Paediatric Palliative Photography (PPP), Part 1 of 4: Definition & Purpose

Part 1: Definition and Purpose

PPP is documentary photography specializing in paediatric patients with serious illnesses potentially leading to poor outcomes. There are two types of PPP, differentiated by their proximity to potential death:

• photos taken weeks, or even months before potential death, as in a patient who is scheduled to undergo a high-risk procedure. There is less urgency for the photo session, scheduling is flexible, and the atmosphere is relatively relaxed. Location may be away from the patient’s bed, in a non-clinical setting such as a sun-lit playroom or in a garden.
• Photos taken immediately before and/or after the withdrawal of life support. Although the photo session may be scheduled anywhere from a few hours to days ahead, the actual shoot is subject to the patient’s condition on the advice of medical staff and parents' wishes.

PPP is not a record of a clinical procedure. Melding craft and art, the aim of PPP is to document the physical presence of patients with their families (craft), and to capture the emotion and the atmosphere of the moment (art) in images that will be, at the least, bearable, even pleasant to look at in the future.

The wide latitude afforded the photographer to interpret these finals moments come with the immense responsibility to render a poignant occasion worth remembering in photos.

In my estimation, PPP is 25% photo technique and 75% preparations to get to the point where parents/guardians are comfortable enough that photos may be taken.

The aim of the photographer is to capture the beauty  of the patient, with the love and support of family members. Through a combination of judicious framing angles, lighting, and selective focus and depth of field, the clinical setting can be minimized and attention focused squarely on  people. 

Here is a link to the principles of design in photography.