I had the great pleasure of attending Platon's workshop at the Center for Photography at Woodstock this past weekend. Fellow photographer Paul Dandurand took a Platonesque Portrait of me. Thanks Paul!
Platon is not only an incredible photographer but a thoughtful educator. Many of the lessons he taught I can bring back to my students in the classroom that educate about visual literacy and human relations. In each lesson, he emphasized the soulful connections you can make with your "subject". After observing many photographers who take take take, it was beautiful to see how Platon works,relating to and making a conscious effort to give back to everyone he photographs. Every photographer there was on fire watching Platon fill the room with his amazing energy demonstrating the beauty of a simple gesture. It was an intense emotional invaluable weekend.
Here is a little more info on Platon.
Platon, a NYC based photographer, born in London, attended the esteemed St. Martin’s School of Art before going on to study at the Royal College of Art, where he earned his BA and MA. He received British Vogue’s “Best Up-and-Coming Photographer” award in 1992 along with the opportunity to contribute images to the magazine. Since then Platon has continued to shoot for an impressive range of publications including The New York Times Magazine, Time, Esquire, and Rolling Stone. His advertising credits include memorable campaigns for Issey Miyake, Nike, Levi’s, Moschino, IBM, and Motorola. Platon has exhibited at Hamilton’s Gallery and in London, Spiral Hall in Tokyo, Leica Gallery in NYC and Japan, Saatchi Gallery, and the Carla Sozzani Gallery in Milan. Phaidon Press published his latest book, Platon’s Republic. His work is represented by the Art Department in NYC.
Here's what Liz Unterman, Education Coordinator at CPW, who took the photo of me taking the photo of Paul above :), has to say about the workshop on her blog,
So...we opened the workshop season with The Art & Craft of Portraiture taught by Platon. Great start to the season. Platon is energetic, intelligent and incredibly passionate for what he does...which is infectious. He carefully nursed every workshop participant through somewhat grueling exercises in "relating and connecting to your subject"--- which in the end brought every single person to a place of better understanding of who they are as artists. It was extremely enjoyable to watch from my end. People really came out of their shells and did an amazing job.
I have blogged about portraiture before and discussed the complicated discussions that exist around it. how much of a portrait is made with genuine "connection" and how much is a projection that we impose onto it? how telling can a photographic portrait really be on its own without other representation? what level of responsibility do we have as artists to properly represent a person? what is the definition of representation!? How does the gaze of the viewer change over time alter the portrait?
