One of my favorite things to do when working with more than one person is to get them to be more violent with each other. Many photographers are very skilled at telling a lie with the camera, but I always feel like my photos are more visceral because there’s more “truth” in them.

When one person grabs another, I want to see their triceps and deltoids tighten. When someone’s hair is pulled, I want to see their scalp raise in response to the force against it. And the best photo always happens at exactly the moment that the victim first feels the rush of actual sensation, instead of having to fake it.

To me, the power of this photo is the angle. Yes, she’s twisted in a pose only a corpse would be comfortable in. Yes, she’s covered in blood, eyes wide and mouth gaping. But to me, it’s the fact that we the audience are experiencing this photo at eye level that really sells the idea. We’re not looking down from six feet up, like a forensic photographer. We’re looking straight on, from the point of view of the rat that’s about to come lick up the blood…

I imagine something along the line of Ed Gein meets David Berkowitz. Unlike Bundy or Dahmer, whose murders had more of an obsessive sexual nature, Gein and Berkowitz were killing to appease some other personna — like the ritual killings of ancient tribes making sacrifices to their gods in hopes of bringing prosperity, or peace, or just a good season of crops. It’s the same kind of superstitious mythology that leads “medical professionals” to offer prayer to patients in their care. The same dogmatic ignorance that leaves human civilization arguing against itself over whether or not our pollution has caused global warming, even while counting down the days until some fictitious man will come back from the dead, riding out of the sky on a horse. Read that last sentence again, really slowly, and then wonder to yourself about the fact that there are real, living, breathing, intelligent people — lots of them — who actually believe this!

I am enjoying the controversial nature of the opinions given in comments on my Back Alley Abortion photo. It reminds me of why I do this. Perhaps the single most important aspect of art — at least in my opinion — is that it be thought provoking.

Some people view the controversial nature of my photography as a gimmick, or as a stunt. But I don’t choose controversy to get attention… I choose it because it’s interesting. Anyone can paint a horse or sketch a bowl of fruit, but few can do it in such a way as to challenge the viewer’s thoughts. Maybe one day my artistic skill will place me among those elite few who can stir the mind with a simple still frame, but for now I am quite content to know that I am stirring the mind at all.

For a long time I’ve wanted to present a series of photos in graphic novel format. Today I made my first attempt at that. Thoughts?