We thought we'd witnessed the coolest way of capturing bullets on film when The Matrix slow-moed its way into our lives in 1999 (yeah, that's 14 years ago).
Photographer Sabine Pearlman gives the Wachowski brothers some lethal competition with her portrait series, Ammo.
Pearlman's images capture the inner workings of 900 deadly projectiles, slicing them in half to reveal their unique combinations of propellant (the explosive powder in the lower half of the bullet case) and terrifying bullet design.
A scroll through Pearlman's work quickly becomes an exercise of "That would hurt most... no, that would hurt most... no, wait, what does that even do?!".
If the images weren't threateningly morbid enough for you, there's an added detail that the series was taken inside a WWII bunker in Switzerland. Perhaps it made the bullets feel more relaxed?
Speaking about her work, Pearlman says: "I was originally intrigued by the ambiguous nature of the subject matter. The cross-sections reveal a hidden complexity and beauty of form, which stands in vast contrast to the destructive purpose of the object. It's a representation of the evil and the beautiful, a reflection of the human condition." Quite.
(Images: Sabine Pearlman)
