Michael Kenna

Michael Kenna is a British photographer born in 1953 in Widnes, Lancashire, England. Initially aspiring to enter the priesthood, he studied at St Joseph’s College, Upholland, before pursuing art and photography at the Banbury School of Art and the London College of Printing, graduating in 1976. In 1977, Kenna moved to San Francisco, where he worked as an assistant to photographer Ruth Bernhard, honing his skills in the darkroom. Kenna is renowned for his black-and-white landscape photography, often captured during dawn or nighttime using long exposures that can last up to 10 hours. His work emphasizes the interplay between natural landscapes and human-made structures, aiming to evoke emotion and contemplation. Over his career, Kenna has held over 500 solo exhibitions worldwide, and his photographs are included in more than 100 permanent collections, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He has published over 90 monographs and exhibition catalogs. Kenna currently resides in Seattle, Washington. (Website, Instagram, Facebook)