Although Michael Kenna now uses digital technology, preparing his compositions with a smartphone and sharing his work online, his photographs are all produced using traditional film techniques, which rely on the light sensitivity of silver halides. In silver halide photography, the shot produces a negative on film, which is then used as a matrix for printing on paper. The final work is only the visible part of a multitude of images produced at different stages (instant prints and digital shots in the field, contact sheets and test prints in the darkroom). The final print is also reproduced after its creation on various media (books, portfolios, calendars). Unlike many photographers, Michael Kenna prints his own images and sometimes retouches them manually with ink - these steps providing valuable tools for interpreting the subject. In this section, follow the life of an image photographed in Japan, from shooting to editing.

Michael Kenna’s photographs taken in temples and shrines across Asia depict the devotion of men and women, which can be seen both in the architecture and in the traces of pious gestures. This subject is particularly dear to the photographer, who has described shooting and printing as meditative activities, his photographs as prayers, and his formal vocabulary as the fruit of a spiritual understanding of existence.

Musée national des arts asiatiques
Commissariat de l’exposition
Edouard de Saint-Ours, Curator of photographic collections, Guimet Museum, Paris

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