We’ve talked in the past about doing your portrait, and that’s part of a larger thing where I’m very interested in photographing surgeons who are women. Not only are y’all badasses in dozens of different ways and I’d love to photograph 100 of you and make a book, but there’s a meta photographic side to it that I find just as intriguing.
So one of the bigger issues with portrait photography is always not only portraying the subject in a way that’s compelling, but also where the balance lies between what the photographer wants to show and what the subject wants to have shown. To me there’s some other things: defying stereotype, avoiding cliche, and maybe some unexpected truth in there, whether it’s pretty or ugly or whatever. These are all prerequisites when I’m shooting.
We can name a thousand cliches photographing women, right? Pretty, made up, all that stuff. But that’s all built over generations from and for the male eye…male photographers shooting for male photo editors and eventually a male audience.
But what happens when you’re not photographing a pinup girl or a booty model or whatever we’re calling them these days? There’s still some vestiges of it in there, and professional women where their looks aren't part of their career aren't immune...intensely made up, smiling, pretty, approachable, dressed to the nines. It's even there in stock photos of women as doctors and surgeons, along with a bunch of cliches...I'm sure you've seen it a million times: made up like they’re going out to dinner, lab coat, probably something to write on or point at or crossed arms, scrubs, mask. So all of that is almost immediately out, for me.
To that end, I’m still working through how to do this in a way that satisfies the prerequisites.
This is the first “real” portrait I ever made of Colleen. No makeup, some t-shirt she’s probably had since HS, cute, maybe a little goofy, not so self-conscious. I love it bc it’s very “her,” and it’s still my contact photo for her in my phone. I’ve posted it here and there a few times, and the reaction is always the same: “why would you portray a surgeon like that? I could never tell she was a surgeon.” Like not being shown in scrubs is somehow an insult.
And that’s kind of the goal, right? Bc yes you’re a surgeon but you’re also a woman, a daughter, maybe a sibling, you may or may not have hobbies you’re passionate about. Being a surgeon has been a giant part of your life but it’s not your entire life. And I guess to really lean into the surgeon angle risks you looking sort of like….I dont know, douchey? An influencer? Colleen is almost allergic to even the slightest whiff of that.
Here’s what we shot last week. No makeup, hair a little messy but not in a tight bun like usual, a nice sweater she usually gets compliments on. And, of course, loupes and a scalpel. I also wanted her hands in there, bc they’re a little chewed up from a new allergy she’s developed in the past year to something in the OR…she thinks the cuffs on the gowns. I think I can still do better, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. But it's real, and a part of it, you know?
So what’s the goal? Something that’s representative of who you are, with some aspect of you being a surgeon, but also being portrayed against the stock-image type. You can be made up like crazy, just have a little eye or lip, or not made up at all. In your best outfit, in your pajamas, anywhere in between. Just…real. And honestly I couldn’t care less what it is. If you wanted to be in a full-size Barney costume that would work. I'm looking for what I usually call a "personality portrait," not a headshot.
Feel free to poke around here to get a better feel for my work, and here's some other stuff:
