British photographer Platon (Antoniou) is an A-List, internationally
acclaimed, award-winning editorial and commercial photographer. He shoots
almost all of his photos with one frontal light source (sometimes adding a
background light) and a wide-angle lens.
If you first look at his work, Platon may just seem like any
old portrait photographer, but the most interesting feature of his photographs
are the stories behind them. His portfolio reveals an impressive list of over 120
political leaders, including Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Vladimir
Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, Muammar Gaddafi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Benjamin
Netanyahu, Hugo Chavez, among others, but convincing so many world leaders to
collaborate with a photographer took quite a bit of persuasion. He does
anything and everything he has to do to get the shot he needs, and has to do so
fast—in between his subjects’ United Nations meetings and whatnot. In those
precious moments of a portrait sitting, Platon has clearly been able to
establish a deep connection with his subjects that allows him to strip down the
visual barrier that their power creates.
Platon actually made a trip to Richmond last year to speak
at the Richmond forum, and I had the pleasure of attending. It was interesting
to hear him talk about his past photo adventures and his future plans.
Check out his website here: http://platonphoto.com/
There is lots of stuff that you'll recognize on his site - he did that controversial shot of President Clinton, spread-eagle in a chair for Esquire, for example. (He coaxed the expression by asking Clinton to "show me the love.")
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