Michael Kenna has been photographing the landscape for more than twenty-five years, returning time and again to the gardens and cities of Europe capturing the ethereal light and silence of the early morning. Although Kenna never photographs people within the land, he has the uncanny ability to give manicured trees, stoic fountains and heroic statues a meditative human presence. This can be seen in the silhouetted trees covered with snow in Peterhof, Russia, haunted by the presence of Cossacks; in the curves created by the towers in Mont St. Michel, resembling the outline of two monks in prayer. Whether photographing the still white coldness of a Russian winter or the sculptured elegance of Versailles, Michael Kenna infuses his work with a solitary sense of place, capturing the moments between action. Kenna gives us a view of beauty in the landscape a sense of timelessness in our contemporary world. Michael Kenna: Atget's Trees, Saint-Cloud, France, 1996
Michael Kenna: Atget's Trees, Saint-Cloud, France, 1996