Equivalent c. 1927

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, Equivalent, using gelatin silver print. It's a dance of light and dark, where the clouds aren't just clouds but feelings, you know? The blacks are so rich, like ink bleeding into the paper, and the whites are these soft whispers, almost like he’s captured a fleeting thought. Look at how the sky isn't just a backdrop; it's the main player. The clouds build up and around the branches, in turn defining the negative space of the clouds themselves. It makes you think about how we see, how we feel, and how those two things are always tangled up together. It makes me think of Gerhard Richter, who was also interested in the interplay between photography and painting, abstraction and representation. Both make you question what you think you know about seeing the world. For Stieglitz, the clouds are a mirror, reflecting something deeper than just what’s in front of the lens.