The Simple Light: Platon Videos

UPDATE: Apparently, Platon's site is not equipped to handle the inbound traffic level you guys are generating. Long story short, we sorta crashed it. That was certainly not our intention, and they are working on it as we speak.

UPDATE #2: He's back up!
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If you aren't familiar with the work of British photographer Platon (pronounced "plah-TOHN") you should check his stuff out. The A-List editorial and commercial photog shoots almost all of his photos with one soft frontal light source (sometimes adding a background light) and a wide-angle lens.

You'll see lots of stuff that you'll recognize on his site - he did that controversial shot of Bill Clinton, spread-eagle in chair for Esquire for example. (He coaxed the expression by asking the President to "show me the love.")

His site has an "interviews" page, containing three videos, all of which I all found very interesting. This guy is working with a simple (albeit not cheap) setup and continues to explore a very well-defined lighting style through his body of work. Nothing particularly complex about it, either.

This is the kind of stuff you can do at home with your dSLR and an umbrella'd speedlight. But the devil, er, the quality, is in the details. And Platon's example is an excellent lead to follow if you are looking to expand your thinking without expanding your gear bag.

One thing to pay close attention to while watching these videos is the way he interacts with his subjects. Once the light is set up, that's really what makes the photos.

:: Platon's Website ::
:: Platon Videos ::

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