Portrait photographer Platon is best known for his stylized wide angle photographs of political figures such as Bill Clinton, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Vladimir Putin, Hugo Chavez, and countless other iconic leaders throughout the world. His images have graced the covers of Time, The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Esquire to name a few. For Platon, putting himself in a position to capture portraits of some of the most unapproachable and impenetrable political rulers has not only been stressful but also extremely dangerous. Such was the case when he set out to Burma, one of the most dangerous countries in the world, to photograph opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi. In the video below Platon recaps his experience being chased by Burmese secret police in his effort to create the cover image of the January 2011 issue of Time.
there needs to be a film about this
What an amazing story. Which photographer in the world wouldn´t want to be in his shoes - to portrait something or someone who is sacrificing herself to change the world for the better ? Incredible :)
This video gave me goosebumps
Awesome!
Platon has been one of my favourite photographers for a long, long time now. Still is. Love this. The video was edited really well too, showing his hand gestures and excitement to great effect.
Wow, what an experience. Myanmar is without a doubt one of the most difficult places to take a photograph. As a tourist, I had a gun pointed at me for having a little, unassuming canon rebel, too near to the soldier's booths, that they have on every corner in the capitol. Successfully shooting the Junta's opposition leader for a magazine cover, and flying out with the shots intact, is quite a huge accomplishment. Nice work; beautiful photos.
Somehow I find this story a bit too James Bond to be real. Especially the chase-part seems a bit over the top to me, come on, a taxi driver getting away after being chased for two to three hours? No way.
I agree with Casper, sounds a bit over exaggerated. He seems to get more excited as the story goes on, building it up. After all he is the only one that can prove the story. Imagine he said "Yea, so we went there and had 10 mins to photograph her I got the shots and I was really happy with the outcome. It would never have got any exposure.
I got some kind of error and it posted the above message.... wierd!!
it says:
"The video you are trying to watch is currently unavailable.
Please check back later."
I will politely obey :D
.....................:O my jaw dropped watching that video. Geez my heartbeat got a little faster during a part of that. It was probably started when he arrived in Burma.
I have to agree with Casper and Jimmy. The story sounds a bit unreal for me and this guys seems to be full of himself. Awesome pictures, though.