Georgia O'Keeffe and Waldo Frank 1920

This is a photograph by Alfred Stieglitz showing Georgia O'Keeffe and Waldo Frank. The tonal range is wonderful, a kind of silvery grey scale. There is something deeply satisfying about how the ripples in the water are described. And it’s so full of light. Isn’t it funny how we see light and water? I suppose they are the same thing, or at least water refracts light in a way that makes light visible. Stieglitz here has not only captured light in the water, but light on O'Keeffe's skin, light on Waldo Frank's face, all the details of light. The composition of the image is interesting, too. O'Keeffe dominates the image, but she is in the background. Waldo Frank is off to the side, almost as if he is the support act. It puts me in mind of Gerhard Richter’s blurred photographs, but somehow this feels more immediate, more personal. Like a memory. All photographs are documents, but they’re also always already interpretations.