March 2003… My first time photographing a surgery, for one of my hospital clients. Hip replacement surgery. I really wasn’t sure what to expect. Would I lose my breakfast at the sight of blood? Would I just get in the way of the surgical team? Would they resent my being there?
I scrubbed up, head to toe, in the physicians’ locker room. When I walked into the OR, I was met by one of the team who right away took me to the table where all the surgical instruments were laid out. “Steer clear of the table,” I was told. “If you even touch the table, everything becomes unsterile, and we have to shut down the operation.” I made sure to make a wide path around that table.
In the end, it was all so fascinating to me, that I didn’t have time to feel nauseous. It was amazing. The team pretty much ignored me, except for the times the lead surgeon looked over at me and posed for the camera; I think he was really into me capturing him at work. And when he brought out a mallet and steel bar to fit the new joint into the hip, he didn’t just tap it in… he bashed that thing so hard, little droplets of blood sprayed up onto his clear plastic visor, so much that I finally packed up and left… I knew they would never use pictures of a surgeon with blood dripping down his visor and scrubs. But I’d gotten what I needed by then.
I’ve shot dozens of surgeries since then, but the first one will always be the most memorable.
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