Among all of us on the WHChaikumultimedia list, Ray is known for his generosity in sharing his expertise in photography, haiga, web design and so many of his other talents. An appreciative multimedia group has been fortunate to have had the benefit of Ray's unique style of mentoring for some time. I am especially grateful for his patience in teaching me about the 'pixel guys' and encouraging me to think 'outside the box'. He guides our group in exploring the myriad possibilities within the realm of multimedia. Ray continues to inspire and educates us and we appreciate all the moments he spends being an active member within our MM family.

What many of us may not know is that in a previous life, Ray was Dr. Ray Rasmussen, Professor of Business at the University of Alberta. More details: Dr. R.V. Rasmussen Faculty Homepage ... Dr. Ray Rasmussen

Perhaps we should not be surprised to learn this though, because all of us who have benefited from Ray's instruction know him as a gifted teacher. Moreover, Ray's expertise was not only business, but the environment,
which may be what laid the foundations of his exquisite style of photography and haiga that we all respect and admire.

Now Professor Emeritus, Ray spends a good deal of his outdoor time doing landscape and flower photography and hiking in Canyonlands National Park, Utah and in one of Canada's most remote and untouched provincial parks, Willmore Wilderness just north of Jasper National Park.
You can read more about Ray's travels here: Ray's Web Page

Ray became interested in haiku poetry after photographing the Kurimoto Japanese Garden near his home in Edmonton, Canada. He searched the Internet for Asian poetry to accompany a web site on the garden and found a similarity between photography and haiku. As he puts it, "Both attempt to vividly express nature while focusing on small, isolated aspects [or moments] and both produce a meditative focus...in short, for both, the process is perhaps more important than the product."

In his search for Asian poetry sources, he established a relationship with the World Haiku Club and helped to design its web site. He then began to create modern haiga [both photo-haiku and digital art haiku] web sites to illustrate the haiku of members of the WHC and other haijin whom he found on the Internet. In time, he began his own excursion into composing haiku - a path which he initially thought would be relatively easy [the haiku poem is so small, it must be easy to write one] and discovered that writing a good haiku is rather like producing a good photographic print ...a long term proposition at best! 

Ray has served as the Editor of the World Haiku Review's Multimedia section and has crafted many of the special sections of the World Haiku Review. Initially, he served as the Director of the WHC's Multimedia e-forum and he now remains an active participant and mentor. In his own work he finds the haiga and haibun forms of expression most personally compelling. He also participates in the World Haiku Association's Haiga Section.  Ray's current interest is to acquire a sense of the senryu form of poetry as a means of further developing his skill in composing haiku.

We welcome Ray's insight and his comments on our self-portrait exercise as he delves into the essence of each image. [comments by Ray Rasmussen]

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Ray's work can be found on his extensive haiku-related web site: http://raysweb.net/haiku/

The following websites are not to be missed!

Ray Rasmussen's Writing & Poetry

Haiga Creation Process - Ray Rasmussen

Haiku & Meditation

Everyday Accounts: A Journal in the English Haibun Style 

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Illustrations created by members of the WHChaikumultimedia Forum