On the door of the hall at the Sheraton Grand Warsaw hangs a small sign: Pchnij, Push. Next to it sits a panellist with a microphone, answering a question about the future of Polish hospitals. A systemic healthcare congress is exactly this kind of clash: big topics in a very concrete hotel setting. The photographs have to carry both sides of it.
In October 2022 I photographed the VI Kongres Wizja Zdrowia – Diagnoza i Przyszłość, organised by Wydawnictwo Termedia, the publisher of “Menedżer Zdrowia” and “Kurier Medyczny”. The hall was filled with hospital directors and managers, healthcare system experts and representatives of the country’s key institutions.
What happened
The core of the programme was the panels and the expert debate for the “Bezpieczny Szpital to Bezpieczny Pacjent” certification programme. Eight people on stage, an exchange of arguments, reactions from the hall. In this kind of situation I work in a reportage way: I don’t pose anyone, I anticipate who is about to speak next, and I make sure every panellist gets their good shot. The organiser also has to account for the visibility of the branding, so the backdrop walls and roll-ups are in frame before anyone asks about them.
The second layer was the ceremony awarding certificates to hospitals. Dozens of institutions were called up, each handover lasting a dozen or so seconds with no second take. Then came the group photo of everyone honoured – thirty-odd people with diplomas, who had to be arranged and photographed efficiently before they scattered for the break.
What I pay attention to at a healthcare congress
The seriousness of the subject sets the frame. A debate on patient safety needs photographs that take the participants seriously. No random expressions or gestures caught mid-way.
The hall is a subject too, not just the stage. A hospital director receiving a certificate from within the audience is often a stronger shot than another view of the podium. I photograph more broadly than just the stage and a few smiles for the camera.
Details do the work in communication. Stacks of framed certificates with hospital names make a ready-made shot for reporting on the certification programme – without a single face in it, so it’s safe for any channel.
Result
Termedia received material from the whole congress prepared in two sizes: for print and for social media. A year later, the same publisher came back asking about coverage of the next congress.
