Abstract The Art of Design: "Platon: Photography"

The seventh episode of Abstract's season one explores the rhyme and reason in the art of photography by world famous British photographer Platon. Platon has photographed some of the world's most influential figures, such as Vladimir Putin, Prince, Barack Obama and many more. What's really cool about Platon is once you see a few of his photos, you can definitely pick them out of a crowd. His photos are so raw and silently emotional that just a glimpse of one would grant you a wide introspection. While watching the episode all about the Platon style and history, I couldn't help but notice one huge aspect present in everything he does: a desperate need for light and contrast. 

Let's be honest here, whether you're taking a selfie, doing homework late at night, mothering a plant, or taking photos, the right light coming from the right angle is absolutely essential. This idea of the right light and the right angle are repeated over and over in Platon's photos. His shots are all pretty much the same in that the background of the shot is a solid color, often the photo is in black and white, and the personality of the subject is the focus (as opposed to more material things like clothing or make up being the most important in the shot). His photos seem simple, but as many of the interviewees explained, he really "does his homework" and tries to connect to the subject on a personal level in order to capture their true self in the shot. Although the backbone of his photos are all the same, each shot is a little different in how the subject is presented. For example, in his famous Vladimir Putin photograph (one of the few that is actually in color), he captures the figure from a low angle and really hones in on the contrast of the light above with his dark clothing and dark wood chair. Platon tried to connect to Putin by bringing up the Beatles, which happened to be his favorite band. Who knows if that really did much to change the intensity of the event, however it made Putin open up just a little in order for Platon to snap the shot.  Additionally, the biggest thing in the photo is not the man's head, which you'd typically see in any given portrait, but rather his hands that are at the forefront of the photo, almost like the hands of Abraham Lincoln in the monument. After the hands, the eye is drawn to the facial expression. Totally unamused, down to business, and, well, Putin-like, the combination of the hand placement and the facial expression totally encapsulate the leader. The combination of the angle and the light really give Putin the vibe that he is a rock solid leader and not one to, say, laugh at knock knock jokes if you know what I mean. When compared to other shots of famous people in society, such as Robert De Niro, the focus is still on his hands from a low angle, however the clothing and facial expression are much more relaxed and comical, which aligns with the personality of De Niro. The two photos are shown below for a more visual comparison.

 

The lighting of both shots is so intense, just in slightly different ways. In the Putin shot, there is a halo-like glow, almost like what you'd see around Jesus in a painting in a church. With De Niro, there is obvious light on his forehead and it contrasts with the stark white of the background and dark wrinkles on his face and on his clothes. The cool thing about comparing these two photos is how different, yet how similar they are. Both men have wrinkles, yet they hold totally different meanings based on where the light is. Both photos have a focus on the hands, yet De Niro's are relaxed and supportive whereas Putin's are demanding and strong. 

Platon does an amazing job maximizing the personalities of each of his subjects in his photos and using light to do so. Just based on the placement there can be extremely different personalities expressed, as discussed with Putin and De Niro. Based on the lighting and the angle, an alien who doesn't know either figure would be able to tell you which one would be more likely to giggle at a knock knock joke, that's for sure. 

Abstract: The Art of Design (Episode 1)

Having to write a blog post over a show that could teach you something valuable or educational, obviously my first choice was a documentary. However, I didn't have enough time in my schedule to watch a full blown 90-minute documentary film, so I went to "Docu-Series." However, most of the shows in the "Docu-Series" listing wouldn't work for my writing either because the topic would be hard to write much about or I had no interest in the subject matter.. White Rabbit Project was labeled as a "science investigation," which seemed to have a lot of educational value, but it was made by the people behind Mythbusters, and with no offense to Mythbusters crew or fans, Mythbusters to me is like the Transformers movies of science shows. But that's neither here or there. Regardless, I was left with one final choice that I hoped would work out for me. And it did.

Enter Abstract: The Art of Design.

This show is essentially a biographical series which covers the lives, works, and methods of the world's most important artistic designers, covering fields from architecture to graphic design to automotive design, and more. However, I only managed to watch the first episode due to time constraints. The first episode is about the illustrator Christoph Niemann, who made the cover art for a lot of issues of The New Yorker (as well as the Atlantic Monthly and New York Times). The episode follows Christoph around as he explains his work life in both the past and present (such as his classwork under the famous Heinz Edelmann, who is most well-known as the art director for the classic 1968 Beatles animated film, Yellow Submarine, and his ventures to New York to start work at the New Yorker, and back to Berlin to get away from the stress of the city) as well as showcasing the current project he's working on: A cover of The New Yorker which can be viewed in 3D via tablets and smartphones. If that peaked your interest, well then that's only the start.

One of the most interesting (and quite frankly awesome) aspects of this episode is that there are numerous illustrations of Christoph shown throughout, some done in the past and some even done specifically for the show. What makes them great is that a lot of the pictures have some sort of meaning behind them, and the illustrations allude to it in a clever and sometimes even literal way (I would like to give an example, but it's so hard to describe them without looking at them, so I would recommend searching for them online). Some pictures, though not really meaningful, are pretty great solely because he uses an everyday object (in 3D, NOT drawn) as a basis for a picture, and then draws things all around it (for example, he uses a pair of socks tucked into one another as a "head" for a dinosaur, and then draws the green body around it. That may seem simple and not all that interesting, but there's more. He even makes one with a coffee cup while using the coffee as paint). Given the fact that he even explicitly said his work life and personal life don't gel together and that he gets very stressed easily from his job, I have to commend the man for not only doing sparetime illustrations and the 3D VR cover for The New Yorker, but ALSO do illustrations for this one episode of this show. That's amazing.

The show does have its educational value within art, such as Christoph's demonstration of the 'Abstract Scale" with the famous heart shape, but the educational value lies within the merit. Throughout the episode, Christoph says that his free-spirited, relaxed self and his strict, workaholic self battle quite often, and even at the beginning he says that Edelmann was usually very down on his work. That attitude gave him the boost and belief that he currently uses today. He states that people usually belief to not stress yourself on work and take it easy. However, he says that is NOT how to do it, and stressing yourself to get your job done is a lot better in the long run with your job. Now that's something a lot people can learn, given a lot of people also have stressful, tiresome jobs.

Overall, I'll probably give this show further watches, although as said before, the show revolves around numerous artists and not just Christoph. The second episode in the series will focus on Tinker Hatfield, a shoe designer for Nike and even the creator of the famous Air Jordan line of shoes. Although, I have to wonder what will be done in that episode to liven up the presentation, like with the illustrations in this episode. But anyway, I'm going to check the rest of the series out later, and so should you.