In an era where cameras fire off 30 frames per second and computational photography happens in milliseconds, Michael Kenna still works the way he did in 1987: one frame, one night, sometimes ten hours of exposure. Which means his new exhibition at London's Photographers' Gallery, Shin Shin – arriving just as winter settles – offers something increasingly rare in photography. Work that asks you to slow down and look deeper.
The title comes from the Japanese onomatopoeia しんしん (shin shin), which describes the sound of deep, silent, falling snow. It's an apt choice. Kenna's photographs don't just depict a particular type of weather; they embody the meditative stillness that drew him to Japan nearly four decades ago. And these aren't, it must be stressed, quick captures. They're the result of standing in the cold darkness for hours, waiting for his large-format 120mm camera to gather enough light to transform a scene into something otherworldly.
