Confronting Humanity

When asked to describe his artistic style, John David Pittman, the only full-time photographer for Arkansas Children’s, says, “I always have the goal of wanting to force the viewer to confront the humanity of the person in the photo.” His photographs highlight the care we provide and the team members who provide it in blogs, print ads, our annual book of outcomes, stories about patients, ID badges, medical journals, digital ads and social media posts. Call him ‘JDP,’ ‘Pittman’ or ‘John David’ (but please not ‘John’ or ‘David’). Since being hired a little over two years ago, he’s shot, edited and cataloged thousands of images that collectively illustrate exceptional care. This 24-hour glimpse into his work life begins and ends with patients and providers. 

Neurology Providers in Focus 

It’s noon on a Wednesday in mid-February. John David has been in a clinic room with a teenage patient for over an hour as a physical therapist, then a pulmonologist and then a cardiologist visit the patient. He and the patient “are best friends by that point,” he jokes. 

The assignment for the morning photo shoot was to capture two Arkansas Children’s pediatric neurologists providing care to two different patients. Parents have granted permission, and the doctors expect him, but sometimes things don’t go as planned. Flexibility is a crucial trait for photographers. “You have to adapt on the fly,” John David says. In this case, adapting means waiting patiently while a teen receives the multidisciplinary care Arkansas Children’s is known for. 

Fortunately, John David is adept at making conversation and making others feel at ease. It’s an especially valuable skill in a pediatric hospital, he says. “You’re walking into a room with people who may be having the worst day of their life. You have to build trust quickly.”   

John David grew up in a small town in Arkansas and traveled the world when he was a freelance photographer. He can find things in common with nearly anyone. With this patient, he talks about taekwondo, the teen’s new Ford Mustang and the fact that John David grew up playing baseball with the person who is now the high schooler’s superintendent.  

The photo shoot takes longer than expected and produces fewer shots than hoped, but after 90 minutes, John David captures a solid set. He leaves with about a dozen meaningful photos of a neurologist interacting with the teen patient. 

A Berlin Heart Patient in Focus 

Less than 24 hours after photographing the neurology appointment, John David is back in a patient room. It’s mid-morning on Thursday. This time, the subject is 18-month-old Isla Strozier, a cardiovascular intensive care unit patient awaiting a heart transplant. Isla’s care team has implanted a Berlin Heart – an external ventricular assist device that pumps the blood that her heart cannot.  
“With an assignment like this, I have to figure out how to blend science and technology with the human side of care,” John David says. He’s researched the Berlin Heart to understand its basic functions and how it looks on a patient, which helps him plan the camera angles that will allow the viewer to see the little girl and the device keeping her alive. He’s coordinated the visit with one of Isla’s favorite child life specialists. 

Arkansas Children’s child life specialists are skilled at helping patients feel comfortable in the hospital through activities and specially designed playtime. The specialists use play to translate complex medical terms and procedures into language young patients can understand and, in this case, to make them feel comfortable with a photographer in the room. 

For this event, Isla doesn’t need comforting. She is an exuberant 18-month-old and a total ham for the camera. John David can’t talk Mustangs and baseball with her, so he instantly shifts his energy and tone to bring out Isla’s natural curiosity and joy. He talks to Isla like he did with his daughter when she was a toddler. 

Amongst a carefully orchestrated arrangement of cords and wires connected to monitors and the Berlin Heart, the child life specialist helps Isla play the xylophone, creating a disco-like party in which Isla is happy to be the star. 

John David adds a tall light stand topped by a flash. Isla is fascinated as it pops with light while John David moves around her hospital bed and play mat. In under half an hour, he takes nearly 100 photos, eventually reducing them to around a dozen of his favorites that he’ll edit for different format needs of his colleagues on the strategic marketing team. 

Outside the Shoot 

John David’s visual storytelling skills complement the work of a strategic marketing team that includes videographers, medical services marketing specialists, graphic designers, physician liaisons, website creators and writers. Those are his immediate team members, but as the organization’s only full-time photographer, he connects with many others about everything from early morning spinal surgeries to Angel One flights.  

“I get a lot of photo requests,” he says. “One of 5,000 team members could email me on any given day.” John David then sends them the official request form, which his leadership will review.  

Strategic marketing and division of strategy leadership at Arkansas Children’s set the health system’s top content priorities. They determine which requests align with the organization’s needs and best represent Arkansas Children’s core values of safety, teamwork, compassion and excellence. 

For John David, prioritizing patient safety means protecting patient privacy. Before he photographs a patient, the parents or guardians must give written consent. Every consent form must be cataloged and stored. Archiving consent forms, scheduling upcoming photo shoots and editing photographs are the administrative tasks that fill the photographer’s time when he’s not taking photos. 

Whether he’s capturing the intense focus of a surgeon, the indomitable spirit of a toddler awaiting a heart transplant or the gentle enthusiasm of a child life specialist, John David champions children every day through his photos, which deliver a consistent message: at Arkansas Children’s, you are seen.