Katherine 1921

Here's a photograph by Alfred Stieglitz, simply titled Katherine. It’s a small, gelatin silver print. I wonder about the story behind Katherine. Stieglitz frames Katherine against a dark backdrop of foliage, pushing her forward, into the light. She is smiling, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. Her hands are clenched and held down at her sides. Is she self-conscious, or is she genuinely delighted? Was she really called Katherine? I imagine Stieglitz trying to capture something essential about her. Something real. Maybe he asked her to smile and hold still, telling her he would capture her spirit. But can we ever truly capture someone’s spirit? Or do we just catch a glimpse, a fleeting moment that hints at something deeper? What’s real, what’s posed, what’s captured—it’s all part of a larger conversation, an ongoing experiment in seeing and being seen.