigo.
“haiku::photo aren’t simply peaceful or pretty. They’re small scene from everyday life — structured but not staged, simple but not empty. They reveal something personal, a beauty in the ordinary, a structure that’s perfectly imperfect.
“And, like written haiku, they’re deceptively difficult. But fun to try, and deeply satisfying when you get it right.”
— M. H. Rubin
Curated by internationally renowned photographer M. H. Rubin, and following upon his beautifully-produced 2023 volume The Photograph as Haiku, haiku::photo is an opportunity to combine your areas of special 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 feature will work like a kukai, with the community voting for three favorites, and Rubin selecting the month’s best overall and offering commentary. The results will become the haiku::photo archive.
haiku::photo begins November 15, 2025, when you will find a post with the first month’s focus, plus instructions of how to submit your work. Each month will bring a new focus and a new opportunity to challenge your skills and share your results. We look forward to seeing what you see!
Comments (4)
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Interesting, I am excited to see how this will develop. Thank you for sharing this opportunity.
Very happy to see this. Will be checking in regularly to enjoy the haiku photos. Thanks for getting this together.
It’s an initiative I like. I love quirky photos and I agree that they can be similar to a haiku. Is it essential to use a camera? But I have thousands of them taken over the last twenty years… and maybe I’ll find some interesting ones.
‘Morning Jim, ‘Morning M.H .;
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!
Much needed, but how ’bout videos too? Not sure if these fit into the”haiku” format (not true, I know they don’t), but I’m
fascinated by these.. I’ve been posting these on my youtube page, to big send as an e-mail, but I put them into dropbox for friends.
Most haiku people just think they are too far outside the box to be anything they are interested in. When the new page is up, I’ll be the first to log on, and it will be bookmarked.
Jim also gave me a page here. https://thehaikufoundation.org/thf-haiga-galleries-photo-haiku-of-e-s-a/.
And I’m glad to hear about your book heading over to Amazon next.
Videos.
Hope you have a look, most are less than a minuet long.
https://thehaikufoundation.org/haikulife-the-haiku-foundation-video-project/haikulife-2025/
https://youtu.be/oggbBm4Eqb0 ,
https://youtu.be/pfHlmkwXfnM ,