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[Platon] I'm not really
a photographer at all.
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The camera is nothing more than a tool.
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Communication,
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simplicity,
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shapes on a page.
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What's important is the story,
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the message, the feeling.
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[man in Greek] Sit here?
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[Platon] The connection.
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[speaking Greek]
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How do you make this...
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[in Greek] Yes. There, there.
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reach people?
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[speaking encouragement in Greek]
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It's a combination of graphic simplicity
and the power of spirit and soul.
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[man in Greek]
You want angry, not happy.
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[Platon] It's design.
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[music playing]
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[camera clicks and winds]
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[Platon] Cory, can you
show me the fisherman?
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Okay.
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I think that looks pretty nice.
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I know that Bob will be able to
bring so much texture out of the sea.
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[Cory] Oh, yeah.
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And there's loads of stuff in the island
you can't see, but we'll bring it out.
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This is denim, which will be a gift to us
because of the texture.
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-I hit it really hard.
-All the wood, Bob can bring all that out.
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-Okay. Let's set up for the shoot.
-Cool.
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[Pollack] You can look
at a Platon portrait,
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and you know it's by Platon.
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He has photographed the most
important people in the world
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from the last two decades.
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A Platon portrait is about lighting,
it's about the person's eyes,
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it's about the graphic nature
of how he positions the camera.
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Sometimes it's from below,
sometimes it's straight on.
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Sometimes it's really about the hands
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and about getting an exaggerated look
from the person.
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It is about getting the soul.
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[Lois] Everybody he shoots
has a look in their eye...
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where you say, "Holy shit!"
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You're drawn to it,
and somehow he gets it all the time.
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But I really think he's a mystical
and magical photographer.
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[Biondi] Platon brought an enormous power
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into that square
or into that white background.
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The composition is graphic.
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Once it's published,
you can't help but look at it.
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And no one can intimidate him, you know,
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Putin didn't intimidate him.
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Platon has made this his own,
and it's bold, graphic and fearless.
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[Platon] Before a shoot,
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I'm not thinking,
"How can I get a good picture?"
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but "What can I learn from this person?"
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Every time.
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The human condition is so complicated.
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Questions like: what is good leadership?
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How important is compassion?
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Following your own moral compass.
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How to cope with failure.
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Questions that we all
actually want to know.
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Including myself.
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[exhales]
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To get to that point
where someone is just open,
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you've got to earn it.
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When a flower just opens to the light,
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that's what it is.
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-[Cory] Do you want more?
-[Platon] No, we should be good.
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All right, thanks.
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What book shall we give him?
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-[assistant] I think Service.
-I think definitely Service, right?
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Yeah, of course. Yeah.
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Yeah.
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We're good.
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-It's perfect.
-[Cory] Okay.
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[Platon] I don't know
what he's going to be like,
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I don't know how open he's gonna be.
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If he's gonna be nervous,
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how warm he's gonna be,
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how conservative he's gonna be
with his personality.
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You have to prepare yourself for that.
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[entrance buzzer]
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[Biondi] It is very unselfish, really.
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He's generally interested
in whoever is there in front of him,
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and this does something, you know,
and people are willing to work with him.
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Well, this has been
quite a journey to meet you.
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Well,
I looked through your site last night.
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-Right.
-Just incredible pictures. Remarkable.
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-Well, incredible subjects.
-Yes.
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I see. Hi, Bill.
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[both laugh]
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-George is behind.
-George? Over there?
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And so is Barack.
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I've got a present for you, my book.
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Oh, thank you. Ooh!
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[Platon]
And it's the whole military project.
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It's really a tribute to all the men
and women who serve their country.
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And family members.
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As I discovered through doing it.
I didn't really understand that.
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[Powell] People don't know what it's like.
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By the time my son was ten years old,
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I'd been away three years of his life,
two years in Vietnam and a year in Korea.
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People don't realize
the toll it takes on a family--
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-And a wife.
-And a wife.
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[Platon]
Taking a picture is very technical,
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but 99.9% is spent on this connection
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that allows me to reach someone.
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And through that connection,
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there's just a chance
you're going to feel something too.
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Right now, so, this is paper.
Don't lean on this.
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-Got it.
-Have a seat.
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So, uh, probably, more world leaders
have sat on this box
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than any other chair on the planet.
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Gaddafi sat on that box and Putin.
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-So...
-[all laugh]
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Not all bottoms are good bottoms.
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Having your portrait taken
is a collaboration,
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or a dance, or a battle,
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depending on how I'm feeling that day
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and how my sitter's feeling.
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Click.
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With Chavez, I had 30 seconds
and I got one frame.
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But he gave me his personality on a plate
and he knew it.
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He got up. He turns 'round,
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puts his fist in the air
like a power salute
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and he shouts, "Platon!"
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It was just the most
extraordinary moment!
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There I am in front of Putin,
I'm asking him about The Beatles.
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I don't know
if I'm gonna get in trouble or not.
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But with Putin, you have to go in close,
because no one gets close to Putin.
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When I was doing Gaddafi,
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I knew that this is going to be
a moment where the story is summed up.
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I've never experienced
a chilling sense of menace and defiance.
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He's not really posing for me.
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He's posing for America.
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My work is made
from lots of brief encounters
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with extraordinary movers
and shakers of our time.
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[Pollack] It could be
President of the United States
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or it could be an undocumented migrant.
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And he's always finding
a certain dignity to both
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and he's also finding
a certain power in both.
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He's getting that
often through the person's eyes.
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[Biondi] He says something
that starts a conversation.
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While it is rather spontaneous,
he does his homework.
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You know, how did he know
that Putin likes The Beatles?
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This is unusual for me,
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because often I'm working with a magazine
and that's the vehicle.
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-This is just completely personal.
-Mmm-hmm.
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It's not even a picture just of you
at this point in your life,
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it's a picture about us.
