Lake George 1923

This photo, Lake George, was taken by Alfred Stieglitz sometime in his lifetime. It’s a photograph, so the marks aren't gestural in the same way they are in painting, but I still imagine how the image emerged: click by click. Stieglitz was at Lake George, I imagine he was freezing cold, maybe even a little bit miserable, standing outside taking shot after shot, each slightly different. I'm thinking about the light, how the snow gives the landscape its form. It almost transforms the trees into sculptures. That central tree is like a dancer stretching their arms out, maybe reaching for something, or trying to keep its balance. What was it like to watch the seasons change at Lake George? So many artists went to this location, it became a place for thinking and feeling about the world. It reminds me of Cezanne painting Mont Sainte-Victoire again and again.