Untitled 1980

This gelatin silver print, made by Ralph Steiner, it is a meditation on the drama of weather. Just imagine Steiner out there, camera in hand, squinting at the sky, waiting for the right moment, the right light. Look at those brushstrokes of cloud, pulled across the sky! They feel like the strokes of an impasto painting, thick with meaning. I wonder if Georgia O’Keeffe ever looked up and saw the same shapes in the sky as Steiner. She saw the landscape as a body, a form, just like him. Steiner had to be patient to capture this scene, waiting for the clouds to arrange themselves. It makes me think about how all art forms are really just about capturing something fleeting, a feeling or a thought, and holding onto it for a little while. Like trying to catch smoke, you know? And then sharing it. That's what Steiner did.