What does a medical photographer do?

The department I work for at Rush University Medical Center (recently renamed) is responsible for Medical Center photography. Our in-house photography department is known as the Rush Photo Group (RPG). Duties include creating photographs for public relations purposes, employee training/publications, special events coverage (graduation, retirement parties), brochures and annual reports. 

RPG also covers surgical procedures (yes, we go into the operating room with full scrub attire). Our images are often published in leading medical journals. RPG captures portraits of all graduating medical students (about 225 yearly). We also layout the class composites.

Day-to-day work often consists of copy work (copying x-rays, making slides from books or PowerPoint).

RPG rarely uses film today. Most work is done digitally with professional equipment. A recent project required head shots of all staff physicians (about 800 portraits). Digital photography made this a relatively efficient task.

Wide format printing is also a growing part of the job. Recent print outs have included everything from scientific posters to landscape photographs.

Our facility also has a complete Noritsu mini-lab (for C-41 and E-6 film types). The demand for these services has seen a substantial downturn in recent years due to emerging digital technologies.