Equivalent c. 1927

Alfred Stieglitz made this small black and white photograph, Equivalent, by pointing his camera up towards the sky. There's a real drama to these clouds! They billow and push, morphing into soft, solid forms against the dark sky. It's interesting to imagine Stieglitz looking up, framing these clouds, trying to find shapes that echoed his inner feelings. I can imagine him thinking, “This one’s melancholy… that one’s joy.” He was trying to find a visual language for emotions. We often forget that photography can be just as expressive as painting or drawing. He might as well have been using a brush! The high contrast of the black and white adds to the intensity, making the clouds seem almost sculptural. It's like he's saying, "Look, the world is full of feeling, you just have to know how to see it." And that’s what art is all about, right? Seeing the world in a new way, and helping others see it too.