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[Lois] It ain't just designing
a nice photograph.
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He communicates
something deep inside somebody.
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That's his art.
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You've been married how long?
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Fifty-four years, 54 years in August.
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Dude, you've gotta give me advice.
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[laughs]
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-Pass me the camera.
-Do what she tells you.
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That's the best advice,
do what she--
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My wife will love you for that.
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-Play dumb, don't argue.
-Right.
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I don't know about playing dumb,
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I actually just have to be myself,
which is pretty dumb.
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[both laugh]
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All right, now this is how it works.
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[Platon] You may ask,
"What is a Platon picture?"
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There's a path, there's a path
from the very beginning.
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I was brought up in the Greek Islands,
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and my mother is an art historian
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and my father was an architect.
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He would take me to beautiful buildings
and he would say, "Look at this building.
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Look at the rhythm,
look at the fenestration,
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look at the sense of human scale.
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How does it relate to us?
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And look at the majesty
of this giant beautiful thing
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that someone created and designed."
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My father used to do
these beautiful drawings in pen and ink.
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And I grew up with this sort of
black and white aesthetic in my head.
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It was so bold.
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I spent most of my adult life
in the dark with a small red light on,
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trying to find that visual language.
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If it's necessary, it's in there.
If it's not necessary, it's not there.
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So strip it down, simplify it.
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Just go... for the core.
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So I got used to looking
at something like the Acropolis
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and thinking, "God, the power."
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And many years later,
I found myself in front of Bill Clinton,
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the first president I worked with.
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I mean,
he's just a larger-than-life character.
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You have to get
this giant monument of power.
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It almost has the same feeling
as the Acropolis.
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[guitar music playing]
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There were churches everywhere in Greece.
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In that church, you're going to have
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a singular simple portrait
of a religious figure.
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And it's just head and shoulders
and there's probably a halo.
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That graphic simplicity
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taps in all my design ideas,
all the things I'm drawn to.
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A religious icon structure
mixed with modernist design.
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Simple. Bold. Clear.
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And you end up with a Platon picture.
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So I grew up being educated as a designer.
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I studied graphic design at art college.
202
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My deep respect for form
and positive and negative space
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comes from studying Frank Lloyd Wright's
idea of compression and expansion.
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You walk into
a Frank Lloyd Wright building
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00:13:33,896 --> 00:13:38,192
and the entranceway is so small,
it makes you almost dip your head.
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And then, as soon as you walk
into the main room,
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he blows up the space
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and it makes you feel...
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[inhales]
210
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"Aw, that's so good."
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These are all lessons
I've put into my work.
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If I can tap into someone's spirit,
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it's the same feeling as when
you walk into a Frank Lloyd Wright room.
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It opens you up. It does something.
215
00:14:05,219 --> 00:14:08,848
And that's either a feeling
of complete menace or fear,
216
00:14:08,931 --> 00:14:12,101
or feeling of inspiration and hope.
217
00:14:12,185 --> 00:14:14,979
But it does do something to you,
as a person.
218
00:14:16,898 --> 00:14:21,778
Another great designer
and incredible person through media
219
00:14:21,861 --> 00:14:23,196
is George Lois.
220
00:14:24,447 --> 00:14:27,241
He's the one that taught me
to be a cultural provocateur.
221
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That's what I can do in society.
222
00:14:30,828 --> 00:14:33,373
I can't solve any other problems,
but provoke.
223
00:14:34,499 --> 00:14:37,085
I consider him
one of the few people I know
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who are cultural provocateurs.
225
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I think everything he photographs,
there's a chance for him to make a comment
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00:14:44,675 --> 00:14:47,929
about what the hell's going on
in the world, good or bad.
227
00:14:48,971 --> 00:14:51,849
And he deeply cares about the poor.
He cares about the...
228
00:14:52,225 --> 00:14:53,226
[stammers]
229
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He just cares about humanity.
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[Platon] All my heroes are people
who teach me about pushing buttons
231
00:15:05,238 --> 00:15:10,451
and pushing myself to a point
where I can make you feel something.
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[Pollack] Platon approaches
all of his pictures as an art director.
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00:15:18,501 --> 00:15:21,712
He embeds in his shoots
234
00:15:22,296 --> 00:15:24,757
a sense of pacing,
how something's going to lay out.
235
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[Platon] Because I'm trying
to simplify everything,
236
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my pictures stand out
on the covers of magazines.
237
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But it's really made out of my flaws.
238
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That I can't cope with complication.
239
00:15:38,229 --> 00:15:40,773
I'm extremely dyslexic.
240
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I have trouble writing.
I write very slowly.
241
00:15:44,902 --> 00:15:47,029
And reading for me is a huge problem.
242
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For me, a very complex world has
to be simplified.
243
00:15:53,077 --> 00:15:54,579
Has to be stripped down.
244
00:15:55,329 --> 00:15:59,917
And design, for me,
was a way out of confusion.
245
00:16:00,001 --> 00:16:03,838
Because great design simplifies
a very complicated world.
246
00:16:08,009 --> 00:16:10,470
I still shoot with the same type of light.
247
00:16:11,637 --> 00:16:13,055
The same film.
248
00:16:13,973 --> 00:16:15,516
The same box.
249
00:16:16,309 --> 00:16:17,935
The same shoot-through umbrella.
250
00:16:18,728 --> 00:16:19,896
The same camera.
251
00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:26,194
Everything is the same
and it allows the message to change.
252
00:16:29,822 --> 00:16:32,742
Now, I'm going structure you a bit,
so I want your shoulders dead on to me.
253
00:16:32,825 --> 00:16:35,661
Okay? This is all that's in the frame
right now, all right? So that's...
254
00:16:35,745 --> 00:16:42,710
I begin with a long lens headshot, color.
255
00:16:42,793 --> 00:16:44,712
That's always my first base.
256
00:16:44,795 --> 00:16:46,255
Don't move, that's beautiful.
