Ellen Koeniger, Lake George 1916

Alfred Stieglitz captured Ellen Koeniger at Lake George with his camera, using light and shadow like a painter uses brushstrokes. There's a beautiful softness here, a feeling that the image is as much about a fleeting moment as it is about Ellen herself. Look at how the water clings to her bathing suit, turning the fabric almost sculptural. Stieglitz wasn’t just pointing and shooting; he was shaping the light, deciding what to reveal and what to keep in shadow. It's this attention to the surface, to the way light plays, that makes the photograph so tactile, so present. That gleam on her shoulder, the way the fabric pulls and stretches—each detail adds to the feeling that this is about a real person, in a real place, at a real moment in time. You could see the influence of someone like Edward Steichen here, but where Steichen might go for drama, Stieglitz finds beauty in the everyday, elevating the ordinary to something iconic. Ultimately, this photograph reminds us that art isn’t about answers, but about asking better questions.