The term "forefathers" is not quite the right term as it includes giants such as Dorothea Lange, W. Eugene Smith, Walker Evans, and Lewis Hine (among others).

Bill raises a very good point about the perils of mixing photography with the practice of medicine. Both disciplines require highly developed observational skills, but they are used very differently. It is interesting that many physicians have excelled as writers about the human condition, and far fewer are known as social documentary photographers.

If I am making a house call that will involve a photo-shoot, I always get the medicine out of the way before I pull out my camera (or I make a separate visit to take pictures). I too have found that using a camera while simultaneously trying to practice medicine distracts me from being focused on the patient's medical issues and turns me into more of a visual obsever. If you were a violinist who was also a journalist, would you play your violin at the same time as you were trying to interview someone?