Georgia O'Keeffe c. 1918

This sepia photograph is by Alfred Stieglitz, and it is of Georgia O’Keeffe. She's lying down, her head tilted back, her hands clasped together in front of her chest. I can imagine Stieglitz, behind the camera, circling around O’Keeffe. A lover, trying to capture something of her essence. The soft focus and warm tones give the image an intimate feel, like a stolen moment. It’s not a portrait in the traditional sense; it's more like an exploration of form and feeling. O'Keefe's body is curved and soft, but her expression is intense, inscrutable. Is she relaxed, or is there some deeper emotion at play? Like a painter mixing colors, Stieglitz has used light and shadow to sculpt the contours of O’Keeffe’s face and body. The way her skin glows is a reminder that photography, like painting, is a dance between control and chance, intention and accident. And that artists are constantly speaking to each other through time.