"The morning had been far from easy. I had been walking in snow shoes for over an hour, up a steep hill, with Tsuyoshi, my Hokkaido guide of almost twenty years. It was pre-dawn and freezing cold. I had almost reached our goal - a specific tree which sat on a high horizon. My normal modus operandi is to make pictures from a distance with my Hasselblad cameras before moving closer. There is a practical aspect to this as it avoids messing up the foreground with footprints. Eventually, I reached what I considered to be the perfect spot for the best perspective on the tree and I stamped down the snow so that I could plant the tripod. Framing and focussing on the tree, I measured the light with my exposure meter, breathed in and slowly pressed the cable release to trigger the camera shutter. A healthy Hasselblad exposure sounded. Winding the film on, I bracketed half a stop as I often do, and attempted another exposure. This time, nothing happened. My lens had jammed. In my experience, old mechanical cameras sometimes misbehave in sub zero conditions. I don’t blame them - so do I - or would like to. I was not worried. Being a “professional", I always carried two camera bodies with me when out in the landscape. After swapping them out, I went through the same process, pressed the shutter and, only silence. In all of my 50 years of photographing, I have never before had two cameras break down at the same time. After much fumbling around in the cold, cajoling, pleading, cursing, and trying every which way to remedy the situation, I had to give up and return to base. Once back at our car, Tsuyoshi phoned around Hokkaido and finally found a ninety year old camera repair person, many miles away in Asahikawa, who would attempt to repair my cameras. He was able to temporarily fix one, but not the other, and expressed uncertainly that ANY of the photographs I had made that morning, before the camera jammed, would come out. Imagine my delight (and relief) then, months later, after the film was processed, to find this one, well-exposed, image on the film. I consider myself very lucky, and, when its comes down to it, surely, good fortune is one of the most valuable pieces of equipment a photographer can possibly be blessed with."
~Michael Kenna
We are grateful that Michael's film made it through this stressful day of photographing! What are the chances two cameras go down in one shoot! Luckily the film made it, and this beautiful image exists today as the result.
If you connect with Michael's work, I highly suggest visiting the gallery to see Michael's beautiful new exhibition. Presented by Nikkei, the Financial Times and Peter Fetterman Gallery, ‘Japan / A Love story features highlights from Michael Kenna’s work in Japan over almost four decades.
The exhibition runs in Santa Monica from May 11 to July 20. Stay tuned London for the next leg of the exhibition this Fall 2024!
