Team Headshots for Biohaven
Engineers have it easy (OK, before posting the negative comments, please read on – and note I have an engineering degree) – we’re taught rules, formulas and engineering is pretty well understood and is based on the laws of physics which is pretty well understood (although material science is still discovering), particularly when compared to biology. While we have made incredible progress over the last number of years, there is so much we don’t understand about the human body, what causes diseases, and how to cure and/or prevent them.
I’ve developed a respect and interest in the biotech area over the years as my wife has been in the industry her entire career, and our oldest daughter is as well. And being in Boston we’re surrounded by companies/people dedicated to tackling some of the most challenging diseases.
One such company is Biohaven, who approached me recently to create headshots for their Cambridge team. They’re likely one of those companies you’ve never heard of (I hadn’t) but is doing some important work: “Biohaven is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of life-changing treatments in key therapeutic areas, including immunology, neuroscience, and oncology.” They recently started the “first-in-clinic, orally-administered, brain-penetrant…for the treatment of early Parkinson's disease (PD).” They have also recently reported preliminary positive results in a next generation antibody drug conjugate to treat brain tumors.
If you’re not familiar with the process of drug development, getting a drug to market from the start can take as much as 10 years, hundreds of millions of dollars, and there’s no guarantee of success – in fact, a commonly cited figure is that only around 10% of drugs that enter clinical trials actually get approved. Contrast this with an engineering based project – the percentages are much higher, the timeline a lot shorter, as is the typical cost.
What does all this have to do with headshot photography? For one, it’s a bit like a combination of engineering and drug development – we have principals of lighting, framing, and a camera that are pretty well understood – but the people (subject) aspect of this is non-deterministic and with a limited amount of time, the photographer needs to be able to “read” the person’s emotional state and adapt to help that person look their best in a relatively short amount of time – and there’s more we photographers don’t know about the person than we know (of course that’s where the analogy ends – I wouldn’t even consider any further comparison between a photographer and someone working to cure cancer, or design a flying car!).
Looking at the images of the Biohaven team, there’s a level of confidence and approachability you can feel – these people are on a mission demanding years of work, dedication, and emotional resiliency. Here’s hoping they succeed!
