Cover Page

COVER PAGE

Spanish magazine Cover
















My version of the Spanish magazine cover with my version of Platon's Prince portrait in it

Platon Interview

Platon is one of the most popular advertising photographers in present times. Companies such as Nike, Rey-Ban, Levi’s, Diesel, Motorola, and Converse have hired him for their advertising campaigns. Platon also has his own gallery of celebrity portraits he photographed himself. This photographer is indeed at the very top of his trade.

“What are your inspirations?” was one of my first questions to him. Judging by the major involvement of celebrities in his work, I more or less guessed his answer right: “One of my major inspirations is the movie business. I grew up with Al Pacino in Scarface and The Godfather. I’ve worked with him. I grew up with Sylvester Stallone in Rambo and Rocky. I’ve worked with him as well. I’ve been able to work with Harrison Ford as well, who I admired greatly for his part in Star Wars, another big movie from my teenage years and beyond. My passion for movies is definitely one of the reasons why I work with the sort of people I do now.” From his answers in the interview, you can really tell he holds a strong passion for his work. He is delighted to work with his idols of the movie business. He even admitted that his major childhood dream was to be among the movie stars he was fond of. A lot of those movie stars were present at Platon’s exhibition in Hollywood two days ago, which proved to be a great success.

Platon’s exhibition in Hollywood took place next to Beverly Hills. Many movie stars, including Bill Murray, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and also the people Platon has actually worked with: Al Pacino, Harrison Ford, Marlon Brando, and others came to his exhibition. Platon was pleased to receive so many of his favorite actors and actresses. One of the most successful photos in his exhibition was that of Prince. Prince could not make it to the exhibition as he was on the other side of the country, visiting a friend who lives in New York. When he heard of the success of the picture in which he modeled for, he certainly seemed happy. The image shows a white background behind Prince pointing his hand towards the camera, creating one of those angles that Platon’s celebrity portraits are so famous for. There were attendees to his exhibition that were not familiar with Platon’s work, but after they looked at his photographs they expressed their admiration of him, saying Platon was a great revelation for them. The portrait of Prince was used in a magazine in Spain that revolves around celebrity life and news called “Hola!”. Platon’s works have reached Europe as well, that is a sign of his growing fame on a global scale.

Irving Penn Interview

One of the classic masters of photography in the 20^th century is Irving Penn, and that is not a debatable face. He has been an influence for many photographers that came after him, amateur and professional alike. That is, he was influence and he still is for many photographers that admire the photography from the 20^th century. I guarantee you that those who have an interest in classic 20^th century photography definitely know the name of Irving Penn, or even know some of his works, as he was famous for many years, including part of the first half of the 20^th century and the second half of it as well. In my interview with him which took place shortly before his death which occurred on October 27^th, 2009, I asked him how he felt about being an influence to so many and said to me, “It’s an amazing feeling, as I never expected to be this big in the world of photography before I started my photography career or even during my first years at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art.”

His photography style is distinguishable from most other photographers. His works are original, creative, and brilliant, which is the reason why he has achieved as much as he has achieved. Among the variety of photography methods he used within his style, there exists one that is particularly original. That would be the black and white portraits of people standing or sitting in a corner. Most of these portraits show people posing in an awkward position, including kneeling on a stool, or bending their head uncomfortably to a side. These portraits are proof of the originality in Irving Penn's work. When I asked him what inspired him to make these portraits the way they are, he told me that “emotions [he] felt from the people during the post-World War II times were strong, and [he] expressed them through the poses and facial expressions of the models in the portraits”. Poses acting as symbols for hunger, helplessness, weakness, sickness, misery, and other such things are used in many of the portraits. The facial expressions of the models are serious, containing no trace of happiness or joy, further expression of the feelings felt by people during the post-World War II times.

Irving Penn’s work is shown in famous galleries around the world in cities such as London, Paris, and New York. There are numerous books written by him that have been published as well. He was one of the pioneers of photography, one of the founders of modern photography, and therefore will be remembered for many years alongside artists such as Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.

Platon - portrait of Prince













My version of Platon's Prince portrait














My version of Irving Penn's Marcel Duchamp portrait















Irving Penn - Portrait of Marcel Duchamp