Michael Kenna Essay

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Michael Kenna is a photographer from Widens, Lancashire who moved to San Francisco in 1977(“Michael Kenna”, Joseph Bellows Gallery). When he moved to San Francisco, he realized that there were hundreds of galleries in San Francisco where he could display and sell his work (“Michael Kenna”, Joseph Bellows Gallery). This is when Michael Kenna’s journey of photography began. He knew he loved photography, but needed to figure out what he loved to photograph. What he didn’t know was that when he figures out what he loved to photograph it would make his work that much better.
Kenna discovered that he loved photographing nature, but he wouldn’t do it like everyone else. When you think of nature photography, what comes to mind? Most people think about a quick snap of colorful trees, bird, and more, but this was not what Kenna did. Instead, he would take …show more content…

His night time photographs are probably some of the hardest to do because he is forced to stay up for hours to get the perfect photograph. Kenna’s love for long exposures forces him to guard his equipment for hours at night. Luckily, his sacrifices don’t go unnoticed. The photos he is able to get with these long exposures are memorizing. They catch the mood and the details of the landscape, that would be hard to get in a snapshot. Kenna sees nigh photography as “more mysterious than color. It is a reflection or interpretation of reality, since most of us see in color all the time” (Sykes, “Interview”). He somewhat uses night time photography as a natural black and white filter. Kenna’s night time photography has changed the views on photographing at night all together. Before Kenna, many may have thought that photographing at night has no use because there would be nothing to see. His photography has taught photographers that if you are patient enough, the night can even give you a great

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