In the New York Central Yards Possibly 1903 - 1911

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, "In the New York Central Yards", and what strikes me is how the city is evoked by steam and steel. I imagine Stieglitz out there in the cold, composing the image in the ground glass of his camera, waiting for that moment when the steam just bloomed to become this monumental plume. What I love about photography, and painting too, is how the artist makes something out of nothing, or rather, finds something in what is already there. It’s a way of seeing and then making that seeing visible, a process of inquiry. That great burst of steam becomes a cloud, a tree, a great explosion, full of life. The tracks lead you in, but the dark train holds you back. Photography is like painting, full of accident and intuition, and each artist builds on what came before. The image embraces ambiguity, and that is where the art happens.