迈克尔·肯纳（Michael Kenna）是当今备受欢迎的风景摄影师。本书是他迄今为止创作的最具个人色彩的作品——一幅关于他就读了七年的神学院寄宿学校的亲密肖像，这深深影响了他的艺术实践。
11岁时，迈克尔·肯纳在阿普霍兰圣约瑟夫学院的临时暗房里冲洗了他的**卷黑白胶片，当时他就读该所神学院是想成为一名天主教牧师。肯纳离开神学院后放弃了他的宗教使命，但他在那里的经历几十年来一直影响着他的工作。这些华丽的、沉思的照片是肯纳在21世纪初回访这所现已关闭的学校时拍摄的。所有让肯纳的作品如此吸引人和令人回味的品质都在这里，如丰富细微的色调、对比研究、将普通事物转化为非凡事物的能力。但肯纳也在重新审视一种可能正在消失的生活方式，不仅是英国寄宿学校有时无情的纪律，而且还有宗教实践的阴郁之美。在一页又一页色彩丰富的图片中，肯纳捕捉到了学校的建筑环境以及它的精神架构。肯纳的传记文章非常详细地记录了他在圣约瑟夫教堂的经历和观察，揭示了肯纳思考和工作的方式。文森特·迈尔斯（Vincent Miles）的一篇评论文章着重介绍了该学院110年的历史，并将肯纳在那里的时光置于背景中。这一系列作品既迷人又令人难忘，是迄今为止摄影师最具个人魅力和最强大的项目之一。
From one of the most acclaimed photographers working today comes his most personal work to date―an intimate portrait of the seminary boarding school he attended for seven years and which deeply informed his artistic practice.
At age eleven, Michael Kenna developed his first roll of black and white film in a makeshift darkroom at St. Joseph’s College, Upholland, the seminary he attended with the idea of becoming a Catholic priest. Kenna abandoned his religious calling after leaving the seminary, but his experiences there have continued to inform his work for decades. These gorgeous, meditative photographs were taken when Kenna returned to visit the now-shuttered school in the early 2000s. All of the qualities that make Kenna’s work so appealing and evocative are here―richly nuanced tones, studies in contrast, his ability to transform the ordinary into something extraordinary. But Kenna is also revisiting a way of life that may be disappearing―not only the, at times, ruthless discipline of the British boarding school, but also the somber beauty of religious practice. In page after page of richly toned images, Kenna’s camera captures the architecture of the school’s built environment as well as its spiritual architecture. Kenna’s richly detailed biographical essay about his experiences and observations at St. Joseph's reveal much about the way Kenna thinks and works. A critical essay by Vincent Miles focuses on the 110-year history of the college, contextualizing Kenna’s time there. At once captivating and haunting, this series is truly one of the photographer’s most personal and powerful projects to date.
