Head in the Clouds

Very rarely do we have a day in Phoenix where they sky is not radiantly clear blue. So I tend to notice when lovely clouds fill my cities sky. Clouds are a lot prettier when you don’t see them that often. I’ve noticed that two thoughts habitually cross my mind now when I see clouds. Alfred Stieglitz and the Simpsons.


If the clouds are spotty and perfectly poofy, I always hear “The Simpsons….” to the opening credits music. I thank Josh for this who will say to me, “It’s a Simpson’s weather day.” Bless him.

Alfred Stieglitz is the second thought. Stieglitz is a photographer who lived from 1864 – 1946 and was married to the more commonly known Georgia O’Keefe. Stieglitz has a fun name to say and he is very famous in the art world. I can guarantee you’ve seen at least one of his photos. In his late 50s, Al decided to start taking photos of clouds as a means to really show off his ability to take great photos of anything, no real subject matter needed. He’s a bit cocky that Alfred. But to his credit, they are breathtaking. Here’s the grip and why he holds a little portion of my conscious, a large portion of these cloud photos Alfred named after an emotion. A flurry of clouds would be “Anguish.” Airy full clouds would be “Content.” I may have at one categorized clouds as angry, but content? The thought had never crossed my mind at 19 when I learned about this collection. And to this day when I see clouds I Stieglitz them, I can’t help but try to put an emotion to my clouds. I wonder what Stieglitz would name them and if I’d agree. Maybe today the clouds we’d agree are simply “pleasant.”