ABSTRACT
This chapter is an invitation to question two stubborn bits of conventional photographic wisdom: first, that the subject of a photograph must be in the foreground and sharply focused; and second, that any area of an image that is out of focus must be in the background, which is assumed to be a region of no importance. Habit alone has instructed the reader that a sharp foreground with a blurred background mimics the experience of human eyesight. Throughout the photograph, differing degrees of motion-induced ghost images and blurring alternate with isolated areas of sharp focus. By virtue of the people participatory activity, blurry images often enter into our interior space, sometimes without our permission. Stieglitz did not use blurriness per se or abstraction to accomplish this goal. Stieglitz's early connection to the photographers of the Photo-Secession movement, and their attempt to recreate painterly effects through the use of soft focus and blur, should not be confused with his own practice.
