A Momentary Pause

In this day and age, everything is getting faster. With 3G networks, bullet trains, Lear jets and nanoseconds, we are constantly striving to make time irrelevant, to parse it into smaller and smaller increments. As a culture, we want to be everywhere at once, and have created wireless communications, nearly instant travel and quick fixes. The technologies we utilize have propelled us into the new millennium at light speed, with amazing results. But we have also become so wrapped up with getting things accomplished immediately that we have forgotten how to take a moment’s pause. And this could very well be to our detriment.

Michael Kenna is no stranger to patience. From an early age, he has been content to sit, think, meditate and absorb the world around him in silence for hours at a time. It is an attribute that has made him renowned for timeless and peaceful photographs and a quality that makes his work outstanding among his contemporaries. His work is a testament to the reverence that can be given a subject, and a reminder to take a deep breath and observe the world around us.

As a boy, Kenna realized that time was something intricate and mysterious. He would write notes to himself with his name, the date and the time on scraps of paper and hide them in and outside of his home. It was a game to see how long he could wait until he found them again and question what had happened; what had changed in the meantime. It was a technique of marking time and revisiting specific moments that he would carry over into his photography. “I am fascinated by the effects of time, by memories and traces in the land,” Kenna recounts. “I revisit the same locations. They are never the same twice. I am never the same twice.” His view of time, of the world, is as pensive as his images. Rather than following the path carved by the momentum of progress, he sits back and engages with the present. The result of that mentality is enduring artifacts of rich and simple beauty.

From the beginning of his career, Kenna has produced images with a quiet atmosphere—due in part to the subjects that he chooses to photograph. However, he has a way of transforming all locations into sanctuaries of calmness. Even industrial landscapes, such as Kenna’s images of the Ratcliffe Power Station in Nottinghamshire, England, or The Rouge auto plant in Dearborn, MI, have a respectful and hushed appearance. He attributes the aesthetic of his work to his approach to his subjects as well as his life.

Kenna engages in conversations with his subjects and devotes real time to them, often returning years later. “It is necessary to search,” Kenna explains. “I work best when there are no time limits, nobody watching or asking questions, no phones, emails, etc. When I go to a location, I don’t know if I will be there for five minutes or five days.” This patience and commitment are evident in his work. The ethereal landscapes and ghostly lighting that Kenna has been producing for over 35 years demonstrate his devotion to this discipline. From his pensive and somehow silent images of New York to his minimalist, entrancing images of Japan, Kenna has been bringing peace to the photographic medium for decades. Despite the encroaching haste of modernity, Kenna still manages to find the gentle moments, and to translate them for his audience. His delicate attentiveness gives Kenna’s images something unique—a sense of pause.

Kenna travels the world in search of subject matter that catches his eye; subject matter that lends itself to the serene nature of his work. Since his first trip there in 1987, he has spent a great deal of time on Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido. He has commented on how the simplicity of the landscape reminds him of the Japanese aesthetic, as seen in sumi-e painting and haiku poetry. “It is geographically small and spaces are quite intimate in scale. I feel there is a powerful sense of atmosphere that resides in the Japanese soil and, as I like to photograph memories and stories, I feel strangely at home wandering around this country.” Kenna has searched the world for places that elicit such a sense of awe for the landscape, but admits that Hokkaido is unique in his travels, offering “a reduction of sensory distractions” and a “pure focus on the landscape.” The work that he has produced from Hokkaido and other areas of Japan shows a stark landscape often shrouded in snow and ice with only minimal indications of the hidden landscape below. Despite the harsh conditions, the images, as with all of Kenna’s work, reveal an inner peace and solitude. Through Kenna’s eyes, we see the frozen tundra as a delicate expanse of black and white, light and shadow. The intricate details wind their way through the canvas of snow as a testament to the tradition of Japanese simplicity. A tree line in Hamakoshimizu (above) becomes the bleeding lines of a watercolor. A windswept lake tree becomes the brush strokes of ancient calligraphy. In this way, the landscapes become as much a commentary about the culture of Japan as they do about Kenna himself.

Though Kenna feels a particular connection with Japanese landscapes, the consistency of his style over his career suggests that he is capable of finding these silent places wherever he goes. He has a talent for containing specific elements in his images that metaphorically speak for the whole space. In his series on “Monique’s Kindergarten”—started when Kenna’s daughter, Olivia, attended the Waldorf school—Kenna demonstrates the simplicity of childhood play with the intricate remnants of the classroom after the children have gone. He is able to represent a delicate virtuousness that is void of the cacophony that surely overtakes that same space when the students return. These images function as a reminder of the importance of those innocent times, especially in contrast with the modern rush of children desiring the trappings of adult life—the cell phones, email accounts, the fashion accessories—and provoke a sense of “stories and memories” accessible to past and present generations. These interior moments are representative of a greater picture, but one that is best understood with a close inspection of the windows he provides into these subjects throughout his photography.

Kenna’s photographic methods themselves are just as meticulous as his philosophy. He will often expose a single scene for hours at a time, waiting and planning for the perfect shot. The shifting light helps to create the ethereal appeal of Kenna’s work, but it also speaks to his own patience and diligence. He remarks, “Being creative demands an openness just to wait and listen, and pay attention to what comes from both within and without, which is very hard to do when you are looking at your watch.” In this way Kenna is able to, even needs to, step out of time in order to create his signature images. It is no wonder that his photographs are enduring. He has given enough time to each location, each exposure and each conversation that the true nature of his experience comes through. And it is an experience dedicated to listening and waiting for the opportune moment to reveal itself first to the photographer, and then to the viewer.
In the contemporary technological environment, moments void of chaos and distractions are becoming harder and harder to find. Approaching photography, and life, with an unhurried philosophy is just as rare. It is an approach, however, that Kenna has been using his whole life. “Even when I am not actually photographing,” says Kenna, “I am appreciating the present—a most precious commodity.”

His photographs are specifically printed to create an intimate experience between the viewer and artwork. The images are usually small and crafted with liberal amounts of negative spaces that allow the viewer to get lost in the precious glimpses of the world. They are prints that require the viewers to step closer, to immerse themselves in the details. “I encourage a close relationship between the print and a viewer,” Kenna explains. “I like the idea that a conversation is going on rather than a lecture.” This is how he explores everything: with respect, through listening and observing. Kenna has a conversation with his subjects—his images encourage a conversation with the viewer, and a conversation deserves time, repose and consideration.

Quiet places still exist. But it is up to us to venture out and find them, and with that endeavor, perhaps find our own momentary pause as well. As the world continues to spin, seemingly faster and faster, it is important that we remember how to stop and appreciate the present. At the very least, Michael Kenna has provided the photographic medium with stark and elegant imagery that is meticulously and carefully captured and printed. At its best, however, the images allow the audience something that is greatly lacking in today’s society—they offer a place to rest, to contemplate and to breathe.

To experience more of Michael Kenna’s work, visit his website at www.michaelkenna.net.

Amanda Quintenz-Fiedler is a freelance writer and photographer living and working in Carlsbad, CA. She is earning a Master of Fine Arts in photography from Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, CA.