========================
                        JeffNEWS, May 17, 1994
                        ========================


Photography and Medicine Share the Same Critical `Eye'
------------------------------------------------------
   By Alan R. Spitzer, MD
      Pediatrician in Chief, Vice Chairman of Pediatrics and 
         Director of Neonatal Services


   I have participated in a number of workshops in photography through the
years, and almost inevitably one or two other doctors attend. 

   The reason is the interest physicians have in photography, and the fact
that some physicians approach medical issues in the same way that a
photographer approaches visual challenges. 

   A good deal of overlap exists between medicine and photography. For
example, when I am on service in the nursery, very often without physically
examining a baby I will interpret certain visual cues that say this baby is
doing well, or is critically ill, or is somewhere in between. A follow-up
physical exam will confirm this. I also find this insight very helpful in
guiding residents to prioritize what attention to give certain babies. 

   My point is: In evaluating a patient care situation, an experienced
physician can pick up subliminal visual cues that set off internal triggers
often causing him or her to react subconsciously in the patient's behalf. 

   You can use the same approach photographically. When you go out to
photograph, whether it's in a landscape or a street setting, you may wander
along with a vague idea of what you're looking for. Then something begins
to register with you internally, you get some subliminal visual clue that
begins to operate in the same way that it operates for me in the nursery,
and you respond to a certain scene. 

   From spending a long time truly seeing what's going on in photographic
settings, and developing this kind of visual acuity, a physician can begin
to appreciate subtle differences among clinical conditions of patients. 

   There's a big difference between "looking" and "seeing" that applies to
both medicine and photography. "Looking" is superficially gazing at
something. Truly "seeing" is having an understanding of what it is you are
looking at. 

   When I look at a patient, I can notice that the patient has a number of
things happening, or I can truly see what's going on with the patient and
can understand the implications of what I'm looking at. And sometimes that
happens at a subconscious level before it comes through to your conscious
level. You respond instinctively first, then your conscious mind puts the
pieces together as to why you responded that way. 

   This process is very similar to photography in that you often respond
instinctively to some-thing that moves you to take a photograph. Then
later, when you make the print, you begin to see more deeply what might
have intrigued you about that particular scene or object. 

   One aside regarding the parallels between photography and medicine:
Physicians interested in art and photography bring certain visual and
personality traits that may carry over into how they relate to patients and
how they view the world. For example, you could take a pediatrician and a
surgeon, both of whom are technically outstanding photographers, to the
same landscape setting, and they will not take the same picture. 

   In fact, they will take very different pictures. 

   To conclude: numerous intriguing and interesting aspects connect the
relationship of medicine and visual art. I don't know if anybody has
explored in depth this relationship by, for example, psychological testing.
The relationship has long intrigued me because of my participating
firsthand. I would encourage further investigation and welcome comments
from other physician-photographers.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Information provided by:  Editor, JeffNEWS
                          (215) 955-6204
------------------------------------------------------------------------------