Songs of the Sky A6 1923

Alfred Stieglitz captured ‘Songs of the Sky A6’ with a camera, using light and shadow to explore the emotional resonance of clouds. Looking at this image, I imagine Stieglitz gazing upwards, searching for forms in the sky that mirrored his inner states. The clouds, soft and billowing, become brushstrokes in his atmospheric composition. It's like he's painting with light, finding shapes that hover between representation and abstraction, much like his later abstract photographs. There’s a feeling of transience, of something always shifting and changing. I wonder if he felt a sense of freedom in this work, letting go of the need to capture the world as it is, and instead focusing on how it feels. His series of cloud photographs, known as ‘Equivalents’ were a deliberate act to prove that photographs could evoke the same feelings that paintings do. It reminds me that all artists are in conversation with one another across time, all of us trying to explore and give form to our experiences. It’s about embracing ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations, and a more profound engagement with the work.