Visionary
Platon, who photographed the former president for the cover, discusses portraiture and creating the perfect image.
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Platon: Yeah, because you know what? It gets harder. I prefer being the underdog, going in where no one knows who I am. I set up my single light and I tape the background against their wall, and it's all a bit hokey, and they walk in and say, "Who is this funny little English guy?" That's what I want, because then they're not intimidated by the set-up and the entourage. I can instantly get to their personalities. It's becoming more and more difficult to be the underdog now, to be the one that no one's ever heard of. People are starting to say, "Did you do that Clinton picture? Did you do that other picture?" Sometimes I deny it. I say, "No, no, that wasn't me." As a portrait photographer I believe it's much better to be humble and leave my ego at the door. There's no room in the studio for my ego and the ego of the person I'm photographing. If I'm humble and lay myself down to them, they won't feel intimidated or threatened in any way. I just encourage them to be themselves.
texasmonthly.com: How much do you rely on your standard portrait-taking procedures, and how much of the process is tapping into each individual personality?
Platon: My lighting, my film, and the technical side of my photography never change, because I don't want to put any energy into that while I'm on a shoot. I want to know it so well, like breathing and walking, it becomes automatic. That allows me to put 100 percent of my energy into the person's character, mannerisms, gestures—all the things you would recognize in them when you see the picture. The last thing I want to be thinking is, "Should I change the lighting on this?" while the person is sitting there and I've got three to five minutes with them. I'm very observant with my subjects, picking up the things they do and say. When I started, I used to load the film myself on purpose, instead of having an assistant do it, because it causes the shoot to stop for a second, and then they relax and their hands start to move. Suddenly I start to see their mannerisms coming out, and it's easier for me to go back and get it on film once I've allowed that to happen. It's not like a manic "Shoot, shoot, shoot." Otherwise you find you're shooting ten rolls of the same picture. It's important to create a window where you put the camera down and start talking about something that's totally unrelated to them, something other than what they're always quizzed on. I use my alien culture or the usual things I can throw at them to create an interesting twenty minutes. During that time is when they might smile or look to the side, and I'm looking at the way they behave. I feel my job is to make you feel like, when you see my pictures, this is what it's like to meet this person.
texasmonthly.com: That strategy has produced some unique shots of people who we're so accustomed to seeing only in a certain way.
Platon: That's what I'm aiming for. I can't always get it, I must admit. But I always do strive to give you an essence of what this person really is. It's a really successful image when you get their personality, but you wouldn't expect to see that. And I loved this picture on the cover so much because anyone who knows him will know that he does have a sense of humor and that he's a tough guy as well. But it's something you wouldn't expect, that big hand giving the peace sign.
texasmonthly.com: The wide angle on that shot is one trademark of your work, along with the blue background and the halos around your subjects' heads. How did you develop that shooting style?
Platon: The wide angle, the extreme sense of perspective I use, originally came from working with John F. Kennedy, Jr., and George magazine, because they were encouraging me to take politics and culture in America and show it in a new way that's more accessible to everybody. Less stuffy, less elitist, more punchy. And I remember on my first sittings for George, I would be in awe of these people. One of the first I shot was Martin Scorsese, who's a huge hero; as a young guy fresh out of college, I really looked up to him. In my work I try to reflect that these people are larger than life, and they are icons of their time. I saw them in this warped sense of perspective, and that's how I related to them.
The blue background originally came out of sheer practicality—if you have a blue color scheme, it tends to make people look more flattering because it takes the blotchiness out of their skin. Often with politicians, they don't have hair and makeup, and it's not like a modeling situation where you've got two hours for that preparation. A lot of my techniques have come out of being practical with the limitations I had when I was starting out, and I got used to shooting with this blue color scheme whenever I shot in color. For me, it's really not about showing a textbook of a hundred different techniques. I have a single voice, and I'm trying very hard to, if anything, strip it down. It's a simple idea, it's really about the people. It is my response to all these people, not me showing that I can shoot like this, and like this, and like this. It's saying the opposite: This is the result of my meeting this person, how I felt about them, and what they gave back to me. I'm lucky, honored that 99 percent of the time people give so much. I regard my job as the best job in the world, to meet all these fascinating people and to try to learn a little bit of wisdom from them and capture the meeting on film.
texasmonthly.com: Do you learn much from the people you shoot?
Platon: I do. I've got this running joke—I ask everyone I photograph if they have any advice. They always sort of smile because it's really a crap thing to ask someone. They ask, "Regarding what?" And I often say, "Anything, just something that I can walk away with that's personal from you." One of the best ones was Karl Rove, who I did for Texas Monthly. I said, "Mr. Rove, have you got any advice for me, I'm a young guy trying to make it in America, and obviously you've made it in America. What knowledge should I have?" And he leaned over, whispered in my ear, and said, "Listen, if you're photographing me for Texas Monthly, you've already made it. You don't need any advice." He didn't even hesitate. He has a wit, he's so smart.
This is a fascinating job. It's all based on psychology and trying to work out what people are insecure about and avoiding that area so that they feel more comfortable. It's like a very, very fast chess game, because if I give in to them too much, it's not a proper portrait, it's just a pretty picture. I mean, I'm the photographer, and I'm the one who knows what looks right and what will be an interesting picture. So it's a balance of trying to get my way, but doing it in a way that still shows respect for the sitters, not pushing them so far that they lose their dignity. It's a fine balance, and a good picture is when you hit it fifty-fifty. If they walk in the room and I don't help them come out of their shell, what they're going to do is just put their hand on their chins and look sort of conservatively presidential. And any politician is going to do that first, so somehow I have to take it from that point to the other extreme in the last frame, where he's doing the big peace sign and I get my way.
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