Poplars—Lake George 1936

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, Poplars – Lake George, sometime in the first half of the 20th century. I love the tonal range in this image, the way the light and shadow dance across the scene in a constant conversation. The texture is amazing, isn't it? Look at the bark on those trees – each line and groove seems to tell a story of time and weather. And the way the branches reach up into the sky, like veins connecting earth and heaven! There’s something about the way he’s captured these trees, they’re not just standing there, they’re reaching, striving. Like they're in the middle of becoming something else. It reminds me a little of Georgia O’Keeffe, who was, of course, married to Stieglitz. In both their works, they find a way to make you look closely at something we might normally take for granted, to really *see* it. That’s the gift of art, right? To make us see the world anew, to find beauty in the unexpected.