Georgia O'Keeffe—Hands 1918

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph of Georgia O'Keeffe's hands with a camera, but look at how he coaxes out the light and shadow as if he's using paint. The tonal range is almost monochromatic, a symphony of browns and sepias. The beauty here isn’t just in the subject, it’s in the way Stieglitz captures the subtle play of light across her skin. The fingers are long and elegant, and the way he obscures them in shadow makes me feel like I'm intruding on an intimate moment. Look closely at the way he coaxes a glow from the skin, it feels so soft. I love how he brings the feeling of sculpture to photography. It reminds me a bit of Edward Weston's nudes, but with a tenderness that feels unique. In both artists, you see a desire to find the abstract within the real, turning a body into a landscape of light and form. It’s all about how we choose to see.