Equivalent 1927

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, Equivalent, with a camera, and it's all about how a picture of something, like clouds, can stand in for something else, like feelings. The tones in this photograph are really interesting, how they shift from dark to light, especially where the clouds and the dark mass of the tree meet, it’s not just about what’s in the photo, but about how Stieglitz wants us to *feel* looking at it. Like a mood, a vibe. I look at this tree, reaching upwards, it reminds me of Georgia O’Keeffe’s flowers, how she zoomed in and abstracted them. Stieglitz is doing something similar here but with clouds, inviting us to project our own stuff onto it. Art's like that, an ongoing conversation, a back and forth, where meaning is never fixed.