Broken Boat, Antwa-do, Shinan, South Korea, 2012
"I think the whole analog process exudes calm. For me, it’s a meditational journey. I’m absolutely sure that I could be a photographer without film, without images. I could go through the whole process: travel to places, look for situations and scenery, spend hours exposing, looking at subject matter, and not have a result. It would be frustrating in some ways because I couldn’t make a living, but it is a wonderful process to work as a photographer. I just love what I do from start to finish." - Michael Kenna
Michael was born in 1953 in Widnes, Lancashire, in the industrial northwest of England and studied at the Banbury School of Art and the London College of Printing, graduating with distinction in 1976. In London, Michael undertook advertising photography while pursuing his personal work-photographing the landscape. In 1977, he moved to San Francisco, where he met Ruth Bernhard and became her assistant and photographic printmaker for eight years. Michael is equally dedicated to the darkroom and makes his own prints ensuring a subdued, intimate atmosphere in every image. In 2000, the French government honored with the award of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters.