Ida and Georgia O'Keeffe 1924

This gelatin silver print captures Georgia O’Keeffe with her sister Ida, sometime in the 1920s, by Alfred Stieglitz. Isn’t it interesting how the intimacy between the sisters is conveyed through gesture and proximity? It's almost like a painting, right? In a photograph, like in painting, light and shadow describe form. See how the contrast creates a sort of graphic quality? How Stieglitz directs our gaze with careful light and dark, almost like a painter using chiaroscuro. I’m thinking about Georgia, known for her paintings of flowers, skulls, and landscapes. I wonder if, when she posed, she was thinking about how the picture would turn out, about its composition, its tonal range. How does the camera make us look and feel? Painters and photographers, we’re all image makers, finding ways to capture something about ourselves and the world. We're all in conversation, across time, inspiring each other.