257
00:16:46,339 --> 00:16:47,965
Now, I want you to think...
258
00:16:48,049 --> 00:16:49,592
[camera clicks and winds]
259
00:16:49,675 --> 00:16:51,761
about what we talked about with sacrifice.
260
00:16:52,261 --> 00:16:53,888
Stay there, stay there...
261
00:16:53,971 --> 00:16:56,641
And then suddenly,
I break through a tiny bit,
262
00:16:56,724 --> 00:17:00,478
and instead of taking it and absorbing it,
263
00:17:00,561 --> 00:17:05,525
I give it right back times a thousand,
and I normally yell at their face.
264
00:17:06,067 --> 00:17:07,235
[loudly] Amazing!
265
00:17:08,027 --> 00:17:09,862
Well, let's go home then. What the...
266
00:17:09,946 --> 00:17:12,823
No, we're warming up.
It just keeps getting better!
267
00:17:13,574 --> 00:17:14,534
Right, stay with me.
268
00:17:14,617 --> 00:17:19,539
The shock of that destroys all walls
that they thought they were building.
269
00:17:19,622 --> 00:17:22,458
Very gently, head a bit this way. Stop!
270
00:17:24,627 --> 00:17:25,670
[camera clicks]
271
00:17:26,045 --> 00:17:27,630
-Black and white.
-[Cory] Same thing?
272
00:17:27,713 --> 00:17:29,173
Yep. Black background.
273
00:17:30,633 --> 00:17:32,385
I want you to stay exactly where you are.
274
00:17:32,468 --> 00:17:35,263
We're going to put
a small black background behind you.
275
00:17:35,346 --> 00:17:37,890
-Mm-hmm.
-Okay. Gabby will come in.
276
00:17:37,974 --> 00:17:43,062
I'll put up a black background,
because I want a sense of closed intimacy.
277
00:17:43,813 --> 00:17:45,064
-You okay?
-[Powell] Yeah.
278
00:17:45,147 --> 00:17:46,440
Now, keep your spirit.
279
00:17:47,275 --> 00:17:48,192
Don't move.
280
00:17:49,610 --> 00:17:51,153
That's beautiful. Hold that.
281
00:17:52,154 --> 00:17:53,364
Eyes here. That's it.
282
00:17:54,282 --> 00:17:55,408
Beautiful.
283
00:17:56,033 --> 00:17:57,493
[camera clicks and winds]
284
00:17:57,577 --> 00:18:00,746
One more, black and white.
We're good here. Go to white background.
285
00:18:02,248 --> 00:18:07,628
I don't believe you should ever
allow your tools to dominate the message.
286
00:18:08,588 --> 00:18:15,136
Great design is when all those things
take a backseat and you get the message.
287
00:18:16,721 --> 00:18:18,472
[Pollack] He still shoots with film.
288
00:18:18,556 --> 00:18:23,561
That really creates a very different set
between a photographer and a subject.
289
00:18:24,186 --> 00:18:25,896
When you're photographing digital,
290
00:18:25,980 --> 00:18:30,443
you're constantly looking
at the pictures on the screen
291
00:18:30,526 --> 00:18:33,738
and what has happened
is you're losing that intimacy
292
00:18:33,821 --> 00:18:35,823
between photographer and subject.
293
00:18:36,532 --> 00:18:38,659
The magic part of the relationship
294
00:18:38,743 --> 00:18:41,245
of getting to the picture
that you want to make.
295
00:18:41,954 --> 00:18:43,205
[clicking]
296
00:18:43,289 --> 00:18:44,123
[Platon] Hold that.
297
00:18:44,707 --> 00:18:45,625
Cory, come lower.
298
00:18:45,708 --> 00:18:50,296
I need to be close to my sitters,
and I need to feel what they're feeling.
299
00:18:51,464 --> 00:18:55,593
It's a very painful process
of growth and experience.
300
00:18:55,676 --> 00:18:56,761
Don't move.
301
00:18:56,844 --> 00:18:59,221
I learned that being an immigrant myself.
302
00:19:02,391 --> 00:19:06,479
When I arrived in England
at the age of eight years old,
303
00:19:06,562 --> 00:19:09,315
I wasn't just a foreigner.
I was a "bloody foreigner."
304
00:19:10,149 --> 00:19:14,070
Years later, I found myself walking
on a Saturday afternoon
305
00:19:14,153 --> 00:19:17,990
and... I got jumped by this guy.
306
00:19:19,116 --> 00:19:21,577
And he beat
the living daylights out of me.
307
00:19:23,579 --> 00:19:29,460
Skull fractured, both cheek bones,
eye sockets, all my ribs busted.
308
00:19:30,670 --> 00:19:32,713
And I was a mess, man.
309
00:19:33,547 --> 00:19:37,385
It was just like, "Why me?"
Mumbling through my messed-up mouth.
310
00:19:38,344 --> 00:19:41,472
And this old lady
in the bed next door said,
311
00:19:41,555 --> 00:19:42,598
"Young man,
312
00:19:43,099 --> 00:19:44,225
why not you?
313
00:19:45,351 --> 00:19:46,852
What's so special about you?"
314
00:19:48,646 --> 00:19:52,483
I would like to say
that angels started singing, and choirs,
315
00:19:52,566 --> 00:19:54,860
and there was a light
came through the window,
316
00:19:54,944 --> 00:19:56,320
as a photographer, I saw it...
317
00:19:56,862 --> 00:19:58,280
That's all bullshit.
318
00:19:58,364 --> 00:19:59,532
None of that happened.
319
00:20:00,199 --> 00:20:02,076
But after a while,
320
00:20:02,159 --> 00:20:07,707
I realized that if I can harness
the experience of what happened to me,
321
00:20:07,790 --> 00:20:10,376
I now know what it is to hurt.
