Equivalent 1925

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, called "Equivalent", with a camera and photographic paper. There's something so simple, and yet so profound about how Stieglitz captures these clouds. It's all about tonality, that delicate dance between light and dark. Looking at the top right, the way the darker tones define the shapes, it's almost like he's sculpting the sky with light. The wispy, ephemeral quality of the clouds gives them a dreamlike presence. I find myself drawn to how the image flattens and expands, pushing against the edges of the frame. It’s like a conversation between presence and absence. It reminds me a little of Gerhard Richter’s atmospheric abstractions, where form seems to dissolve into pure sensation. Ultimately, this piece invites us to slow down, breathe, and find our own equivalents in the ever-changing sky.