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My dad and I heard this on the radio as we drove to the post office to pick up my 80-200 ƒ/2.8 a few weeks ago. It was a really interesting broadcast, and his method for photographing people I think is actually very effective. I took a look at his portraits and I think they're amazing, based on the fact that he was in a very "pressured" situation.
Wow, that's awesome.
Always liked NPR's stuff.
Thanks for sharing.
Platon must have super social-skills to be able to do something like this!
He definitely favors a wider angle of view than most portrait photographers. It makes you feel like you're in the person's face, but I like it—it's almost uncomfortably personal. Nice find, alpha.
jonnyapple said:
He definitely favors a wider angle of view than most portrait photographers. It makes you feel like you're in the person's face, but I like it—it's almost uncomfortably personal. Nice find, alpha.
How many millimeters do you think is the lens he used? I'd say between 24-35—definitely a unique perspective compared to what most do.
I'll bet that's about right on 35mm film, but my guess is he used medium format.
Medium format? It hadn't occurred to me, but I wouldn't be surprised. Is there a way we can tell?
Check out his site: http://www.platonphoto.com/
He has a lot of fun photos!
The picture of Jalal Talabani looks grainy. Perhaps he was using film. Not all of his photos are wide angle though.
For some odd reason, christening himself Platon makes him sound very pretentious. But when he speaks, he sounds very down to earth.
Cool.
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.
I think he's a greek ex-pat, and that's just his name. Or do you mean pretty much dropping the surname?
He uses a Hassleblad and a fisheye lens. A 530CW film hassey I think, but he might be doing digital now. He crops and tweaks each image to give it that high pass filter look. Not sure if it's done on purpose but this guy's work always seems to come up during the Christmas holidays.
I actually did hear this originally on "All Things Considered" alpha :^)
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.
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.
But he said 15 minutes for some people in his interview?
OK you've got 15 minutes to shoot a world leader alpha. Think you can do it?
Err...maybe?
I've photographed the school principal for the past two years for the yearbook. Does that count for anything?
Did your photos look like Platon's?
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.
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.
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.
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?
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