I have always been fascinated with the elegant beauty of Michael Kenna’s work. In particular, I fell in love with the minimal geometries of his work in Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan. Needless to say, I purchased all his books about Japan and Hokkaido and read every published interview.

This weekend, inspired by the snow falling over New York, I decided to visit Michael’s website to browse again some of his older images and I was surprised to find out that the website has been recently completely redone. Even more surprising was to find on the interviews page a beautiful video, produced by Joy of Giving Something, in which Michael goes to Kussharo Lake, in Hokkaido, to pay a visit and photograph one of his favorite trees.

I had previously read in a 2007 interview given to ArtWorks how Michael Kenna likes to “know a tree, quite closely”, how he “often spends a long time circling the tree, getting to know it” and how he likes “to go back to that same tree two years later, five years later,” or as often as he can. But one thing is reading about it and another thing is actually seeing Michael at work in the waist-high snow of Hokkaido, taking pictures of trees and snow barriers with his Hasselblad.

Opening 2010 with a post about Michael Kenna is for me a very special treat. I would like to thank Michael for sharing this amazing video with all of us and congratulate him for his brand new website, which I find a big improvement compared to the older one. And, of course, I also would like to wish everyone a very happy new year and invite you all to contact the Green Tea Gallery Magazine with ideas and comments.