The gloved hands of a heart surgeon cut into the chest during surgery. The shineyness of the gloves make this photo look futuristic and somewhat surreal.

After the heart surgeon cuts into the patient's chest, the cauterizing device staunches the bleeding edges of the incision.

For me, the worst part of photographing surgery is the smell of burning flesh. As Jerome Groopman wrote in a New Yorker article, "With each dab of the cautery, there is a tiny wisp of smoke, which dissipates, and the smell of burning flesh, which does not."