Michael Kenna

Website

Ratcliffe Power Station, Study 31, Nottinghamshire, England, 1987

Twenty One Fence Posts, Shirogane, Hokkaido, Japan, 2004

 Above the Abreuvoir, Marly France, 1996

  Three Ladders, Sampo Beach, Gangwondo, South Korea, 2006

I have to start with my favorite.  Michael Kenna.  This man blows me away.  I first saw his work as a grad student and I fell in love with it.  It captures me and takes me to a different place.  It inspires me to push forward and make more and better work.  He is able to create beautifully complex imagery with simple clean subjects.  I appreciate the atmospheric quality of his work and the spiritual essence captured through the recording the elapse of time.  The images are of places I have never been, but through his study of his subject, his intimate knowledge, he is able to make the image comfortable and inviting to the viewer.

My three favorite things are:

1) His respect for his subject:  I enjoy a quote I read of his
saying that he is "not a paparazzi photographer.  I don't run out to
a landscape and snap a picture and run away again.  I like to know a
tree, quite closely.  I'll often spend a long time circling the tree,
getting to know it.  In a sense I talk to the tree, I like to be very
respectful."  This is something I relate to so appreciate it about him.

2) The time elapse photograph:  His images sometimes take hours to photograph.  I love that he has captured time, that hours are recorded on a single negative. The movement that occur in water and clouds renders is lovely.  And I like knowing that he is there for hours with his subject.

3) I did a brief study with him and he is a wonderfully kind and gracious person.  Don't you like to know someone that you admire is a real person and that they are nice.  He has every right to be snotty, he is a successful artist.  But he was generous with his time and wonderful to me for the 10 or so weeks.

I love love love this photographer.  It gave me an easy place to start.  Oh yeah these images are printed in the most beautiful way, the whole Ansel Adams quote "The negative is comparable to the composer's score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways."  Kenna's 'performances,' his printed pieces will overwhelm you.  Check them out in person if you get the chance.  Put it on your life list.