Platon was born and brought up in London, he is of Greek descent but is by all accounts British, he studied photography at the Royal College of Art, I met him once years ago before his career took off in the USA. He uses mainly film, scans it and tweeks it on photo shop. I think there are quite a few photographers, myself included, who learnt about photography in the old days before digital, I would say the digital versus film debate is over, I mean its a bit like debating whether working with water colours is better than working with oil paints, its just different in my view, each has their advantages. I like digital, its a fantastic medium, I also like film. Platon uses black and white film and in that equation to achieve his desired result is his choice of film and how it is developed, simple lighting and a unique focal length lens which I think he prefers not to reveal, Im thinking it could be a modified lens, at first glance it looks like a normal wide angle or a fisheye but its very difficult to achieve those perspectives with commercially available lenses,its quite unique and I haven't seem anyone who has been able to successfully copy that and plenty have tried. Im reminded of the nudes by Bill Brandt which were taken with a camera which looked like a fisheye or wide angle, except it wasn't, I interviewed Bill Brandt in 1983 shortly before he died and he still owned the camera which he used for his distorted nudes, it had a lens that he had modified himself so it was unique to his style of photography and so impossible to emulate really, and that is how he liked it!!

I don't know how much I'm admiring his photographic skill.

I'm admiring his social skill. He became "equal" with Putin. That is quite a feat!

ted2001 said:
I think that's Queen (and I agree).

Whoops, my apologies to the Queen. I don't proofread this stuff too much.

More hook than substance, but a career making hook none-the-less. I think that's Queen (and I agree).

Ted, I tend to agree, but that style is his "hook". For many portraits, it works - Jesse James (not cowboy, but motorcyle guy) would look good in this style, but I don't think the queen of England would come across too well.

Interesting guy and interesting work, however, the more I look at it the less I like the work. Wide-angle portrait shots, no background or halo background. His style rather formulaic and seems somehow to disregard the subject.

NikoDoby said:
Warprints, Platon uses Hasselblad cameras. I think he uses the same 555ELD or similar EL Series Hassey for all his portraits. He's well know for using Hasselblads. The portrait of Putin was in fact taken with a Hasselblad camera. If you listen carefully to the interview you posted, Platon does say he picks up his Leica.

However, he did so to shoot documentary style photos while he was waiting for the Time reporter to finish his interview with Putin. The portrait session was done with a Hasselblad. If you look at the link in alpha's first post to the New Yorker Portfolio the last picture is of him shooting Tony Blair with his Hasselblad.

Jeez OK sit stand whatever. The point is he catches these world leaders very quickly. Again if you look at the last photo in the New Yorker Portfolio you will see that his "studio" is against a wall in a some kind of corridor. One or two strobes, his Hasselblad and that's it.

Okay okay. :D

He I know he has very short times with them, but nonetheless he does have a bit of a setup.

Warprints, Platon uses Hasselblad cameras. I think he uses the same 555ELD or similar EL Series Hassey for all his portraits. He's well know for using Hasselblads. The portrait of Putin was in fact taken with a Hasselblad camera. If you listen carefully to the interview you posted, Platon does say he picks up his Leica.

However, he did so to shoot documentary style photos while he was waiting for the Time reporter to finish his interview with Putin. The portrait session was done with a Hasselblad. If you look at the link in alpha's first post to the New Yorker Portfolio the last picture is of him shooting Tony Blair with his Hasselblad.

NSXType-R said:
Really?

In the short audio clips in the second link, he asks them to sit down, and I would assume he has something set up around the chair.

Jeez OK sit stand whatever. The point is he catches these world leaders very quickly. Again if you look at the last photo in the New Yorker Portfolio you will see that his "studio" is against a wall in a some kind of corridor. One or two strobes, his Hasselblad and that's it.

soap said:
Emphasizes the face. (and not the $500 haircut).

Makes sense to me. Also maybe to get in the clothes while keeping the frame tight?

warprints said:
Platon used a Leica when he took photos of Putin for Time Magazine's Man of the Year, according to Platon's interview about the photo shoot http://www.worldpressphoto.org/images/stories/videos/Interviews2009/index.php

Listen to the interview. Platon is brilliant.

