Snap Shots From Hell

An Interview with Phantasmic Photographer and Image Stimulator Jeffery Scott

Interview by Robert Steven Rhine

Photos copyright Jeffery Scott

G&C: Why do you find such beauty in death and suffering and the grotesque? And is “grotesque” only in the eye of the beholder? And do you keep the eye in a pickle jar?

JS: I wouldn’t really say I do. Rather, I don’t find beauty in “suffering.” “Death?” Perhaps there is a certain beauty in that I appreciate the system of things and the fact that everything that is born must pass on to death. Everything that is created has decay within its design and its engineering. So, therefore, I think that there is a “beauty” in things fulfilling their purpose. Yes, I do believe that “grotesque” is well within the eye of the beholder. Look at John Merrick. In all accounts that can be read, we find that he was an extraordinarily kind and loving individual. I would very much have enjoyed knowing him, based on what I have read. If these accounts are accurate... he was indeed a rare individual in any time.

G&C: Would you rather photograph a nude or a double amputee, or a nude double amputee?

JS: If the piece called for it. But I would rather photograph a whole individual and make them that way digitally for the sake of the piece.

G&C: What would you want to shoot on the morning of Armageddon?

JS: People in a state of panic. And then juxtapose that with images of the few that would be calm. Indeed, they would be the ones that truly would understand the ramifications of such an event. I think I would find the contradictions of that juxtaposition fascinating.

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