Platon Describes Photographing the World’s Most Powerful People

Famous British portrait photographer Platon, known for capturing portraits of the world’s most powerful people, recently explained his portrait process at the World Economic Forum.

Platon semi-regularly discusses what it’s like to capture portraits of some of the world’s most influential and powerful people, including controversial world leaders like Vladimir Putin. When describing his 2007 portrait of Putin in 2014 to CNN, Platon explained the shoot from start to finish, including finding a way to connect with Putin through his love of The Beatles.

As Platon explained recently at the World Economic Forum, no matter who he is photographing, going face-to-face with some of the world’s most powerful people requires collaboration.

“There’s nothing objective about my work. It’s completely subjective. It’s collaborating with my sitters. And we make that moment together, and then we send it out to the public, and it’s up for the public to decide,” Platon told the World Economic Forum’s “Meet the Leader” podcast.

Whether photographing a controversial and feared leader like Putin, or someone relatively much more beloved by most people like Barack Obama, the process remains similar. Platon sits subjects on a “simple apple box” and gets close — tries to build a human connection.

“I like the fact that [the apple box] strips away all evidence of power,” Platon explained. “And everyone sits on this box, whether they are one of the most powerful people in the world or someone who’s been robbed of all power. It’s a sort of democratic idea of leveling out, power and treating everyone the same with equal respect, curiosity, and dignity.”

“I often will say to my subjects, this moment matters. Right now, there’s probably no one on the planet who is as interested in you as I am. So let’s work together. We. I can’t do it alone. I need you, I need your trust. And I promise I’ll earn your trust and be responsible with it. But let’s make something together that matters. This is an important moment in your life, and I am very honored to try to document that moment,” the photographer continued.

From the outside looking in, the situation gets much murkier when the portrait subject is a dictator, war criminal, or feared leader. But as Platon sees it, his work is “completely subjective,” and it’s up to the public to determine how they view the portrait and the person featured in it.

“Judge later, learn first,” Platon remarked. “You can’t learn if you’re making judgements. Your judgements are basically part of your brain saying, I already know this, so I don’t need to learn.”

Even when the photographer “fundamentally disagrees” with one of his subject’s policies, Platon says he cares about “their humanity.”

“And I have photographed many people, many dictators, who I disagree with fundamentally. But what’s really important is to tune in to their frequency,” Platon admitted.

It is not just controversial world figures who sit on an apple box in front of Platon’s camera — he has photographed many beloved, respected figures over the years, including the late great Muhammad Ali, Stephen Hawking, Heath Ledger, and many more celebrities and public figures.

Universal among all these many portraits captured over decades is that Platon approached each session with curiosity and the desire to capture a truly human moment.

“Famous people, sometimes they appear to be trapped in a prison of their own making… If you have a brand of success, strength, invincibility, perfection, gradually you start to separate from that brand because you can’t live up to it and you start to live a lie. And that is like living in a jail,” Platon said.

“… with a human story, we can build bridges,” he concluded.

Image credits: Featured image by World Economic Forum. Licensed via CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.