Career Blog Post - Medical Photography

Électro-Physiologie Photographique, Planche 1 negative 1852-1856; print 1876 Guillaume-Benjamin Duchenne (French, 1806 - 1875), and Adrien Alban Tournachon (French, 1825 -1903) [Getty Museum]

Medical photographers take images of various illnesses and injuries at different stages for public health education and proper documentation.

Medical photographers need experience in photography and often require a degree in photography, biomedical photography, photojournalism, or medical illustrations. A portfolio of photography work is necessary to show the experience that is needed for such a job. Normally, they will work in a hospital or other medical institution, patients are brought to them, and they will take appropriate photos of their sickness or injury. There are important rules to consider for these specific kinds of photographers, as privacy rights are very important in medical cases. The rules and regulations for sharing such photographs are important for them to follow.

Photography majors or illustration or art majors could provide proper training. However, it is helpful to have coursework in science if in an artistic major, or the opposite, to build knowledge on both the medical aspect and the photographic/artistic aspect.

The Rochester Institute of Technology, California Institute of the Arts, or any well-known Arts school is recommended to have a good background in photography while still being able to pursue some coursework in the biomedical field. Going into a medical illustration graduate program is also suggested (at such institutions as John Hopkins).