“Driving alone in Hokkaido in 2002, I was startled to see this attractive fence, climbing a snow-covered hillside. I stopped the car by the side of the road and made photographs of the fence and hillside. Later I would need a truck driver to tow me out of the field of snow where I had inadvertently parked, but that’s another story. Almost every year I have returned to Hokkaido and have photographed this same fence and hillside. I was there just a few months ago in February of this year 2023. One might think that little would change in such a scene - it is just a fence and a hill after all. Yet, each time I revisit, I find that something is different - a new pattern and configuration might appear, an arrangement of forms could change, distant contacts or lengthens to become ambiguous, perspectives alter, snow levels vary, and the light is never the same. The minimalism and sheer simplicity transform three dimensions into two, and the space elements involved seem to make the print more like a Sumi-e ink painting than a photograph. So far, I have made and printed eight studies of this fence, and I fully anticipate a new study form this years’s visit. This location is a gift which keeps giving.”
~ Michael Kenna
Michael’s eye is so special and experienced that he can observe subtleties of nature that we mere mortals would never be able to detect however hard we might try. That is why he is one of the most accomplished practitioners in the history of landscape photography. He belongs to such a small group of these gifted artists. He humbly talks about the gifts nature has given him over his 50 years of passionate work. It is a special gift which shows no sign of waning.
Rock on my friend.
