Photographer Michael Kenna’s long love affair with Japan on show in Hong Kong exhibition
Briton’s long-exposure landscapes are the product of a resolutely analogue way of working in which he communes with his subjects
When British-born photographer Michael Kenna first visited Japan in 1987, he instantly fell under its spell.
“I was blown away by the aesthetics, the spiritual and religious aspects, the curiosity of the people and their friendliness,” says Kenna via video call from the Japanese city of Kyoto.
“It was completely exotic, beautiful, strange, mysterious, delightful, engaging.”
He explored the length of the country, from Hokkaido in the north to Osaka in the south of Honshu island.
That is what I love about analogue photography – I never know what I have until months later when I have made the contact sheets
Along the way he visited Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, checked into riverside ryokan – traditional Japanese inns – and ate at convenience stores.