322
00:20:11,419 --> 00:20:15,756
That is a door to something
that you never had before,
323
00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:17,299
and that is empathy.
324
00:20:19,719 --> 00:20:24,056
I was doing pictures in London
that reacted against façade,
325
00:20:24,890 --> 00:20:28,436
because fame and power and celebrity
meant nothing to me.
326
00:20:29,937 --> 00:20:32,815
My early pictures, like Alexander McQueen,
327
00:20:32,898 --> 00:20:34,942
are part of that process of trying to say,
328
00:20:35,526 --> 00:20:39,572
"Screw looking great and suave
and sophisticated,
329
00:20:39,655 --> 00:20:41,240
I want some truth."
330
00:20:43,868 --> 00:20:45,536
I was shooting from the hip
331
00:20:45,619 --> 00:20:48,664
in street magazines
that were coming out of London.
332
00:20:49,957 --> 00:20:54,044
So one day,
I got a call from JFK Jr.'s office.
333
00:20:54,128 --> 00:20:59,258
He saw all that work in Face, Arena, i-D,
334
00:20:59,341 --> 00:21:03,387
and he said, "There's something
in your work that lacks polish.
335
00:21:03,971 --> 00:21:06,891
This is the kind of work I want
in George magazine."
336
00:21:07,433 --> 00:21:10,394
If I look at the picture
and I feel I know them,
337
00:21:10,478 --> 00:21:11,479
that's what I want.
338
00:21:11,562 --> 00:21:13,898
Show me what it's like to meet them.
339
00:21:14,523 --> 00:21:18,569
And it began me on a path,
which was incredible.
340
00:21:21,572 --> 00:21:24,366
I thought that's gonna be my big break
in America.
341
00:21:26,327 --> 00:21:29,872
There's no way I'd have access
to people at the highest level
342
00:21:30,623 --> 00:21:32,124
without George magazine.
343
00:21:32,917 --> 00:21:35,377
It gave me confidence to keep pushing.
344
00:21:38,172 --> 00:21:42,551
I would be a fraud if I said
I wasn't ever dazzled by the lights.
345
00:21:42,635 --> 00:21:44,178
It's the most dangerous thing.
346
00:21:44,762 --> 00:21:46,180
You stop thinking straight.
347
00:21:48,766 --> 00:21:55,189
And when John tragically died,
I thought, "It's all over."
348
00:22:01,779 --> 00:22:03,322
So I went back to Greece.
349
00:22:03,823 --> 00:22:04,657
[ship's horn blaring]
350
00:22:04,740 --> 00:22:08,160
Just focused my creative attention
on what I know.
351
00:22:09,787 --> 00:22:12,331
Where I can express myself
in an authentic way.
352
00:22:13,457 --> 00:22:16,544
And that's around real people
who don't give a shit
353
00:22:16,627 --> 00:22:18,963
about whether they've got lines
on their face.
354
00:22:22,091 --> 00:22:23,843
[men speaking Greek inside]
355
00:22:27,388 --> 00:22:28,222
Oh!
356
00:22:29,223 --> 00:22:31,183
-[Platon in Greek] Hello, my friend!
-[man] Hello, my friend!
357
00:22:31,267 --> 00:22:34,061
[in English] How are you?
So nice to see you again.
358
00:22:34,144 --> 00:22:35,437
[in English] You look fantastic.
359
00:22:37,273 --> 00:22:41,318
So what we're going to do is sit.
Sit where your father sat.
360
00:22:43,362 --> 00:22:45,281
-So he was always here and there.
-Yes.
361
00:22:45,364 --> 00:22:48,117
[Platon] When I was a kid,
I would always sit and draw in the square.
362
00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:50,578
I used to draw all the old men and ladies.
363
00:22:51,912 --> 00:22:53,539
It was calm and slow.
364
00:22:54,623 --> 00:22:58,252
The old man would sit in that chair
for five hours.
365
00:22:59,503 --> 00:23:02,298
When you are still and sitting,
366
00:23:02,798 --> 00:23:05,342
your powers of observation
go through the roof.
367
00:23:05,843 --> 00:23:09,305
If someone walks by,
it's a massive event.
368
00:23:09,388 --> 00:23:12,683
You start noticing that
the lady's stockings have got a tear,
369
00:23:12,766 --> 00:23:16,270
that the bag they're carrying
maybe has nothing in it.
370
00:23:18,063 --> 00:23:20,149
You tap into the human condition.
371
00:23:20,232 --> 00:23:22,276
That's a very powerful thing.
372
00:23:22,943 --> 00:23:28,949
And it's those amazing details of humanity
that you start to understand.
373
00:23:29,033 --> 00:23:30,951
[acoustic guitar playing]
374
00:23:32,703 --> 00:23:34,705
[guitar continues playing]
375
00:23:35,664 --> 00:23:37,499
[church bells ringing]
376
00:23:39,251 --> 00:23:40,753
[people chattering in Greek]
377
00:23:50,262 --> 00:23:54,058
-[woman in Greek] Oh! How are you?
-[Platon in Greek] Yes, fine.
378
00:23:54,141 --> 00:23:58,562
-Bravo.
-You? So-so? Come on...
379
00:23:58,646 --> 00:24:00,689
No, I'm fine. I have my cane.
380
00:24:00,773 --> 00:24:03,108
-Okay, okay!
-What can we do?
381
00:24:03,192 --> 00:24:04,193
[laughs]
382
00:24:05,444 --> 00:24:07,071
[continues laughing]
383
00:24:07,154 --> 00:24:10,574
You know, people say
I probably developed my style
384
00:24:10,658 --> 00:24:12,868
looking at Richard Avedon or Irving Penn.
385
00:24:13,702 --> 00:24:15,788
But that's not actually true.
386
00:24:15,871 --> 00:24:19,541
My white backgrounds come
from these white houses.
