Alfred Stieglitz

"Alfred Stieglitz is often called the father of modern photography because of his driving force in the fight to have photography recognized as an art form. Camera Work was one of the greatest accomplishments of Stieglitz in his mission to bring the level of photographic art in the United States up to the level of work being produced in England and Europe." He photographed clouds to demonstrate how to "hold a moment, how to record something so completely, that all who see will relieve an equivilant of what has been expressed." He was born in Hoboken, NJ in 1864. He is best known for the images, "Winter, Fifth Avenue" and "The Terminal," but after doing my project on clouds for assignment 3, I find his cloud studies very interesting. I like to high contrast between black and white in some of his images; and then he also has some that are full of midtones and very low contrast. The sun is in some pictures: siloetted, or sunlight coming in from the side. In others, there is no sun visable, but still light. I think that everyone has looked up at the sky at somepoint and has found some type of meaning in the clouds. Dark, storm clouds, rainy clouds, sunny, huge, small, cottony, wispy, bright, dull, different shapes and sizes. Some people can spend a lazy afternoon looking at the clouds and finding shapes and animals in them. I think that Stieglitz was a legacy in promoting photography in America. Currently, his cloud work is not for sale, but is priced between $55,000 and $65,000! wow, that's amazingly high for a photograph.