-he got the perfect shot. He’d captured the anxious eyes of Dr. Zbigniew Religa tracking the vital signs of a heart-transplant patient. “I never let him out of my sight, never turned my back on him,” he says. “This was the payoff.”
-It was 1987, in an outmoded operating room in post-Soviet Poland. Stanfield was looking for an image that would portray the critical state of the country’s free health- care system—and that’s exactly what he got.
-His lens not only focuses on a dedicated surgeon’s eyes, but also on a patient hooked up to technologically outdated equipment. Stanfield also includes a weary staff member (far right) sleeping after assisting Religa with two transplants during an all-night session. “Each of these elements,” says Stanfield, “gives dimension and drama to the photograph, while helping tell a story.
-“In this day and age you need more than a pretty photograph, you need information,” he adds.
-But before a photographer can get that kind of information, they need to put in a lot of time. Stanfield studied Religa carefully, established a bond of trust, and then assumed a quiet presence in the surgeon’s surroundings.
-“My skill probably lies in my ability to enter into the flow of people’s lives,” he says.