Michael Kenna

The interest in landscapes brought me to Paris, where English photographer Michael Kenna was exibiting at the Bibliotheque National de France his ‘retrospective’.

The artist has been travelling for over thirty years looking for magic atmospheres in landscapes and the influence of humans on them. His long exposures and the use of medium format, combined with black and white printing coneveys us nature’s beauty in relation to human traces. The sense of contemplation and the no-time no-space feeling is enhanced by the expert use of sepia tone and graduated filters. The exibition included 152 photographs, ranging from his early shots of industrial England and America, inspired by Bill Brandt up to the more recent views of french gardens of Versailles and Mont-Saint-Michel: sooty skyes, murky light and dreamy landscapes.

The exploration of different perceptions of light in Kenna’s French gardens, inevitably connects to the studies of haystacks by Claude Monet. He creates a powerful vision and forceful composition printed in a deliberately small format, fashinating the eye that researches for minute details.

Inspired by his photos I try to convey human struggle and their loneliness trough images of urban landscapes and abandoned buildings that relate to decaying forms,while in search of magical atmospheres and different perceptions of reality.

Bibliography:

· michaelkenna.net/

·Michael Kenna Retrospective, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Bruno Racine (preface), Anne Biroleau 2009

·en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Kenna_(photographer)

· thenocturnes.com/resources/kenna.html