Edward Steichen studied painting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the late 1890s, and learned photography in 1895. Through a letter of introduction by Clarence White (a major figure in American photography at the time) he met Alfred Stieglitz in New York, who bought three of his photographs.

Steichen and Stieglitz were to have a strong collaborative friendship for almost fifteen years. They were two of the founding members of the Photo-Secessionist group, promoting photography as an artistic medium and drawing inspiration from painters, such as James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903). They also brought the work of European artists such as Matisse and Picasso to an American audience at the '291' gallery in New York, which Stieglitz set up in 1905.

This photograph was printed for the magazine ‘Camera Work’ (number 14, April 1906), which was founded by Alfred Stieglitz in order to support and promote the work of the new Photo-Secession group. The magazine was published from 1903 to 1917.

Moonlight: The Pond is one of many variations Steichen made on the theme of ‘the pool’. The out-of-focus style of the photograph is typical of Steichen's early work and representative of the suggestive, rather than literal, quality of Photo-Secessionist photography.