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I don't think it is even possible to define what a good photograph is, so it is difficult to instruct anybody how to make one. Beauty and aesthetics are subjective, and very much in the mind of the beholder.

Michael Kenna

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Michael Kenna
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More quotes by Michael Kenna

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My advice to any budding artist is never to be satisfied with imitating others. This is but a means to an end. A serious artist will work with intensity to discover themselves, their own personal vision. I believe this is a fundamental aspect of the creative path.
Michael Kenna
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Easier is not necessarily better.
Michael Kenna
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One advances by standing on the shoulders of giants, but the ultimate goal is to find one's own vision.
Michael Kenna
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The first time, I usually skim off the outer layer and end up with photographs that are fairly obvious. The second time, I have to look a little deeper. The images get more interesting. The third time it is even more challenging and on each subsequent occasion, the images should get stronger, but it takes more effort to get them.
Michael Kenna
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If the quality of professional materials continues to erode or even dries up, then many of us silver photographers would have to follow the digital tidal wave. It certainly wouldn't be the end of the world, but in my opinion, having no silver material available would be a huge loss to photography.
Michael Kenna
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I would strongly encourage anybody embarking on photography as a career to embrace and enjoy the whole process. Being a photographer can be a wonderful way to experience the world.
Michael Kenna
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I prefer to think of photography as a never ending journey with infinite possibilities. I love to return to places to re photograph. Nothing is ever the same. The options are endless.
Michael Kenna
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We all have choices and must make them for ourselves.
Michael Kenna
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Parks and gardens are the quintessential intimate landscapes. People use them all the time, leaving their energy and memories behind. It's what's left behind that I like to photograph.
Michael Kenna
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We see in colour all the time. Everything around us is in colour. Black and white is therefore immediately an interpretation of the world, rather than a copy.
Michael Kenna
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I gravitate towards places where humans have been and are no more, to the edge of man's influence, where the elements are taking over or covering man's traces.
Michael Kenna
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I don't have anything against colour. It is just not my first preference. I have always found black and white photographs to be quieter and more mysterious than those made in colour.
Michael Kenna
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Instant gratification in photography is not something that I need or desire. I find that the long, slow journey to the final print captivates me far more.
Michael Kenna
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There can be no doubt that probability increases with practice. Fortune favours the brave, fortune favours the prepared mind, and fortune favours those who work the hardest.
Michael Kenna
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For me, this is one of the advantages of not using digital, I never know when I have a good photograph! I practice doubt as a way to push myself into alternative compositions by selective focus, different speeds of exposure, and unusual perspectives.
Michael Kenna
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Different assignments, different places, require different approaches. Sometimes I take minutes in a location, at other times days. There are many places that I have returned to over several years. When I photograph, I look for some sort of resonance, connection, spark of recognition.
Michael Kenna
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I believe that every photographer, every artist, should choose materials and equipment based on their own vision. I don't believe that non-digital is necessarily better than digital, or the reverse for that matter. They are just different, and it is my preference and choice to remain with the traditional silver process, at least for the time being.
Michael Kenna
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There are many aspects about what and why we photograph: visual pleasure, personal empathy, intellectual stimulation, technical excellence, etc. Serious photographers and artists will try to create works that are original. Over a career period they may develop a singular identity in their images.
Michael Kenna
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Perhaps most intriguing of all is that it is possible to photograph what is impossible for the human eye to see - cumulative time.
Michael Kenna
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Essentially, I look for what is interesting to me, out there in the three-dimensional world, and translate or interpret so that it becomes visually pleasing in a two-dimensional photographic print. I search for subject matter with visual patterns, interesting abstractions and graphic compositions.
Michael Kenna