Microvention multi genre healthcare photography project
Microvention called me to ask if I would be interested in doing a healthcare photography project shooting images for their branding needs and content library. The assignment was originally just images of surgeons using their technology but became much larger after we started talking. They saw my business lifestyle images as well as pharmaceutical work and thought I could handle all their needs during a three-day shoot.
The production setup was about six LED lights, balanced for temperature and tint, that were used along with available light. Additionally, we brought spares of everything. The team included a makeup artist, a stylist, two assistants, and the clients. There was no art director because Microvention hired me directly and they knew what they wanted for the healthcare campaign down to the kind of lighting they wanted to see.
As usual, I was grateful for my assistants, whom I lean on to avoid disasters and technical failures. I usually end up renting their laptops if mine is not performing as planned and depend on them to help solve technical issues. On the first day of this healthcare assignment, we were on set for 12 hours and despite some equipment failures, I think we accomplished a lot.
Day two involved shooting business lifestyle images of talent for their employee recruitment campaign. They were great to work with and required no coaching. I just had to choreograph every set and let them roll. My first assistant and I did a technical scout a week before so I was able to map the sets and imagine the possibilities. Besides the fact that the modeling agency sent a model that was not chosen during the casting, it worked out fine. It was a far cry from the healthcare campaign I was originally asked to do, which involved just one assistant because it was technically less rigorous.
I leaned on my experience doing pharmaceutical photography for various clients. It was an elevated form of photojournalism that involved some unchoreographed storytelling as well as artful choreography based on images I had already seen during the scout. The reason this assignment was so satisfying was that it involved multiple skill sets and a good level of production. I would say I was working near my capacity. The client loved the work and life was good.