A GP and professional photographer

How did you get into photography?

When I worked as a doctor in places like Abu Dhabi and Nepal I would notice patients sitting in the waiting room with a hawk on their arm or a curved dagger on their belt, and I said, “I have to take your picture.” I have always taken photos of my adventures, so I decided that I would try and see how good I was at being a photographer. My photography career grew with me throughout my medical career, except I needed to work harder on the photography to establish myself.

Is it difficult balancing your medical career with your photography career?

Once I get practice and locum cover established for when I travel, it is a balanced life. The creative part of photography offers a different challenge from that of a medical practice. Sometimes the two careers come together, as happened when I went to Mongolia. My guide was a Mongolian doctor, and he involved all the local doctors in the countryside when we travelled. Often these doctors would come with me and do their home visits as I photographed in the homes of the nomadic families living in gers [tent-like nomadic dwellings].

Photography has connected me with photographers from all over the world. Attending medical and photography meetings gives me an enriching experience of connecting with two groups of very dedicated, specialised, and talented people.

Has your medical profession informed your photography, and if it has, how?

It has because wherever I go, if I tell people I’m a doctor they open up and offer their trust and acceptance. It’s a wonderful thing. I have just published a book on Mongolia. I drove around the desert with local doctors in their jeep, and we stayed with nomadic families. They welcomed me, and through them photographic doors opened.

When I was hiking in the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco, Berber shepherds might come up and say they had a toothache, and as a doctor you can help. Once the word is out that there is a doctor hiking up in the mountains it opens your access to communities. And once you help that man with the toothache, he’s going to take you to his home, and everyone lets you photograph them.

How easy is it to go on placements, for both medical and photographic purposes?

It is hard to find doctors who are willing to do locums and cover my medical practice. The nature of practice in Canada is now geared towards family health teams, where a patient signs up with a health team who will provide patient care all the time by that group of doctors. This means that if a patient’s doctor is not available, the patient can be seen by any one of the doctors in the health team.

I joined a family health group (FHG) in which doctors are paid by “fee for service.” In this model, patients are covered by the after hours clinic run by the doctors of the FHG, but they can also see doctors outside the FHG. This gives me more freedom to travel and photograph while assuring me that my patients are covered.

Was it difficult to establish yourself in the world of art as a doctor?

At the beginning as a photographer I was careful not to announce that I was a doctor because other photographers would think, “Oh, these doctors, they have money to buy expensive cameras and just take pictures.” I had to establish myself with them. Now they love the idea that I am a doctor. It is difficult to mature as an artist. Creativity and originality in subject matter, in medium, in technique, are one thing. But promoting your work and yourself is almost another full time job. However, I do meet a lot of doctors who are photographers.

What advice would you give to medical students who want to pursue extracurricular interests?

When I got to med school there was an orchestra, and I said, “Oh I want to join the orchestra.” I had played the piano since I was 3 years old, but I had to learn an orchestral instrument, so I chose the cello. Today two people from my medical school orchestra are in the community orchestra that I play in. Medical school does take a lot of work, but the work is outlined for you—you know what you have to learn. Stress is often a constant challenge, and an extracurricular activity, be it sports, arts, or music, can offer a balance. You must have passion for medicine, but there is room to develop other interests that enrich your life as a dedicated doctor.