Photographs of nature, food, cities and quiet abstractions

From the blog

Posts cover camera gear, technique and the occasional mishap. Topics include Sony's electronic viewfinder with the RX100 M2, the move from APS-C to full frame DSLRs, the Sigma 70mm f2.8 Macro lens, autofocus micro-adjustment, dust protection and the search for the right camera bag.

• Rationale for a Full Frame DSLR — January 12, 2011
• Bags, Bags, Bags: my journey to the best DSLR camera bag — October 30, 2012
• How to drop a DSLR — brand new Canon 5D Mark III — November 30, 2012
• Sony's Electronic Viewfinder FDA-EV1MK and the RX100 M2 — September 21, 2013

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The pleasure of a photograph often begins in the noticing. Bob Keenan's work is built around that simple idea, gathering images of nature, food, cities and quiet abstractions under the loose heading of discovering beauty. Some of what appears here is grand and obvious, but much of it is small and easily passed by: a shift of light across a surface, an odd symmetry in an ordinary street, a texture that only becomes interesting when the camera is close enough. The site is arranged as an invitation to slow down and look more carefully at things that rarely ask to be looked at.

The galleries gather examples from the different strands of the work, so a visitor can wander between them without any particular route in mind. Nature and animals sit alongside urban scenes, rural and suburban views, and studies of food, abstract forms and the occasional dynamic range treatment. Rather than sorting everything into a single tidy argument, the collection lets the categories sit next to one another and reveal the connections that emerge when a photographer keeps returning to the same curiosity about shape, colour and light.

Browsing the portfolio is deliberately simple. Each gallery shows a small selection of examples, and clicking one of those images opens an uncropped version, giving a sense of the fuller frame rather than only the finished crop. A second click carries the viewer through to the complete gallery for that subject. It is a modest, unhurried way of moving through the pictures, one that rewards a little patience and lets the images, rather than any elaborate interface, do most of the talking.

Behind the pictures is a long familiarity with the craft. Bob Keenan has carried a camera for more than five decades, beginning in the film era and later working with digital Canon equipment. That kind of accumulated time shows less in technical display than in ease, in the confidence to wait for the right moment or to recognise when a scene has quietly arranged itself. The photographs read as the work of someone who has learned to trust his eye and to keep returning to subjects that still hold his attention.

Alongside the galleries, the site includes a blog where thoughts about pictures and the process of making them can be set down at a more personal pace. Images are also offered as files, prints and framed or canvas pieces for those who would like to live with one. The whole thing is kept deliberately spare and airy, with generous space around the words and the line-drawn details, so that the focus stays where it belongs: on discovering beauty in the world and sharing it.