387
00:24:19,625 --> 00:24:21,335
[laughing and chatting in Greek]
388
00:24:24,213 --> 00:24:28,092
My 35mil. stuff
is about context and atmosphere.
389
00:24:30,928 --> 00:24:33,931
It's not always about
getting all that detail
390
00:24:34,014 --> 00:24:36,433
that I would get in a studio sitting.
391
00:24:39,395 --> 00:24:40,604
Always available light.
392
00:24:42,564 --> 00:24:44,983
The best light is just raw sunlight.
393
00:24:46,944 --> 00:24:48,570
No lights, no assistants.
394
00:24:49,613 --> 00:24:51,949
It's photography alive and kicking.
395
00:24:54,576 --> 00:25:01,417
The only thing you can do is focus
on compassion, dignity and humility.
396
00:25:01,500 --> 00:25:02,668
[whispers in Greek]
397
00:25:04,670 --> 00:25:06,255
[camera clicks, winds forward]
398
00:25:08,006 --> 00:25:09,925
[camera clicks, winds forward]
399
00:25:11,969 --> 00:25:13,637
[clicking and winding continues]
400
00:25:15,597 --> 00:25:17,182
[softly] It's a very powerful connection,
401
00:25:20,602 --> 00:25:23,647
and that is what photography feels like.
402
00:25:23,731 --> 00:25:25,482
[sighs]
403
00:25:25,566 --> 00:25:26,859
[laughs softly]
404
00:25:27,860 --> 00:25:29,987
[Platon] At the end of it,
you've got the aesthetic.
405
00:25:30,487 --> 00:25:31,822
That comes last.
406
00:25:35,617 --> 00:25:37,327
[traditional Greek music playing]
407
00:25:37,411 --> 00:25:41,165
When I came back to Greece,
I came back to my people.
408
00:25:47,921 --> 00:25:52,050
And it was an empowering experience
of finding my feet as a human being.
409
00:25:55,804 --> 00:25:57,139
[whoops]
410
00:25:57,222 --> 00:25:58,766
[more whooping]
411
00:26:01,518 --> 00:26:03,270
[cheering and applauding]
412
00:26:05,939 --> 00:26:08,400
[cheering and clapping continues]
413
00:26:08,484 --> 00:26:10,778
After that, I went back to New York
414
00:26:10,861 --> 00:26:14,156
and I spent a year working
on the material with my team
415
00:26:14,239 --> 00:26:16,241
and then The New Yorker heard about it.
416
00:26:17,034 --> 00:26:20,829
[Biondi] We were actually looking
of adding another photographer.
417
00:26:20,913 --> 00:26:26,543
He showed me his work, and what I remember
of them most were his Greek photographs.
418
00:26:29,838 --> 00:26:32,216
[Platon] The irony is
I went back to Greece
419
00:26:32,299 --> 00:26:38,222
to do something that is the antithesis
of what I expected The New Yorker to like.
420
00:26:42,017 --> 00:26:47,022
My first project for them
was a large-scale photo essay.
421
00:26:47,689 --> 00:26:51,819
We were heading into
a very complicated, divisive election.
422
00:26:52,402 --> 00:26:53,695
Obama's first election.
423
00:26:55,030 --> 00:27:00,744
And we wanted to do something that would
provoke respectful debate in America.
424
00:27:02,162 --> 00:27:05,040
And I got embedded with the US Military
425
00:27:05,124 --> 00:27:09,169
as our troops trained
for America's most recent wars.
426
00:27:09,670 --> 00:27:10,963
[gentle piano music playing]
427
00:27:11,046 --> 00:27:13,382
It became a year-long project.
428
00:27:14,883 --> 00:27:20,264
We went to Arlington Cemetery
as one of the important sessions.
429
00:27:21,390 --> 00:27:28,021
And I noticed this lady takes a fold-out
picnic chair every day to her son's grave,
430
00:27:29,314 --> 00:27:31,650
and reads to her son's gravestone.
431
00:27:31,733 --> 00:27:33,360
[piano music continues]
432
00:27:33,443 --> 00:27:35,404
I was just devastated.
433
00:27:36,864 --> 00:27:38,699
And if it meant something to me,
434
00:27:38,782 --> 00:27:41,660
there's just a chance
it means something to other people.
435
00:27:42,494 --> 00:27:44,830
Is it wrong to be
a Muslim in this country?
436
00:27:44,913 --> 00:27:46,498
The answer is, "No, that's not America."
437
00:27:46,582 --> 00:27:49,001
[Powell] I feel strongly
about this particular point
438
00:27:49,084 --> 00:27:51,545
because of a picture I saw in a magazine.
439
00:27:51,628 --> 00:27:55,799
It was a photo-essay about troops
who were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
440
00:27:56,216 --> 00:27:59,553
And one picture was of a mother
in Arlington Cemetery.
441
00:27:59,636 --> 00:28:02,723
She had her head
on the headstone of her son's grave,
442
00:28:02,806 --> 00:28:06,768
and you could see his awards,
Purple Heart, Bronze Star.
443
00:28:06,852 --> 00:28:09,479
He was 20 years old. He died in Iraq.
444
00:28:09,563 --> 00:28:11,148
And then at the very top,
445
00:28:11,231 --> 00:28:13,817
it had a crescent and a star
of the Islamic faith.
446
00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:16,528
He was an American and he gave his life.
447
00:28:18,238 --> 00:28:20,032
There was something I had wanted to say
448
00:28:20,115 --> 00:28:24,870
about the intolerance that is
being shown increasingly in 2008,
449
00:28:24,953 --> 00:28:26,246
and frankly it has continued.
450
00:28:27,581 --> 00:28:30,334
And so I said, "How can I really
illustrate and demonstrate this?"
451
00:28:30,417 --> 00:28:32,002
And bam, there was the photo.
452
00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:36,590
[Platon] That was the beginning.
