The Dirigible Possibly 1910 - 1934

Alfred Stieglitz made this gelatin silver print, "The Dirigible", with a camera, exposing treated paper to light. Can you imagine him, outdoors, looking up and composing the shot? The palette of muted greys suggests a moment captured in time, a fleeting glimpse of technology against the expanse of the sky. The clouds are heavy, pregnant with rain. It makes me think about the relationship between new technologies and our natural world. Stieglitz was interested in capturing modern life, and here he does it with such tenderness. It feels like he is inviting us to contemplate our place in the world. I wonder if he was thinking about the work of earlier painters, like the Hudson River School, who tried to capture the sublime power of nature. Stieglitz seems to be saying that even machines can be beautiful, even the sky can be industrialized. Like painters, photographers capture light, shadow and emotion; he adds a new dimension.