I was photographing heart surgery and after a few hours I felt as though I'd taken pictures from every angle. I felt a duty to stay in the operating room because the surgeon and assistants had to be there, so I started searching for something new. That's when I got an idea: I would take a picture of myself while I was taking photos of heart surgery.

I set a camera up on a small stainless steel table near the patient's feet. I set the camera's timer to fire a photo, then hurried back to my perch right near the patient's head

This photo was easy for me to make. Weeks later when the surgeon, Bill Cohn, saw the photo he was amazed that I had though this up and taken a picture of myself photographing the surgery. It was funny to me because, really, this was easy. Bill said that this photo is outstanding because not everyone thinks of solving problems the way I did. I might say the same of a surgeon who operates on beating hearts - without needing to use the heart-lung bypass machine. The take-home lesson for me was that it's important to imagine more, and always try new things. I like being around people who keep pushing boundaries and trying new things - just to see where they can go.