453
00:28:36,673 --> 00:28:39,218
I realized that from now on,
454
00:28:39,801 --> 00:28:42,554
the hero is the person that inspires us
455
00:28:42,638 --> 00:28:46,225
to think again about our own moral compass
456
00:28:46,975 --> 00:28:50,604
and our own responsibility
as global citizens.
457
00:28:52,356 --> 00:28:55,984
Platon talks truth to power in his work,
458
00:28:56,068 --> 00:28:57,569
and he talks truth to power
459
00:28:57,653 --> 00:29:00,739
in the subjects
that he chooses to shoot sometimes.
460
00:29:02,699 --> 00:29:04,368
[Platon] Human Rights Watch approached me
461
00:29:04,451 --> 00:29:06,745
and they said, "There's this country
called Burma
462
00:29:06,828 --> 00:29:09,122
that's run by a brutal military regime.
463
00:29:09,206 --> 00:29:12,626
No one's talking about it.
Can we do something about it?"
464
00:29:13,669 --> 00:29:15,545
We published all the work,
465
00:29:16,171 --> 00:29:17,214
and it blew up!
466
00:29:18,257 --> 00:29:22,219
That sort of aspect of pictures
can change the world.
467
00:29:23,095 --> 00:29:26,848
These stories will be placed
in publications
468
00:29:26,932 --> 00:29:32,938
and that collectively brings a focus
on horrible situations
469
00:29:33,021 --> 00:29:34,815
that exist in the world.
470
00:29:35,899 --> 00:29:40,028
[Platon] I realized if I were to
raise my own money,
471
00:29:40,112 --> 00:29:42,489
I could go to my friends
in the NGO community,
472
00:29:42,572 --> 00:29:46,910
and I'll say, "Give me your stories
and I will bring them to life."
473
00:29:47,619 --> 00:29:51,915
[Pollack] Platon came to me
with an incredible series of pictures
474
00:29:51,999 --> 00:29:55,711
on undocumented migrants in this country.
475
00:29:56,837 --> 00:29:59,715
He was interested
in families that were being torn apart,
476
00:30:00,757 --> 00:30:05,095
and we were able to publish that work.
And not only did he photograph them,
477
00:30:05,178 --> 00:30:06,430
but he interviewed them.
478
00:30:07,597 --> 00:30:09,641
It was an incredible series.
479
00:30:12,019 --> 00:30:14,521
[Platon] And my job
is to be the bridge builder.
480
00:30:15,772 --> 00:30:20,736
And we're nothing as human beings
if we don't experience that connection.
481
00:30:22,863 --> 00:30:26,199
So I founded The People's Portfolio
482
00:30:26,283 --> 00:30:28,785
to help tell these important stories
of our time.
483
00:30:30,037 --> 00:30:31,747
[African drumming]
484
00:30:41,173 --> 00:30:42,716
What brought me to Congo
485
00:30:42,799 --> 00:30:48,263
was a chance meeting with this
incredible man called Dr. Mukwege.
486
00:30:49,014 --> 00:30:50,724
He's a gynecologist.
487
00:30:50,807 --> 00:30:52,517
He set up a small practice
488
00:30:52,601 --> 00:30:56,646
to help women give birth
in a happy, normal environment.
489
00:30:56,730 --> 00:30:58,774
But what started to happen,
490
00:30:59,691 --> 00:31:02,361
women were arriving
at the gates of his hospital
491
00:31:02,444 --> 00:31:07,824
who experienced the most traumatic
sexual violence you could imagine.
492
00:31:10,285 --> 00:31:13,830
He's dealing with
this trauma of civilization.
493
00:31:15,332 --> 00:31:17,751
He invited me to his hospital
with my team.
494
00:31:18,460 --> 00:31:20,629
I was committed to see
if I could help him.
495
00:31:22,381 --> 00:31:25,509
And I said I would love
to photograph the survivors
496
00:31:25,592 --> 00:31:28,053
and I would like to tell
a broader story as well.
497
00:31:30,347 --> 00:31:33,016
So I hooked up with two partners,
498
00:31:33,100 --> 00:31:34,976
the Panzi Hospital Foundation
499
00:31:35,852 --> 00:31:39,147
and then another organization
called Physicians for Human Rights.
500
00:31:39,731 --> 00:31:42,401
And we all formed
this giant network together.
501
00:31:42,484 --> 00:31:43,610
[Mukwege] Hello, Platon.
502
00:31:48,532 --> 00:31:50,033
It's been a long journey.
503
00:31:50,117 --> 00:31:54,663
-And we're here for you, my whole team.
-Thank you.
504
00:31:56,206 --> 00:31:58,750
[Platon] This was the hardest mission
I've ever put together.
505
00:31:58,834 --> 00:32:01,503
It was a three-year project to plan.
506
00:32:01,586 --> 00:32:03,713
-[people singing]
-[drums banging]
507
00:32:18,603 --> 00:32:21,064
[Platon] People need to know
what's going on in Congo.
508
00:32:21,773 --> 00:32:25,610
And my job is to build that bridge
in a solid way.
509
00:32:25,694 --> 00:32:31,032
The power of the content,
that's the whole point of design.
510
00:32:31,116 --> 00:32:34,578
That moment when
you feel something very powerful.
511
00:32:35,203 --> 00:32:36,413
[all singers] Amen.
512
00:32:37,038 --> 00:32:39,791
[Mukwege in Swahili]
He is a famous photographer
513
00:32:39,875 --> 00:32:41,835
and is known all over the world.
514
00:32:42,544 --> 00:32:43,420
Platon.
515
00:32:43,503 --> 00:32:45,505
[crowd clapping and laughing]
516
00:32:48,884 --> 00:32:50,552
[Mukwege] Glory be to the Lord.
517
00:32:50,635 --> 00:32:51,761
[all] Amen.
518
00:32:54,431 --> 00:32:57,726
[Platon] The crisis in the Congo
is very complicated.
