Kenna was born in 1953 in England an grew up in an Irish-Catholic family. He attended seminary school until age 17, with the intention of becoming a priest. After discovering his talent for art, he decided against joining the holy priesthood in favor of a more creative career.
After a year at the Banbury School of Art, where he received his first photographic instruction, Kenna applied to the London College of Printing in both the graphic design and commercial photography departments. While pursuing his hobby of landscape photography, he took every chance to practice his craft commercially.
He discovered photographers like Sudek, Atget e Steigliz., he get passioned with the paintings by Casper David Friedrich, John Constable and Joseph Turner. He is highly influenced by artists in different fields: poetry, sculpture, painting, music.
In 1977, Kenna moved to San Francisco for the opportunity to show and sell his work in galleries. There, he met Ruth Bernhard, who hired him as her printer in 1977 and introduced him to the creative potential of the printing process.
In 2004 he moved to Oregon and since 2007 he lives in Seattle.
His production is almost exclusively focused on landscape. Not just any landscape, so much so that his style is unique and recognizable. Only black and white photographs, often with very long exposure times. He loves shooting in low light conditions. Regarding this aspect he said: “The light of bright days makes it all about the subject but leaves very little to the imagination”.