Ellen Koeniger, Lake George 1916

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, Ellen Koeniger, Lake George, with gelatin silver. The composition is like a moment snatched from a movie, Ellen with her shiny bathing suit, the water, and the branch above her head create a scene we can easily imagine. The silvery tones and the soft gradations are just beautiful. Look at the ripples on the water. It's a lesson in how light can model form, how tone can be sensual. There’s an area near Ellen’s feet where the water reflects the light. This creates an anchor in the composition. I think about other artists that use photography to capture fleeting moments like Jeff Wall. Stieglitz presents Ellen as someone caught between earth and sky, time and place. It's more of a feeling than a concrete idea, like a good painting, it embraces ambiguity.