Here are a couple favorite photos of mine from some live surgeries I shot last week as part of an ortho campaign for a healthcare client in Missouri.  Surprisingly to most of the people that know me this type of photography is something I enjoy a great deal.  Live surgeries are always fun and interesting to me.  Those that know me know I cringe even if someone tells me that they got a shot of I see something as simple as someone getting their teeth cleaned on TV.   For most of the healthcare photography that I do and the surgery shots you may see on my web site  or blog are from fake surgeries staged for photo shoots.  In those type of scenarios I can be mush more creative with my lighting and have a great deal more access to other vantage points in the room to shoot from.  In a live surgery you basically get gowned up like the medical staff and go in with a couple of camera bodies and a couple of lenses and work with the available light and try to work an interesting photograph from the non sterile areas of the operating room.  I’ve photographed everything from c sections, to heart bypass, to orthoscopic shoulder, total knee replacement to brain surgery.  When the patient is on that table they are so draped over and are so far removed from looking like a human.  Plus it’s just so interesting to see how they do things like knee replacements or a heart bypass.

While doing this type of healthcare photography you do need to keep in mind that you can’t be to graphic so that the photos can actually be used for things like ad campaigns or web sites.  The bright surgery lights usually help with this since they usually are so bright and wash out the actual point of surgery.  It can be tough to show the face of the doctor since they are usually very covered up and usually looking down.