Lake George 1922 - 1923

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, Lake George, with gelatin silver. It’s not just a snapshot; it’s built, layered, like a painting. Look at the sky! Those clouds are alive – they’re the main event, the drama. Stieglitz coaxes a whole range of grays, a real material presence out of them. It’s almost like you can feel the wind up there. The dark land gives the clouds their stage. Think about the darkroom as a studio. Stieglitz isn’t just recording what’s there; he’s playing with light and dark, dodging and burning to get this weight. He’s making this image, bit by bit, just like a painter builds a picture. You see that conversation again and again with someone like Gerhard Richter, who painted from photographs. It makes you think about what 'nature' really means when an artist gets their hands on it.