By Lily Jones | Editor for Arts and Entertainment
Salve Regina welcomed world-renowned British photographer, Platon, to campus last Thursday night, as he presented “Powerful Portraits: An Intimate Look at Humanity and Leadership” in Bazarsky Lecture Hall in the O’Hare Academic Center.
His presentation, which told a powerful story through his award-winning photographs and a variety of personal anecdotes, was open to Salve students as well as to the public of Newport, as part of the university’s Atwood Lecture Series.
Platon began his speech not with one of the many pictures he has taken of famous celebrities and world leaders, but with a photograph of Lola, a twenty-eight-year-old homeless woman, who takes shelter in a train station.
The photographer recalled a conversation he once had with Lola, where he asked her what she would wish for if she could have one wish granted. Lola had replied that she would wish him happiness, because of her belief that if she is kind to someone, then one day someone else will be kind to her.
“And so she said, ‘Be kind to me, Platon, and tell the world my story,’” he recounted. “‘And always speak truth to power.’”
From there, Platon took the audience on a “journey of power,” showing a vast album of portraits he had taken for various magazines and publications, such as Time, GQ, Esquire, and The New Yorker, and explaining the experiences he had shooting such influential subjects.
He had the opportunity to take photos of many film and music stars, including Al Pacino, Anthony Hopkins, Yoko Ono, Christopher Walken, George Clooney, Clint Eastwood, and Prince.
Each image had a backstory behind it; Platon shared how he was able to capture each shot, and how he was able to make a connection with many of his celebrity subjects.
Platon told one story about working with Robert De Niro, and how he photographed the famous actor in a very intimate setting: the art studio that had belonged to De Niro’s father before he had passed away. “It’s the only place De Niro goes to isolate himself from the brand ‘Robert De Niro,’” Platon said. “It’s a place of reflection. It’s a place where he can remind himself of the beautiful love that he lost with his father passing away.”
In addition to a variety of different music, sports, film, and television stars, Platon has also had the privilege of photographing many high-profile political leaders. He has taken magazine covers of many American politicians, most notably President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, and former presidents George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.
Platon commented on the fact that the time in which he photographed the presidents made a huge difference in the feel of the portrait. For instance, he met with Barack Obama when he was still only a senator, and the soon-to-be president had a very cautious air about him. His shot of President Bill Clinton was taken towards the end of his presidency, and Clinton had been quite relaxed and easygoing.
He spoke about how he had photographed former president George W. Bush a few months after he had left office, and that Bush insisted that he be smiling in every photo.
Going off of his many experiences with presidents and prime ministers, Platon speculates that Bush’s behavior was the result of a traumatic process he called “a transfer of power.” He explained that this is where a man goes from being the most powerful man in the nation, feeling an immense amount of pressure at all times for several years, to having to hand over the reigns to someone else, and becoming a regular citizen again, living with a legacy.
The photographer referred to the smile as a mask. “Sometimes the mask tells you more about the truth than the truth does,” he said.
Going beyond just American leaders, Platon was given the opportunity to photograph Vladimir Putin. Despite being intimated by being led to a secret Russian location with guns pointed at him from all directions, Platon was able to get a shot of the powerful man from only one and a half inches away from his face. This was made possible by a connection he made with the president with Russia: their mutual love for the band, The Beatles.
Platon’s lecture then made a transition to a deeper theme. “Let’s swing the pendulum to the people with power to the people without power,” he said. He began to talk about the everyday heroes he has photographed, the extraordinary people who don’t make the front pages of major magazines and newspapers.
Platon recalled when he captured the face of the Egyptian revolution on camera when he photographed Remy Essam, a sixteen-year-old protestor whose back burned by police tasers until it was smoking.
He also paid tribute to the American Civil Rights movement when he photographed the first reunion of the Little Rock 9 since 1957.
He sparked political controversy within the 2008 American presidential election with his photograph of a Muslim American mother, whose son was killed in the Iraq war.
He spoke about how he met with a widow, Jessica, who lost her husband in the Iraq war. He recalled that while he was with her, she opened the box of her husband’s belongings for the first time, and broke down in tears when she realized they had washed his clothes, since she wanted to smell him again.
Platon had many more anecdotes and stories about these regular citizens of the world who had accomplished so many important things and who had experienced such difficult times, and his presentation highlighted how there is truly power in people. His efforts are culminated in his foundation, the People’s Portfolio.
“Now it’s time to start celebrating a new set of cultural heroes, people who would actually inspire us with their courage,” Platon said. “These are the people who I’m getting on the cover of magazines now.”
For more information on Platon and his work, visit www.platonphoto.com.
To find out when Salve Regina will be hosting another installment of its Atwood Lecture Series, visit http://www.salve.edu/events.
