Lake George 1927

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, Lake George, with light and a camera, both material things! It’s a study in grayscale—light to dark, dark to light. I wonder if he saw the world this way, in values? Think about what it would have been like for Stieglitz to wander around with a camera. What was he looking for? What was he thinking when he framed this shot? I feel him empathizing with the landscape, looking back at him. The shadows in the foreground stretch back, a kind of invitation to the lake and the hills. Everything is soft. What I like about this photograph is the way Stieglitz is in conversation with other painters. Painters and photographers inspire one another across time. They embrace ambiguity, layering meaning over meaning. This photograph is just one way of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world.