519
00:32:59,227 --> 00:33:01,313
It's a mineral-rich country,
520
00:33:01,396 --> 00:33:02,898
but with that mineral wealth
521
00:33:02,981 --> 00:33:08,778
has also come great corruption,
rebels, civilians, militia.
522
00:33:08,862 --> 00:33:10,447
[gunfire]
523
00:33:11,072 --> 00:33:13,575
The underlying notion of the Congo
524
00:33:13,658 --> 00:33:16,995
is that if you want territory,
you take it.
525
00:33:18,622 --> 00:33:21,082
And the easiest and cheapest way
to take the land
526
00:33:21,166 --> 00:33:25,045
begins with using rape
as a weapon of warfare.
527
00:33:29,341 --> 00:33:32,052
Rape is cheaper than bullets.
528
00:33:37,349 --> 00:33:40,101
We all just have to be aware.
529
00:33:40,185 --> 00:33:41,978
We're dealing with women
530
00:33:42,062 --> 00:33:44,940
who have been through
the worst circumstances in their lives,
531
00:33:45,023 --> 00:33:46,691
and we're a bunch of guys.
532
00:33:47,317 --> 00:33:49,027
Just be gentle. All right?
533
00:33:49,653 --> 00:33:53,573
I'm going to photograph
one at a time, maybe two together.
534
00:33:54,699 --> 00:33:55,700
Okay.
535
00:33:56,868 --> 00:33:58,078
[speaking French]
536
00:33:58,662 --> 00:34:00,288
All right, turn over the paper.
537
00:34:00,372 --> 00:34:02,499
[interpreter speaking indistinctly]
538
00:34:04,584 --> 00:34:06,253
[Platon] Cory, go easy with the reading.
539
00:34:06,336 --> 00:34:07,629
[camera clicks and winds]
540
00:34:10,507 --> 00:34:12,008
[Platon] What makes this work
541
00:34:12,092 --> 00:34:15,595
is not a calculated argument
that you've scripted.
542
00:34:15,679 --> 00:34:19,432
It's just the beauty and delicacy
of the human condition.
543
00:34:20,725 --> 00:34:23,353
-Pregnant, all from rape?
-[male nurse] Yes, all from rape.
544
00:34:23,436 --> 00:34:25,522
[Platon] All right,
you got to be fast, Cory.
545
00:34:27,774 --> 00:34:28,900
Okay.
546
00:34:29,776 --> 00:34:30,694
Now...
547
00:34:30,777 --> 00:34:36,241
[Platon] I know exactly where, if I reach
my hand, the lens is right there.
548
00:34:36,866 --> 00:34:40,203
I don't want to look down at my camera
to adjust the f-stops.
549
00:34:40,287 --> 00:34:43,790
Because that means I'm taking my eye
off the story for a second.
550
00:34:44,374 --> 00:34:48,211
If I'm losing the glint in your eye
a bit too much,
551
00:34:48,295 --> 00:34:51,756
I'll get you to look just above the lens
552
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:55,051
and that would just be enough
for your eyes to hit the light.
553
00:34:56,052 --> 00:34:58,388
It's just a twist of the neck now.
554
00:35:01,766 --> 00:35:04,769
Sometimes I just touch my chest
and gesture out,
555
00:35:04,853 --> 00:35:06,521
as if to say "Open up."
556
00:35:06,605 --> 00:35:09,733
[camera clicks and winds]
557
00:35:13,820 --> 00:35:15,488
Black and white, let's move fast.
558
00:35:17,115 --> 00:35:19,784
[gentle music playing]
559
00:35:21,786 --> 00:35:25,874
Can I ask her to tell me
what happened to her?
560
00:35:31,463 --> 00:35:33,965
[Esther in Swahili]
One day I was coming from school
561
00:35:34,049 --> 00:35:35,759
and went to fetch water from a river.
562
00:35:35,842 --> 00:35:40,013
I met a man who told me
that if I didn't have sex with him,
563
00:35:40,096 --> 00:35:42,557
he promised he'd kill me with a knife.
564
00:35:42,641 --> 00:35:45,935
Then after he let me go.
565
00:35:46,019 --> 00:35:49,856
I got treatment, and after,
I gave birth to this baby.
566
00:35:51,733 --> 00:35:53,068
[camera clicks and winds]
567
00:35:57,197 --> 00:35:59,157
[Platon] When I'm really locked in...
568
00:36:01,785 --> 00:36:02,619
Got it.
569
00:36:02,702 --> 00:36:06,164
it's an amazing, terrifying experience,
every time.
570
00:36:07,582 --> 00:36:09,793
There's such strength in everyone here.
571
00:36:10,585 --> 00:36:15,882
In these next few pictures,
channel all that strength from the women.
572
00:36:16,549 --> 00:36:20,345
It goes through your heart,
out, into the camera,
573
00:36:20,428 --> 00:36:22,055
out to the world.
574
00:36:23,848 --> 00:36:25,600
Because if I get it wrong,
575
00:36:25,684 --> 00:36:27,686
I can actually do great harm.
576
00:36:28,853 --> 00:36:29,854
[camera clicks and winds]
577
00:36:29,938 --> 00:36:32,899
It's really important
that my homework is done.
578
00:36:33,733 --> 00:36:35,944
[sighs] All right, it's a bloody wrap.
579
00:36:36,027 --> 00:36:37,904
[general chatter]
580
00:36:51,042 --> 00:36:52,544
[upbeat music playing]
581
00:36:54,254 --> 00:36:58,508
All the things I have learnt about
the difference between right and wrong,
582
00:36:58,591 --> 00:37:01,136
I need to learn these things
through my job.
583
00:37:02,262 --> 00:37:04,723
And if I can pass those values on,
584
00:37:05,724 --> 00:37:06,933
then it's a good thing.
585
00:37:11,813 --> 00:37:15,692
And a lot of the time, to do these things,
I'm away all the time.
