Equivalent 1925

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, a gelatin silver print called "Equivalent," sometime in the first half of the 20th century. I imagine him looking up, squinting, and trying to capture the elusive, ever-changing forms of clouds. It's a small print, intimate, like a stolen moment. The tones range from deep grays to soft, luminous whites. There's this sense of infinite space and light. I can almost feel the breeze and hear the whisper of the wind. It reminds me of the way Agnes Martin made her paintings, trying to capture the essence of nature, a feeling, an emotion, a state of mind. I bet Stieglitz wasn't just trying to document clouds. He wanted to find equivalents for his own feelings, his own experiences. What does it mean to translate feeling into form? It's like artists are in an ongoing conversation, each one building on what came before, searching for new ways to express the inexpressible.