OM2 Ingvar Kenne

Biography

Ingvar Kenne is a Swedish born photographer based in Sydney, Australia. He has been working in the fields of editorial and advertising photography for the last ten years in the Australasia region and Europe, including commissions from Colours Magazine.

Ingvar has always pursued his own photographic projects, which have resulted in more then a dozen solo exhibitions, two books [On the Side and Chasing Summer] and he has also been the recipient of several artist work grants. In 2005 Ingvar was included in a select list as one of 30 emerging international professional photographers at Cannes, France.

A bird’s-eye view.

An conversation between Ingvar Kenne and K.F.

{19th of October 2005}

Why did you choose to become a photographer and work with images?

It was actually a love for birds, which started it. I was really into them and ornithology and looking at birds. In order to capture something of them I started using my Dad’s camera. Eventually, he got sick of developing all these film rolls of small little flying seagulls or, y’know, finches. So he gave me my first camera, when I was about 15, with a big 400 millimeter telephoto lens. And the bird thing—it’s still something I am really keen and interested in. But photography, yeah, that’s where my life ended up going when I was 16.

When did you turn professional?

I did a BA course—1988 to 1991—graduating in 1991, so it was a gradual thing. I don’t know when I turned professional but after that photography course I probably spent 2 years on the dole working on my first photographic book and having an exhibition, living off an artist’s grant.

And then there was this journey I undertook, ‘Chasing Summer’ [Kenne’s personal photographic journey documented in a hard back book, 2004], which was a two and a half year journey and formed my visual language. That then led to my commercial language. But it didn’t happen until 1998 when, I think, I probably did my first commissioned job ever. And it was in Australia.