British-born Michael Kenna is widely considered as one of the greatest and influential landscape photographer of our generation and he’s best known for his black & white images. Other than utilizing his vision and senses of the environment around him, he also further enhance this unique perception by the use of long exposure techniques, as the lens will able to accumulate light and provide a larger depth of field that our eyes are incapable of seeing. His clean compositions are full of mystery and spirituality, while the black and white format completes his dramatic works. Kenna’s photographs have been shown in over six hundred gallery and museum exhibitions throughout the world and are included in permanent collections in Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, Washington and London. In 2001, the Ministry of Culture in France made Kenna a Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters.

Following last year’s “Hyangshan” exhibition, Michael Kenna is back in Hong Kong to showcase the full collection of his famous “Japan” photography series. Kenna first arrived in Japan in 1987 and was quickly seduced by the graceful landscape of the island nation and he returned time after time to capture the elegance and reverence of the country’s culture and tradition.

“I am attracted both to the visual juxtapositions and interactions, and also to the lingering atmospheres that pervade these places when normal activities are not happening. Japan has been a perfect environment to exercise this curiosity.” Kenna’s love of capturing the delicate relationship between man-made objects and the natural landscape, is like how a poet gives the audience an unlimited space for imagination, his works evoke nature and history. It is also interesting to note that Plum Blossoms Gallery will donate all the proceedings from “Toriim Study 2, Takashima, Biwa Lake, Honshu, Japan. 2007” to a Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund. The exhibition runs till November 10.

Text: Vincent Lau | Translation: noble pauper
Photo Courtesy: Plum Blossoms Gallery

Plum Blossoms Gallery
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