(Oh yeah, go to the link warprints posted ➤ 2008 Awards ➤ Look for Putin's Picture. If you don't want to listen to the whole thing then I would listen from 5 minutes on.)

Platon used a Leica when he took photos of Putin for Time Magazine's Man of the Year, according to Platon's interview about the photo shoot http://www.worldpressphoto.org/images/stories/videos/Interviews2009/index.php

Camera used? Check out the Platons' Portraits, Movies, Matt Damon. Camera is in the reflection. Doesn't look like a Hassey to me.

alphanikonrex said:
I was looking at his portraits again and I noticed he cuts off the heads many times in his composition. Anybody know what's up with that?

Emphasizes the face. (and not the $500 haircut).

I was looking at his portraits again and I noticed he cuts off the heads many times in his composition. Anybody know what's up with that?

I have not listed to the NPR broadcast yet, but while I like the photographs, is it because of the subjects with their importance and gravitas or photographers skill?

Each time I engaged in portraiture I felt my job was to bring out the energy and vitality my subject had to offer. When I shot people of vitality, my shots had vitality, when I shot those who were tired, depressed, the shots were lifeless. What an unbelievable opportunity to photograph so many people of such stature. Bravo on the work! and thanks alpha for bringing it here.

NikoDoby said:
NSX he's not shooting in a studio. His style is basically to stand his subject in front of a wall, white sheet/cloth in the middle of a hallway or something. Click... Click... OK all done, next. It happens very fast. He catches people and asks them if they would pose then shoots a few frames very quickly.

Really?

In the short audio clips in the second link, he asks them to sit down, and I would assume he has something set up around the chair.

NikoDoby said:
Did your photos look like Platon's?

No. (Hopefully one day they will! :^) )

jonnyapple said:
next time use a 10.5mm fisheye, alpha.

Anybody have one to lend me? I've been kind of eying it—it would be useful for overhead shots of the orchestra and things like that. But I don't think it's really worth it. Especially 'cause it's DX.

alphanikonrex said:
Err...maybe?

I've photographed the school principal for the past two years for the yearbook. Does that count for anything?

next time use a 10.5mm fisheye, alpha.

Did your photos look like Platon's?

Err...maybe?

I've photographed the school principal for the past two years for the yearbook. Does that count for anything?

OK you've got 15 minutes to shoot a world leader alpha. Think you can do it?

But he said 15 minutes for some people in his interview?

NSX he's not shooting in a studio. His style is basically to stand his subject in front of a wall, white sheet/cloth in the middle of a hallway or something. Click... Click... OK all done, next. It happens very fast. He catches people and asks them if they would pose then shoots a few frames very quickly.

NSXType-R said:
That's what I said...?

I was agreeing with you :^)

NikoDoby said:
I actually did hear this originally on "All Things Considered" alpha :^)

Nice! It was a great broadcast, wasn't it?

Thanks for the camera info Niko. But he must be cropping it a lot to get rid of the fisheye distortion?

alphanikonrex said:
Actually, I think he is using film. He mentions it several times in this interview: http://www.platonphoto.com/interview/cnn.html .

I think that people with a British accent truly have that down-to-earth talk. They kind of sound intelligent, like somebody you can trust.

That's what I said...? He was using film of some sort. There's too much grain in that guy's portrait. It wasn't like it would have been extremely dark if he was in a studio setting.

jonnyapple said:
I think he's a greek ex-pat, and that's just his name. Or do you mean pretty much dropping the surname?

Yeah, dropping the surname to sound all artsy.

But you know what? I like his work. It's hard to get good people photos. It all comes out wrong. I've seen wedding photographers work and they try their hardest to make the people laugh. They crack jokes left and right to make them feel comfortable. It's hard for someone like me who's usually silent to crack jokes. I'm just not that type of person. It's the fact that he pulled off the photos while making the photos look natural. That's awesome.