Equivalent 1927

This photograph by Alfred Stieglitz captures a slice of the sky, printed in black and white. Imagine him, standing there, gazing up, coaxing this image into being. It’s like he’s wrestling with light and shadow to find a form for his feelings. The clouds are amazing - striated, soft and full of movement. Each tiny shift in tone feels like a brushstroke. It's easy to see how he called these images "Equivalents" - how clouds can be metaphors for inner states. Photography and painting have always been in dialogue, each pushing the other to see differently. When I look at this, I can see what painters like Gerhard Richter or Vija Celmins were thinking about when they turned photographs into paintings. There is a constant exchange of ideas. Stieglitz invites us to find our own equivalents.