The Art of Design: Photography by Platon

I accidentally bumped into this Netflix documentary called: The Art of Design | Platon: Photography, telling the story of Platon, a world-reknown photographer who has immortalized amazing photoshots of well known world figures like Bill Clinton, Muammar al Qaddafi, and Vladimir Putin

His story is really inspiring and insightful, helping me a lot in understanding the creative process behind his amazing photoworks, where he never fail to bring out that magical connection with his subject captured through his lenses.

Thought this might be really useful for fellow creatives always wanting to improve our work. I have also written some quotes so that you can just copy & paste them in case they inspire you too, enjoy!

 

Master Photographer on Their Art

"Before shoot, I am not thinking how can I get a good picture, but what can I learn from this person? Everytime. The human condition is so complicated. Questions such as 'What is good leadership?', 'How important is compassion? (or) Following your own moral compass?', 'How to cope with failure?', questions that we all actually want to know, including myself. To get to that point, where someone is just open, you've gotta earn it! When a flower just open to the light, that's what it is!" (from 4:55~)

"Taking a picture is very technical, but 99.9% is spent on this connection that allows me to reach someone. And through that connection there is just a chance that you're going to feel something to"  (from 7:35~)

 

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, United States. (Shutterstock/Tinnaporn Sathapornnanont)

Architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright 

"So I grew up being educated as a designer. I studied graphic design at an art college. My deep respect for form and positive & negative space comes from studying Frank Lloyd Wright's idea of compression and expansion. When you walk in a Frank LLoyd Wright building, the entrance is so small it makes you almost dip your head. And then as soon as you walk into the main room, he blows up the space and it makes you feel arghh....it's so good!

These are all essences I've put into my work. If I can tap into someone's spirit, it is the same like entering a Frank Lloyd Wright's room. It opens you up, it does something! And it's either a complete feeling of menace or fear. Or a feeling of inspiration or hope. But it does do something to you as a person."  (from 13:10~)

 

Esquire covers, George Lois, 1960s

"Another great designer and incredible person through media is George Lois. He is the one who taught me to be a cultural provocateur. That's what I can do in society. I can't solve any other problems but to provoke. [George Lois: I consider him (Platon) as one of the few people I know who are culture provocateurs. I think that in everything that he photographes, there is a chance to comment on what the hell is going on in the world, good or bad. And he deeply cares about the poor, he just cares about humanity."] (from 14:15~)

"All my heroes are people who teaches me about pushing buttons, and pushing myself to a point I can make you feel something." (from 14:59~)

 

Platon Photography

"Platon approaches all of his pictures as an art director. He embeds in his shots a sense of piecing on how something is gonna lay out. [Platon then said: "Because I try to simplify everything, my pictures stand out in the cover of magazines. But it's really made out of my flaws, that I can't cope with complication. I am extremely dyslexic. I am having trouble writing, I write very slowly. And reading for me is a huge problem. For me a very complex world has to be simplified. Has to be stripped down. And design for me was a way out of confusion. Because great design simplifies a very complicated world.]" (from 15:11~)

"He (Platon) still shoots with film. That really creates a very different set between a photographer and a subject. When you're photographying digital, you're constantly looking at the pictures on the screen. And what happens is that you're losing intimacy between photographer and subject. The magical relationship on getting to the picture that you want to make." (from 18:15~)

 

Platon Photography

"I need to be close to my sitters (subjects) and feel what they are feeling. It's a very painful process of growth and experience. I learnt that being an immigrant myself. When I arrived at England at the age of 8 years old, you know I wasn't just a foreigner, I was a bloody foreigner! Years later I found myself walking on a Saturday afternoon and I got jumped by this guy. And he beat the living daylights out of me. Skulls fractured, both cheekbones, eyesockets and all my ribs busted. And I was a mess, man! I said 'Why me?!' mumbling through my messed out mouth, and this old lady on the bed next door said 'Young man, why not you? What's so special about you?'

I would like to say that angels started singing and choires, and there was a light came through the window as a photographer would saw it, but that's all bullshit, none of that happened. But after a while I realized that I could harness the experience that happenned to me, I can now know what it's like to hurt. That is a door to something you've never had before. And that is empathy." (from 18:45~)

"If I look at the picture and I feel I know them, that's what I want. And show me what it's like to meet them. And it began me on a path, which was incredible!" (from 21:00~)

 

The Eye of Photography

"When you are still and sitting, your power of observation go through the roof. If someone walks by, it's a massive event. You start noticing the lady's stocking have got a tear. That the bag they're carrying might have nothing in it. You tap into human condition, that's a very powerful thing! And that's the amazing detail of humanity that you start to understand." (from 23:59~)

"The only thing you can do is focus on compassion, dignity, and humility. It is a very powerful connection, and that's what photography feels like. And the end of it, you get the aesthetic, that comes last." (from 24:53~)

 

Courtesy of Platon

"We were heading into a very complicated divisive election, Obama's first election. And we wanted to do something that would provoke respectful debate in America. And I got embedded with the US military as our troops trained for America's most recent wars. It became a year long project. We went to Arlington cemetary as one of the important sessions. And I notice this lady takes a foldout picnic chair everyday to her son's grave. And reads to her son's gravestone. I was just devastated. And if it meant something to me, there's just a chance it meant to other people." (from 26:45~)

"Give me your stories, and I will bring it to life!" (from 29:35) 

"And my job is to be the bridge builder, and we are nothing as human beings if we don't experience that connection." (from 30:10~)

"The power of the content, that's the whole point of design. That moment you feel something really powerful." (from 32:25~)

 

Picture by Platon

"So when I press the shutter, something amazing happens. It's 500th of a second, but it freeze an event. You're looking for a moment when you feel you're as close to the soul as possible. That's what good design is, when it liberates you and it allows you to do that. To help you feel something really powerful. And that's when you make an icon." (from 41:40~)

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