I walked into a local book store over the weekend and was greeted by two familiar faces. Sitting side by side on the magazine rack stood Dr. James Betts and Dr. Arzou Ahsan on the covers of Alameda and Oakland magazines. Back in September I was hired by Telegraph Media, the publisher of both magazines, to shoot the doctor feature for their December issues.
In November I visited and photographed five docs for the feature, each one tops in their field of medicine. Doctor Betts is not only the Chief of Surgery and Director of Trauma Services at Oakland's Children's Hospital but he also is a volunteer firefighter in Big Sur. Amazing guy, I had a great visit with him, photographing him in 4 different looks. My favorite was his O.R. portrait...I had to get dressed up for the occasion.
Being a portrait photographer is sometimes kind of like speed dating. I only have a few minutes to build a trust with my subject before I start popping a flash off in their face, I guess the same goes for doctors with first time patients...
You can see the rest of my doctor portraits in the digital versions of the magazines at the links below.
-Ryan