Hedwig Stieglitz and Katherine Herzig, Lake George 1919 - 1922

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph titled ‘Hedwig Stieglitz and Katherine Herzig, Lake George’ with a camera, of course, on a small rectangular piece of paper. The image is soft and grainy, and it almost feels like you're looking at a memory rather than a concrete moment. I wonder what Stieglitz was thinking as he framed this shot. Maybe he saw something of himself in these two women, a shared vulnerability, a reaching for connection. The lighting is gorgeous, and it catches the folds of their skirts. This is a very human moment between two people who need each other, who help each other find balance, on what looks like uneven ground. There's something so universal about the feeling here, the desire for companionship, the awareness of our own limitations. It reminds me of the work of other artists, painters like Paula Modersohn-Becker or Alice Neel who didn't shy away from capturing the intimate reality of people.