Michael Kenna: The Imagination Man

Michael Kenna is a famous landscape photographer from the United Kingdom. He didn't start sharing his landscape work until he went to New York and discovered that many display their work in art galleries in the U.S. which was not a common thing at the time in the UK. From showcasing his work, he ended up becoming somewhat of a car photographer because vehicle advertising agencies saw space for their product in his black-and-white work. Kenna said, "in my work, I try to leave space for an individual viewer to enter it so there's always spaces around, it's not full ("Photographer Profiles - Michael Kenna"). He continued to leave space in his work even after advertising and stayed with his passion for minimalism. Michael Kenna is also famous for his night photography with long exposures that span from ten minutes to twelve hours.

At first glance, I don't think I felt really connected to Kenna's work at all. I did enjoy looking at the "Sakura and Full Moon" photo because I had never thought about exposing a photo for that long, but I didn't really connect to the meaning of why he takes these photos. I now know that Kenna does not leave "empty" space in his photos. Instead, he is creating an image that the audience can fill their own narrative into and connect to no matter what their background is. I think that's an interesting take in photography because your audience becomes half of the artistic element. It's a style that works for the masses and not just the audience for the niche subject in the photo. The audience sees what they want to see and no photo has the same artistic meaning between two people. To further emphasize this idea of putting it in the audience's hands, he adds another layer of ambiguity which is time. The long exposures make the image feel timeless, like it's night and day all at once so you can interpret the photo multiple ways by changing one idea.

If I had to pick one photo that stands out to me, it would be the one attached above. I enjoy this photo because of the spotting in the trajectory of the moon. I know this was a long possibly six-hour exposure and the way the moon is portrayed is something you would never see with the natural human eye. I can only guess that the spotting in the moon's orbit wasn't that the moon disappeared but maybe a cloud covered the moon for those moments and created the satisfying, minimalist design. I also just enjoy his balanced compositions in general. It feels like the weight is evened out and your eyes flow through the piece. I know some may disagree, but I also really enjoy how the subjects aren't just straight in the middle. That is okay for certain pieces, but for Kenna's, I believe having the weight on the edges or just slightly off-center helps create the artistic narrative reaction he wants from his audience. You aren't just staring from afar looking dead ahead, you are engaged in the energy of the landscape.

"Photographer Profiles - Michael Kenna." YouTube, uploaded by TOP BOX TV, 10 Aug. 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya79SiD6Z58