Poems and photographs encourage each other to be explored differently.
Photopoetry is more interesting and engaging when the photograph is not a literal illustration of the poem; likewise, if the poem is not a literal description of the photograph.
Both poem and photograph should be able to stand alone in their own right.
The pairing of poem and photograph should bring more depth, so each gains something from the collocation.
Unless the poet has taken the photographs or the photographer has written the poem, the pairing of photograph and poem will involve a collaboration. Collaborations which work are like close human relationships: in a successful pairing of poem and photograph each will be independent yet interdependent.
The pairing should be about revealing rather than explaining. This is the key to engaging the reader’s imagination.
The pairing should allow for serendipity. This is partly to do with the process of choosing which pairings to make, and partly due to the power of the pairing to excite.
Within a set of pairings there should be a range of connective strands: again like a relationship, where there are lots of different facets of attraction and at the same time a deep consistency.
Photographs should stand free from any title other than the language of the poem.
The dynamic between a long poem and a photograph is very different from that between a short poem and a photograph; the latter pairing works best in exhibitions.
People always want to know where a photograph was taken, but in photo-poetry a level of imaginative engagement is lost as soon as they find out.
A haiku comes closest to the shutter’s click.