Words can kill

Have you ever been told some things that ended up hurting you?

I came up with the idea of this conceptual shot while remembering the harsh words I have been told by someone close to me. Those words really hurt me deeply from inside and left scars that took many years to heal.

We often forget the power of words. Blows can leave physical marks that could take a few days to disappear but words strike you from inside and might take years to heal.
We all have hears stories of teenagers being bullied in schools, parents being harsj with their children, upset friends unleashing their anger over those close to them.. Ugly, useless, Fat, Stupid... those words can really change a person.

To convey this feeling, I wanted to show the violence of the words by using what characterizes violence the most: Blood.
I used a fountain pen and some fake blood and carefully composed the shot. I actually tried many versions before choosing this one. Originally I wanted to add some words on the paper but ended up removing them. The sharpness and blood dripping from the pen shows that words can be used as weapons.

I took this indoor, on a white sheet of paper with an external flash bouncing on the wall.
I shot this at 1/15s, ISO 200 and f/5.6 (I don't know why I chose to shoot at such slow shutterspeed! Have to be more careful).
I then processed the photo a bit in Photoshop to adjust the levels/curves and add the frame/title.

I was glad to see that this photo reached many people as it was a daily feature on DeviantArt.
Be careful people, words are weapons sharper than steel.