Inspired by Michael Kenna!

Something I have become interested in learning more about is landscapes. I started to become interested in Michael Kenna because I like his pictures a lot. Michael Kenna takes black and white pictures and his New York City album interests me since I also live and New York City and I have started to take a lot of pictures of buildings. So far I have learned that Michael Kenna travels all over the world to take photographs. I find this very interesting because every place is a little different then another, especially with landscapes. Here is a photograph taken by Michael Kenna found on his website http://www.michaelkenna.net :

 I find this picture very interesting because it related to my theme. I like how all his pictures are black and white and in my opinion, the photo looks better in black and white. The lights and shadows in the river give the photo a better effect.

This information is from http://www.michaelkenna.net The source of this information is Michael Kenna, it is his website which promotes his photographs.
This topic, landscapes relates to me and my interests because I have an extended theme of nature. I like taking photographs of buildings, bridges, water, and etc. One thing that surprised me was the amount of years that Michael Kenna has been focusing on photography. Ever since he and born and until today, he loves photography. One thing that I wonder about this person's work and life is if he ever wanted take pictures that weren’t in theme or if he wanted to stop taking black and white pictures.

Michael Kenna was involved in many photography exhibitions because he has so many photographs to share. He has traveled almost all around the world to take photographs which I personally think is amazing because he sees something different every day.

Being that I didn't have a lot of background information on Michael Kenna, I chose to do some more research. As I searched for another source of information about this person, I came across this additional website: http://www.agallery.com/Pages/photographers/kenna.html This website provided a lot of information and the opinions of Michael Kenna and his photography.

Michael Kenna said: "I expect a viewer to be able to enter an image and react with the environment. I try to create ‘stage sets’ for them to perform on." This statement didn't really surprise me all that much, but it did make me feel like I should be doing this with the pictures that I take. I good photographer like Michael Kenna doesn’t just take a photograph, he focuses and find the element inside the picture that surprises him. This makes the photographs even better for the viewers.

On the website: http://hicali.net/index.php?x=quotes there was a statement that made me nod my head in agreement with Michael Kenna. It was: “I think style is just the end result of personal experience. It would be problematic for me to photograph in another style. I'm drawn to places and subject matter that have personal connections for me and I photograph in a way that seems right. Where does it all come from, who knows?” I believe that this quote by Michael Kenna is true because once you start taking photographs of something in particular, you get to know more about your theme and then you can get better at taking photographs. I also believe that you can’t just choose a ‘theme’, it has to be something that you enjoy. Michael Kenna’s work is something that really interests him and me.

Now that I have done this research, it makes me think more about my own work, like this picture I took in New York City:

 Take a look at my other photos. 

I feel that everything Michael Kenna says relates to my photographs. Sure they aren’t as good as his but, we have the same concepts.

Next, with my own work, I hope to follow what Michael Kenna does and explore more in what I enjoy. I hope to accomplish taking new pictures that as Michael Kenna says, “makes a viewer be able to enter the image and react with the environment.”

Here is another picture I like by Michael Kenna found on www.michaelkenna.net