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Michael Kenna began his career working as a commercial photographer, but soon grew to be a unique photographer creating his own style and making his own career with his various works which have a particular focus on landscapes. Born in Lancashire in 1953, Kenna attended the London College of Printing, and later in 1980, moved to San Francisco.

Having always wanted to work in the advertising industry, creating many photographs for commercials, Kenna has photographed for Adidas, BMW, Audi, other car commercials and other commercial creations such as Dvd covers as well as books for example. Kenna’s online website shows the numerous photographs, by category; http://www.michaelkenna.net/. Here, you are able to view his commercial photographs as well as his own personal photographs, which are under the category of ‘image archive’. In this category, photographs which Kenna took from across the globe can be viewed, and there are numerous folders for each different country. Additionally, there is even an album dedicated to concentration camps, which he had previously visited between the years 1989-2000. Kenna’s photographs capture the objects, camps and areas in which the atrocities occurred, and as Kenna normally shoots in black and white, this makes his photography appear more serious and dark, which emphasises the sadness and tragedy which is linked to the photographs.

Using a black and white effect when capturing photographs often creates extremely striking images, as can be seen in Kenna’s work. The viewer’s eye is focused firstly on the object itself, and then the different perspectives and angles. Additionally, black and white photographs create a more dramatic and moving ambiance as the contrast in using black/white creates bold and intense images. Tones, shapes, light, shadows and textures become more apparent when the element of colour is removed. When removing colour, it is clear that the other aspects become more fascinating, as there is a stronger focus on what the photographer is capturing. Also, it leaves more to the imagination as often silhouettes, or more abstract images are created which means that the viewer has to have a greater, more in-depth focus on the photograph to fully understand the image.

Kenna’s landscape photographs show both the dramatic and the more soft tones which portray beautiful countryside, monuments, industrial sites and sea. With reflections, enigmatic views, shadows, sunsets, clouds, mist and other aspects visible in these striking landscapes, Kenna continues to capture the extraordinary across the world and evidently sees the beauty in landscapes, but also is able to capture an image in a style which makes it appear either beautiful, serious or dramatic. I believe that his photographs look very professional, and it is the removal of colour which is the most striking aspect in his images, because when removing colour, there are no different colour tones competing for our view. Consequently, by removing colour, our eye focuses on the main subject or object. It also reflects the past, as black and white photographs were the original way photographs were created. 

IMAGE URL http://www.michaelkenna.net/gallery_images/b1f5453.jpg