Massachusetts General Hospital (1988-2019)
I'm leaning over an operating table, photographing transplant surgery for the Massachusetts General Hospital’s 1987 annual report. I am fully masked and gowned, desperately attempting to capture through my lens a fleeting moment that I am noticing before it disappears; the juxtaposition of six hands holding medical instruments preparing a patient to receive a new heart. I don't have much room to maneuver and I am acutely aware of where my body needs to be to make sure I don't put anyone's life in danger. My concentration is intense, and my mind is crammed with the many photographic decisions I need to consider to create the photograph that I see evolving in front of me. I slightly shift my position, and wait for the perfect moment, and when I think I see it, I snap the shutter.
Boston was one of the premiere healthcare cities in the country when I moved there in 1986. I soon landed steady freelance work at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, documenting the many aspects of hospital life there including patient care, surgery, and research. I enjoyed shooting in the medical environment, learned a lot by doing so, and quickly realized that shooting at Newton-Wellesley was excellent experience to have considering how much potential healthcare work there was in the New England area.
Massachusetts General Hospital was the largest of the many hospitals in the region and I heard it through the grapevine that their Development Department was looking for freelance photographers. I met with the departments designer, Arch Macinnes, and we clicked. He loved my portfolio and hired me on the spot. My first assignments for MGH were a series of brochures that concentrated on the hospitals different departments, but Development’s most pressing need were new photographs to fill their surprisingly sparse photo archives. So began my 31 year relationship shooting for Massachusetts General Hospital.
I was immediately drawn to the freewheeling, wild-west atmosphere of the hospital, which was right up my alley, especially in comparison to the uptight corporate feel of many of the other institutions that I had shot for in the past. After three months of shooting for the hospital, I received my potential big break. The Public Relations Department was responsible for the Hospital's flagship publication, the MGH Annual Report, and they had been hiring the same photographer for that project for many years. Arch had a diiferent vision for the Annual Report, felt a change was needed, and suggested me for the job. But before I got the job I needed to pass one big test, and that was to meet with the long-time head of Public Relations, Martin Bander, who needed to give me his stamp of approval. Martin was in his mid 80's, had been a fixture at the hospital forever, and was about to retire, but one of his last duties before doing so would be to make the final decision of whether to hire me or to use their previous photographer. When I stepped into Matin's office for our meetng, I was overwhelmed by the floor to ceiling piles of books, reports, publications and absolute junk that filled the room. But there was something about Martin and his cluttered office that made me real extremely comfortable. Martin and I hit it off, and the job was mine.
That first Annual Report gave me a huge amount of credibility within the hospital, and I became a regular fixture there, sometimes shooting as many as three or four assignments a week. I got to know the hospital quite intimately, and I shot everything from surgery, research, and patient care, to administrative portraits, pediatrics, and community healthcare centers. I found MGH to be a unique, innovative and beloved place to photograph, and most of the employees spent their entire career at the institution.
Eventually the business of healthcare changed drastically, and MGH lost much of that wild-west feel, especially after teaming up with Brigham and Women’s Hospital to form the corporate juggernaut, Partners Healthcare. But despite that, I kept getting hired.
In a world where the best freelance client lasts no more then approximately three years, I am still amazed that I had the opportunity to document, for over three decades, the amazing institution that was Massachusetts General Hospital.
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