Sunday, Fifth Avenue and Fifty-Seventh Street, New York c. 1893 - 1934

This image, made by Alfred Stieglitz, captures a moment on Fifth Avenue with a camera, and it’s fascinating how he coaxes softness from such a mechanical device. The photograph feels like a painting, with its blurred lines and tonal washes of grey. There's a stillness despite the implied movement, like a paused scene in a film. I’m drawn to the way the light reflects off the wet street, creating a shimmering effect that almost dissolves the solid forms. The horse and carriage, the buildings, even the people, all seem to be emerging from, or perhaps sinking into, this liquid space. Look at how the reflections stretch and distort, turning the mundane into something almost abstract. Stieglitz was part of the Photo-Secession movement, and you can see that sensibility here, that interest in photography as an art form, equal to painting. Like the Impressionists, who were his contemporaries, he embraced atmosphere and fleeting moments, showing us that reality is always a bit slippery, a bit dreamlike.