Street photography—and especially selfies—will never be the same for me. As an artist, part of what I do is lay society bare. It’s not a responsibility I carry so much as a compulsion, something embedded in the act itself. We’re utterly obsessed with ourselves—our appearance, our image. I don’t pass judgment on it, though, because what’s the point? Humanity has been sold this obsession. Somebody in a marketing department cracked the code long ago: vanity sells. And who can resist their own reflection, especially when filters, photo editors, and influencers make perfection so accessible?

I can’t help but think of Kurt Vonnegut’s advice: give humanity a break. That’s a rebel’s take if you ask me. It’s easy to sit on the sidelines and sneer at trends you don’t participate in. But isn’t the urge to be nasty just as primal as the desire to look good in a selfie? It’s all part of the same human mess. We’ve painted ourselves into a corner so deep and shadowed that the ones truly responsible for this state of things are long hidden. Such is the power of manipulation.

Now, let’s talk about the piece, "Hell Hath No Filter." The whole thing cracks me up. The original image was taken with the same phone that features in the shot. But the woman? She isn’t real. Or is she? The driver, though—that guy’s real... unless he’s not. The only solid clue is me in the backseat—if I can be trusted, that is. Giving myself the benefit of the doubt, let’s just say I used AI to swap myself out for someone much more diabolical. The auto driver? Just some guy I caught with his one eye reflecting back, maybe reacting to someone leaning too hard on the horn. Classic Mumbai traffic at night—some of the worst in the world, if you ask me.

What I love about this process is how it lets me push boundaries. I’ve been experimenting with ICM and/or street photography on my iPhone, then throwing AI into the mix to rewrite the story entirely. It feels like I’ve found a new artistic home—a place where the rules of reality are entirely optional.