Platon Interview on Russia Today
Alert Reader Tom Hayton was searching for the photographer Platon on YouTube and found this 25-minute interview from Russia Today, a channel I can safely say I almost never get to watch.
Two things:
One, this is not about light but does give a very good look into Platon's approach and bedside manner. It's an interesting look into some of the thinking that goes into photographing famous (or infamous) people.
Remember, Platon is Mr. Hotshot in Russia after the Putin Time MoY cover. He figured out his light a long time ago, and its the interpersonal stuff that gets him the moments in his photos.
Second, the audio is off. And it creeps worse and worse throughout the vid. So you may as well just listen to it while you have your work stuff up onscreen this morning. Although they do pepper the interview with many of his pix, so there's that.
OTHER PLATON STUFF:
:: Platon Shoots Putin ::
:: Platon: Lose the Smile ::
:: Platon: Three Videos ::
__________
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Posted at 12:00 AM.
18 Comments:
Three rolls of film in eight minutes? Well, my digital camera just busted, really, the shutter went out. Just five minutes after I dropped my 580EX and busted that to. Cool 26 minutes, and completely true on his light.
I'm a little confused. What is this broadcast from? How did you come across an english version of "russia today"? Shouldn't the entire broadcast be in Russian?
Thanks for putting this up, David!
what a great interview. was interesting to hear them talk about getting behind someones facade for the truth, and see Platon get a bit worried when he was probed beyond his own public image.
Worth watching for sure. Some real gems of information in there.
He sounds just like Russell Brand.
Nice interview, Platon knows the rules of a paced speech, but is it just me, or does the host have a hybrid British-American accent?
Happy to hear Platon answer the questions but that interviewer was creepy!
Zach:
"Russia Today TV, also known as Russia Today, is a globally broadcast English-language news channel from Russia, and the first all-digital Russian TV channel, sponsored by the state-funded Russian news agency RIA-Novosti."
Russia Today is always broadcast in English. Its a channel for russian's living outside of russia, and therefor adopts the comon language.
Many countries broadcast their propaganda in English, including the Chinese.
I wonder if the audio is off so that the KGB can hit the mute switch whenever an interviewee says something too controversial.
Ironically, most of my favorite photographers don't seem to be ones who emphasize the technical part a whole lot. Being a very technically oriented person myself, I find that I learn so much about the art of photography from those who emphasize the creative, philosophical, inspirational, and psychological aspects of photography. When I view their work, I feel that I often see what I feel that I'm missing in my own work. Maybe that's why I'm attracted to their work and to what they have to say.
Awesome interview! It was well done!
Just a tidbit of info, for those wondering about Platon's gear. He's usually partial to Photek Softlighters in various sizes, and a hasselblad with CF lenses.
Oh, pro 7b2's w/pro heads
Platon is friggin awesome. I got the chance to hear him talk in person and meet him at EAW this past weekend.
Thanks for the link.
Platon mentioned that this was his favorite portrait of all time.
http://www.karsh.org/#/the_work/portraits/winston_churchill/
It was done by the master Yusuf Karsh. Perhaps Platon may become the modern day Yusuf Karsh (in terms of his high profile portrait subjects, not in photographic style). I believe Karsh used hot lights not strobe, but his portraits & lighting are definitely worth studying. It would be awesome if strobist would highlight his work & technique. Keep up the great work DH!
- Mike Talastas
This was a great interview. Platon is an artists dream in the aspect that he can coherently talk about his work and in a very sophisticated way. He's a cool guy. Interesting interview. Badass photographer.
It is not unusual for video and sound to be off when transfering from PAL (Europe) format to NTSC (USA) format. PAL is 50 frame/sec, while NTSC is 60 frames per second. So 30 minutes of PAL video tranfered frame-for-frame become 25 minutes of NTSC. But sound is real time. There are ways to duplicate some of the frames to get around this, but it requires the technician to pay close attention to keeping the audio/video sync.
(for the technical folks: yes, I'm saying frames rather than fields, but I don't want to complicate the matter)
Today's Guardian has a short interview with Platon (Platon's best shot), highlighting the Putin "gangster" photo, a version of which just won a 2008 World Press Photo award (exhibit now in London). The interview also touches on some of the ways Platon interacts with subjects.
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