Aileen Flannery 1902

Alfred Stieglitz made this image of Aileen Flannery using photography, and the results are as soft and delicate as a watercolour painting. Stieglitz has such an amazing ability to capture the feeling of light, it's really something. Looking at it, I can almost feel the texture of the sand and the warmth of the day. The baby is focused on the earth, and it reminds me how children have this innate ability to be in the present moment, to see and feel the world with a kind of clarity that we adults often lose. It's all about exploring the world right there in front of you. I wonder what Stieglitz was thinking when he took the photo. Was he trying to capture something about childhood, about innocence? I like to imagine that the whole world of photography, for him, was a conversation with painting. It makes me remember that as artists we're always in dialogue with each other.