586
00:37:36,463 --> 00:37:40,884
Here I am talking about the responsibility
of telling people's stories
587
00:37:40,967 --> 00:37:42,302
and getting it right...
588
00:37:43,720 --> 00:37:46,473
But I also have a responsibility
as a family man.
589
00:37:47,265 --> 00:37:48,183
Shall we get some more?
590
00:37:48,975 --> 00:37:50,935
-All right...
-[girl] What are you going to do?
591
00:37:51,019 --> 00:37:52,687
I don't know. I'm going to take this one
592
00:37:52,771 --> 00:37:54,689
and I am going to use
the same blue as you.
593
00:37:56,399 --> 00:37:58,109
So just the spots, what do you think?
594
00:37:58,193 --> 00:38:01,362
It's funny, because I am actually
the one that freezes time.
595
00:38:03,156 --> 00:38:06,868
So I now know
how precious every moment is.
596
00:38:08,912 --> 00:38:12,540
And I'm trying to squeeze it
so dry every second.
597
00:38:24,385 --> 00:38:25,762
-Cory?
-Yup?
598
00:38:26,846 --> 00:38:30,350
Can you tell me what frame we used
for Esther? Was it frame 12?
599
00:38:31,017 --> 00:38:35,396
No, it was contact one, four C,
frame three.
600
00:38:41,110 --> 00:38:42,070
Got it.
601
00:38:49,994 --> 00:38:51,120
Hmm...
602
00:38:54,749 --> 00:38:56,668
[gentle piano music playing]
603
00:38:58,127 --> 00:38:59,754
Let's have a look at the edits.
604
00:39:00,755 --> 00:39:03,925
[Cory] This is everything thus far
that you've selected.
605
00:39:04,759 --> 00:39:06,261
And then Esther.
606
00:39:06,344 --> 00:39:10,640
So here, there's something beautiful
about just focusing on the baby,
607
00:39:10,723 --> 00:39:13,351
but in this case,
608
00:39:14,602 --> 00:39:16,688
I think you need her.
609
00:39:16,771 --> 00:39:20,149
You can tell she's in pain.
I mean look, there's a scar.
610
00:39:20,233 --> 00:39:23,653
But I've also seen this shape
so many times.
611
00:39:25,238 --> 00:39:29,534
But there's something
totally open about this.
612
00:39:30,785 --> 00:39:35,623
No one's performing.
She's just very open, very raw.
613
00:39:37,292 --> 00:39:39,335
So let's scan it and give it to Bob.
614
00:39:41,713 --> 00:39:46,009
The drum scanner I have was built
by NASA in the '80s.
615
00:39:47,844 --> 00:39:50,638
It does something beautiful to the grain
616
00:39:50,722 --> 00:39:52,849
that you just can't get
with other scanners.
617
00:39:55,518 --> 00:39:58,646
Everything I do is based on the dark room.
618
00:39:59,355 --> 00:40:00,815
[Bob] Let me show you this.
619
00:40:00,899 --> 00:40:04,152
The only way I can bring out
all these elements in a print
620
00:40:04,235 --> 00:40:06,696
is to start isolating different elements
621
00:40:06,779 --> 00:40:08,615
and treat them all
with their own reverence.
622
00:40:08,698 --> 00:40:11,451
I think they're a little intense,
so let's bring them down.
623
00:40:11,951 --> 00:40:13,077
The danger of Photoshop
624
00:40:13,161 --> 00:40:15,788
is that everything is just
a constant sliding scale.
625
00:40:15,872 --> 00:40:18,082
We never use the magic wand,
626
00:40:18,166 --> 00:40:22,003
which is a tool
to just instantly select certain areas.
627
00:40:22,086 --> 00:40:23,755
Everything is hand drawn.
628
00:40:23,838 --> 00:40:24,839
Everything.
629
00:40:24,923 --> 00:40:28,635
And now we're just getting to the bit
where we just have to balance it all out.
630
00:40:28,718 --> 00:40:32,263
With all this amazing technology,
the tools must never dominate us.
631
00:40:32,972 --> 00:40:33,932
I think we're good.
632
00:40:34,599 --> 00:40:35,600
[Bob] Okay.
633
00:40:35,683 --> 00:40:37,644
[expectant, hopeful music playing]
634
00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:50,615
[Platon] It's getting close.
635
00:41:09,801 --> 00:41:10,635
Wow.
636
00:41:10,718 --> 00:41:12,303
[exclaims]
637
00:41:14,889 --> 00:41:15,848
Look at that.
638
00:41:18,017 --> 00:41:19,060
Wow.
639
00:41:22,146 --> 00:41:23,356
That's beautiful.
640
00:41:31,447 --> 00:41:32,865
Through this picture,
641
00:41:34,575 --> 00:41:40,498
she will give other people
in a similar position great strength.
642
00:41:44,460 --> 00:41:46,713
So when I press the shutter...
643
00:41:47,839 --> 00:41:48,673
Hold that.
644
00:41:48,756 --> 00:41:50,550
something amazing happens.
645
00:41:50,633 --> 00:41:51,884
Yes!
646
00:41:51,968 --> 00:41:53,511
It's 500th of a second,
647
00:41:54,721 --> 00:41:57,598
but it's freezed an event.
648
00:41:59,892 --> 00:42:02,061
You're looking for a moment
649
00:42:03,104 --> 00:42:08,484
when you feel
you're as close to the soul as possible.
650
00:42:09,235 --> 00:42:11,070
That's what good design is,
651
00:42:11,154 --> 00:42:13,698
when it liberates you,
and it allows you to do that,
652
00:42:13,781 --> 00:42:17,243
to help you feel something very powerful.
653
00:42:18,202 --> 00:42:20,329
And that's when you make an icon.
654
00:42:26,294 --> 00:42:27,295
[upbeat music playing]