Gregory Crewdson is a photographer by trade, but a short fiction creator at heart. His works, constructed and then photographed, solely for the purpose of the photograph, are achievements of miniature story-telling as well as accomplishments in the realm of aligning people, things and places with ideas.

The reason, I think his work speaks, is because of the obvious level of intention he manages to imbue unto the far side of his lens. All artists face an uphill battle in turning their ideas into reality and negotiating the compromises that tend to stand in the way of doing that. Listen to him speak about his art: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5157819

Note the photograph of the burning house. It begs the question, if this photo is constructed solely for the sake of itself, what is lost and what is gained from it. How would the same photograph look if it were a documentation of an arson rather than this staged photograph? And what avenue does one take to arrive at a professional enough level to be able to ask a town to light a house on fire for a picture? And what of the hundreds of pairs of eyes and hands that make his photographs realized. Food for thought.  via (NSFW)