Crater Aristarchus, Schroter's Valley, and Vicinity 1967

This image of Crater Aristarchus, Schroter's Valley, and Vicinity was made by NASA, with light, and I guess, a camera. It's all about process; the process of light hitting a surface, the process of capturing that with technology. Look at the craters; they're like brushstrokes, aren't they? Or maybe each one is like a canvas in itself, holding light and shadow in its own way. The grayness gives it this kind of solemn feel, but then you see the details. There is a particular crater on the left that is like a perfect circle with a delicate, almost feminine rim, a single dark dot. It reminds me of the early black and white photography of Alfred Stieglitz, where everything is about tone and texture. It's more than just a photo, it's an idea, a conversation between us and the cosmos. Art is about ambiguity, and this image holds that ambiguity so well.