Poplars—Lake George 1935

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, Poplars—Lake George, with gelatin silver print on paper. Look at the way those trees are reaching up! It’s like Stieglitz was trying to capture not just the trees themselves, but their reaching, striving energy. I can imagine him out there, maybe a little bit cold, but totally focused on framing that shot, trying to line up those verticals just right. And the light! How it hits the leaves and the way the clouds are doing their cloud thing in the background. It's like he wanted to show us the world in all its messy, beautiful glory. It reminds me a little of Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings, that same kind of searching for something deeper in the everyday. These artists inspire each other, and they inspire me.