Simply Haiku: A Quarterly Journal of Japanese Short Form Poetry

Cover Photo

Jim Swift

Jim Swift spent much of his first pay cheque, as a beginning math teacher in England in 1958, on a Leica III. Photography has been part of his life ever since. He moved to medium format in Kenya in the '60s for a project making photographs of Makonde carvings for a friend, J. Anthony Stout, for his book Modern Makonde Sculpture.

His switch to digital photography after he retired in 2002 coincided with an introduction to haiku and it was a natural fit to combine haiku/senryu/tanka poetry with digital images. He enjoys abstract and nature photography and images that look at familiar surroundings differently. Also he has a strong interest in Black and White photography and pursues that particular interest as the editor of the Photographic Arts page in the Moonset Literary Newspaper.

His photographic haiga have been exhibited in two exhibitions at the local Rollin Art Centre in Port Alberni on the west coast of Vancouver Island, where he now lives with his wife, Judy and dog, Anna.

Jim has recently launched a help site for photographic haiga. It contains articles and links for those drawn to photographic haiga: http://jhsw.ca/photohaigahelp

More of his work may be seen at:
http://jhsw.ca
http://www.redbubble.com/people/jimswift