Where does aesthetically wonderful and conceptually rich meet? Is there a place? How does one go about making work that is so visually engaging that the audience feels compelled to spend a considerable amount of time in front of it, but still reaches really important issues or creates good discussion?
Either lots of luck and good timing, or lots of labor and planning. If you're wanting something very specific, you need to specifically control those variables. Choose a spot, set up, and manipulate what you want or need. Make thumbnails. Consider symbolism and connotations of objects and events. This type of photography forces you to think before you shoot, rather than shoot and figure out what you're talking about later.
But how does that fit in with your 'honesty policy'? The desire to shoot the truth, and only the truth, as you find it in the world, without any predetermination or meditation to be photographed? The 'raw', the 'unassuming'?