She had me at the first exit sign to Las Vegas. The moment I saw her Caltrans Curves it was love at first sight.

It was 1977, I had just moved out from Michigan to finish my last semester at Johnston College in Redlands, California. There were so many new sights. The snow capped mountains (before the smog rolled in) orange groves, palm trees and bast of all the sweeping freeway interchanges. My favorite was one still under construction in Ontario at the intersection of the I-15 and I-10. With some minor trespassing it was possible to walk on the middle roadway that was complete, but not yet open to traffic.

Intersection of I-10 and I-15 in Ontario, California

It was the first time I experienced the sense of grandeur at a man-made object. It was similar to what I felt when seeing the great expense of rock at the Grand Canyon for the first time. This interchange felt alive though. There was a roar of the cars below and the vibration of the trucks traffic up above mixed in with the glorious sweep of the interchanges. It was a sight to behold.

Intersection of the 110 and I-105

Years later when I returned to Los Angeles the love of those interchanges still remained and as the skill of the Caltrans engineers increased the sweeping curves became ever longer and more graceful.

With the construction of the new I-105 freeway there was the opportunity to revisit the theme. I found an area near the bus station…and down in the LA River that had great elliptical ramps.

Freeway on-ramp sweeping over Los Angeles River

I recently had the opportunity to revisit the theme on an assignment to shoot Dr. David Brownstone, a UC Irvine economics professor that studies toll road use in Orange County. In my scouting I found a CalTrans maintenance yard that was perfectly situated in the crook of the 73 and 55. I asked and was granted permission to shoot there and the portrait can be seen below.

Toll road researcher Dr. David Brownstone

Mark Harmel

harmelphoto.com

Photo rep/consultant Tony Luna recently wrote about my portfolio in his column on photo.net titled “The Six Elements of an Effective Presentation“. In the feature Tony focuses on the specific topic of a photography portfolio, but his general thesis can apply to any type of artist – as well as any marketing presentation.

In my case (used to illustrate element #4) he focuses on the challenge of presenting my diverse body of work. These could have be broken down in multiple portfolios, but instead I decided with my consultant/designer Deanne Delbridge to blend in a number of different styles that all speak to the message of a healthy lifestyle.

Portfolio designed as a doctor's black bag

By creating the overall theme we can present portraits or a senior couple in front of their house and a portrait of a surgeon conducting a liver transplant. A travel photo of women practicing Qigong in downtown Hanoi fits in with a Chinese researcher in an islet cell lab. The biggest stretch was blending in a series of my fine-art oriented photos into the book. They present the message that I’m an artist as well a visual story-teller and introduce the idea of using these photos to illustrate conceptual messages. (A separate Visual Concepts portfolio now expands on this message.)

Neuro-oncologist Dr. Daniela Bota - UC Irvine Medical Center

The healthcare portfolio allows me to have a book that targets a specific segment of the market that highlights the expertise I developed over the years. This also allows me to have a body of work that speaks directly to a client’s market. I have a healthcare book that I present to a healthcare client.

Looking to rejuvenate your career? Consider signing up for one of Tony Luna’s classes.

Mark Harmel

harmelphoto.com

Most of my healthcare photography involves shooting for major academic and research institutes. It is normal to shoot researchers doing ground breaking science in labs, surgeons conducting brain surgery, and patients that were saved by some clinical trial.  Years ago during the last major healthcare debate in the Clinton years, I was asked by Postgraduate Medicine Magazine to show the life of doctors in differing medical practices that ranged from a Kaiser HMO setting to a small town private practice. And recently I had the opportunity to show how healthcare is practiced in a community hospital. It is good to be reminded that most of medical care takes place in individual doctor offices and smaller hospitals.

A dad amazed by his new baby

In this project we focused on some of the more common ways patients interact with the hospital, such as having a baby and dealing with an accident. Like many community hospitals Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital promotes their maternity services. Having a baby is a happy encounter with a hospital and it is a great way to establish a lifelong relationship. This allowed me to shoot multiple moms and dads bonding with their new babies.

An adorable girl modeling an arm injury

Another common way to come into the hospital is through normal everyday accidents. We showed both a childhood injury and a sports accident. For this we staged some procedures in the emergency department including this mock arm injury to a adorable girl’s arm.

A volunteer that was honored as a Healthcare Hero

In academic settings the focus is much more on doctors, but here there was also a way to celebrate the other healthcare providers. These are their Healthcare Heros. They are any individual that made a difference in a hospital visit or stay. This can be any staff member from a volunteer…

A smiling Hero nurse

to a nurse, medical tech and even a few doctors. These staff member were honored with a pin and many ended up on posters displayed throughout the hospital.

A pair of OR nurses at the end of their shift

There is much to be celebrated about cutting edge medicine, but too often we forget that the majority of care – and often the most important treatment comes from the human interaction between a healthcare worker and a patient. It was great getting out of the lab and back on the frontline of medicine.

To view my other medicine posts, please visit these links: Heart Valve, Hallway Test, and Early Birds Keep Their Health.

Mark Harmel

harmelphoto.com