Award-winning ocean photographer, Kian Bates has teamed up with best-selling Queensland author Dannika Patterson to create a unique book of Australian ocean photography and haiku poetry.
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The book will be release world-wide on October 1.
Driven by a common passion for connecting families to nature in their creative work, Bates and Patterson's debut collaboration SeaSpray17: Ocean Photography & Haiku Poetry shares a powerful message through the combination of photographic art and poetry in a book for all ages.
The book is already attracting interest from ocean-lovers around the world, with pre- orders coming from the USA, as well as in Australia.
SeaSpray17: Ocean Photography & Haiku Poetry contains 17 stunning photographs of the ocean paired with 17 powerful haiku poems.
Like a photograph, a haiku poem seeks to capture a single moment in time.
"To me, the philosophies behind taking a photograph and writing a haiku poem are perfectly aligned," Ms Patterson said.
"There is the focus on capturing a brief moment in time; a sudden sense of illumination and the ability to appreciate each respective artform at first glance, or to uncover additional layers of meaning."
Haiku is a three-line, beautifully descriptive, form of poetry that first became popular in ninth century Japan.
Haiku is traditionally intended to be read in one breath and often relate to the natural world.
This is a book for everyone who loves the ocean.
- Kiam Bates
"Because it is such a distilled form of poetry, there is as much power in the words that make it into the final poem, as those that don't," Ms Patterson said.
"Much of the energy of haiku comes 'between the lines', from the intuitive or emotional leap that occurs in the space between the poem's parts, in the 'gap' or 'cut' of what is deliberately left out.
"This process of very selective inclusion and 'cutting' happens for Kian in his process of taking and editing photographs too.
"Another lovely synergy between the arts of haiku and photography."
All 17 haiku poems in SeaSpray17 follow the traditional 5-7-5 syllable pattern that is taught in the Australian schools curriculum, although as the western form of haiku has evolved, many of the 'rules' - including the 5-7-5 pattern - have routinely been broken by emerging haiku poets.
"That's the glorious thing about modern poetry as an art form; there really aren't a lot of fixed 'rules'.
"It can be an invitation to let your creativity run wild and free."
More than a beautiful coffee table book for all ages to enjoy, Bates and Patterson see SeaSpray17 as a valuable resource for children to inspire their creativity, knowledge and love of the natural world.
"This is a book for everyone who loves the ocean," Mr Bates said.
"For kids aged four to 104 - there's something in here for everyone."
For school environments, teachers and librarians will find links to Australian curriculum to support student learning across multiple year levels in science, arts and English via free downloadable teachers' notes for SeaSpray17, available online.
Bates and Patterson have created a range of interactive, cross-curriculum student workshops to be run in schools and libraries across a range of year levels.
"Our hope is that this book will bring people joy," Ms Patterson said.
"We hope it inspires curiosity and encourages people to get out and explore the natural wonders of our watery world: to enjoy, respect and protect our beaches, reefs and oceans.
"We also hope that it will inspire creativity in the form of more haiku, more photographs, more nature-inspired art for us all to enjoy.
The NSW launch event will be held at Raw Edge Gallery in Boomerang Beach on Saturday, October 5 between 10am and noon, where selected pieces of ocean art from the book will be on special display.
Signed copies of the book are currently available on pre-order via the Raw Edge Photography website
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