Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Revisiting "Up the Mtn" #176, page 38



Every word in this haiga's poem is a seasonal word/kigo to some degree.

greenery
(The poems most traditional seasonal reference to the greenery of summertime)

summertime foliage
(Summertime, well it speaks for itself. Meanwhile we regress in part into autumn, yet because summertime precedes the word foliage, it makes foliage a seasonal reference that is relative to the seasonal word before it. Thus foliage, a fall kigo in this particular context it acts as a summer kigo instead. Now you could debate does that mean summer is ending, well some might interpret that way. I interpret it as summer being in it's prime, blooming just before it will begin falling of, into autumn/fall.)

blooming
(Well this last verse, this last line, this last word, again returns us full circle back to the concreteness of the first verse, and beyond the less ambiguous seasonal references in the second verse. Now with only two syllables we experience summer in full bloom, blooming)

I felt this haiga's image and poem complemented one another well. They complement one another both literally in regards to the first line and the image, while the second and third verses do so figuratively, with a little more ambiguity. 
Also notice the summertime foliage could also be interpreted as the fallen trunk and tree stump surrounded by the green ferns.
In regards to the photographic technique behind the creation of this haiga's imagery,
the center of the image, is where it's highlights are blown-out. As your eyes move away from the center you see the Ansel Adams Zones of lightness begin to dissipate. From almost complete blown out whiteness, to almost complete blackness on most of the edges of the haiga's image. Referencing Ansel Adams Zone System, the center of the image would be the lightest zone, while traveling towards the edges of the image lightness subtly gives way to darkness as the image transitions through all of Ansel''s Photographic Zones.
From a more personal stand point I employed two of my favorite techniques. One, I create softness in the my landscape image. I prefer to forego the usual tack sharpness of today's commercial and landscape photographs in the creation of my haiga imagery. 
Second, I also prefer to forego today's trend in popular, commercial, journalistic, and much fine art photography and create images that are under exposed (3/4-2 full stops). I prefer imagery that is under exposed enough to prompt my audience to pause a moment to readjust-refocus their eyes to take in what they are seeing. These two techniques I employ are my way of communicating ambiguity in the haiga imagery I create.

So, what do you think?




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