Michael Lustbader

Michael Lustbader has spent over thirty years documenting the natural world through photography. His images have been published by National Geographic Publications, Audubon, Sierra Club, Eastman Kodak, Oxford Scientific Films, and hundreds of other book, calendar, and paper product companies, worldwide. His stock photography is represented by Photo Researchers in New York City and The Image Finders in Cleveland, Ohio.

Michael has co-authored Close-Up Photography: Capturing Nature’s Intimate Landscapes and How to Photograph Close-Ups in Nature. A Cibachrome/Ilfochrome printer for over 25 years, he is currently exploring the world of digital imaging and printing, studying at the Rochester Institute of Technology and Pittsburgh Filmmakers. He is a member of the BioCommunications Association (formerly the Biological Photography Association), the American Physicians Art Association, and a charter member of the North American Nature Photography Association.

Michael was first exposed to haiku in the 1960s, while teaching fourth and sixth grades, and even at that time was struck by similarities between this traditional poetic form and photography. Much like the haiku poets of old, he seeks to capture that "special moment" in his photographs.

Visit Michael’s website by clicking here.

William J. Higginson

William J. Higginson has been translating Japanese haiku since encountering the genre in Japanese language classes at Yale University. His first small book of translations, Twenty-Five Pieces of Now, published in 1968, established him as a leader of the haiku movement in North America. From 1971 to 1976 he edited Haiku Magazine, and in 1975 he established From Here Press, publishing works by such poets as Allen Ginsberg, Ruth Stone, Japanese haiku masters, and others.

The Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku, by Bill with his wife Penny Harter, became "the standard work in the field" (Booklist) on its publication in 1985, and continues to be the most popular introduction to haiku available in English. Bill’s international collection of haiku for children, Wind in the Long Grass, followed in 1991, and was adopted as part of a classroom set of books for young readers. In 1996, his books The Haiku Seasons: Poetry of the Natural World and Haiku World: An International Poetry Almanac confirmed the intimate connections between haiku and the Earth’s seasons.

Bill is currently working on a number of translation projects and readying a collection of his own haiku for publication.

Visit Bill’s website by clicking here.