Nicholas nixon
American, born Detroit 1947, lives and works in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Nixon’s photographs document people and communities, capturing feeling moments with unusual precision, clarity and details,while at the same time carrying a strong emotional impact. His early work includes a series of black and white photographs of Boston taken from high view points around the city. Made in 1971 using an 8 x 10 camera, these images of the city skyline bear the marks of a style of Utopian idealism usually reserved for the landscape.
View of the River Street Bridge and Storrow Drive, Boston 1975
View north from the Prudential Building, Boston, 1975
View of Mother Church and Christian Science Center, Boston, 1975
Around 1975 Nixon turned from topography to people still using a large-format camera.
We are family: Nicholas Nixon’s 40 years photographing the Brown sisters
The US photographer has taken a portrait of his wife BeBe and her three siblings every single year from 1974 till 2014, making us confront the passing of time, family ties and our own mortality.
The sisters never planned outfits for the photos ahead of time and merely gazed into the camera each year, their poses and outfits reflective of their moods that day. A series of beautiful, raw photos emerged showing the sisters transformation and bond throughout the years.
click here to see all 40 pictures on NYT.
Platon Antoniou
The King of Portrait
Antoniou was born in 1968 in London. He was raised in Greece by his English mother and Greek father. He studied Graphic Design at St Martin’s School of Art followed by Photography and Fine Art at the Royal College of Art. Whilst still a student, in 1992 he was crowned British Vogue’s Best Up-and-Coming Photographer.
He is a 21st-century photographer who has taken portraits of many well-known world figures. His style is cut back, only focusing on the subject, with either a white or black background. Platon’s primary camera is a Hasselblad 553 ELX loaded with Kodak Porta 160, which is the best color negative film ever made.
Platon also wields a Leica with Kodak Tri-x 400 film. For lenses, he primarily uses a 120mm lens, though he used a 30mm fisheye for the famous Bill Clinton shot.
“I have never wanted my work to be elitist or stuffy. I want my pictures to be punchy, accessible and entertaining to everyone”.
His images are bold, powerful and display a graphic quality that instantly engages the viewer. Antoniou currently lives and works in New York.
In March 2016, Platon and The People’s Portfolio traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo to document the struggle to end sexual violence against women and girls. The project interviewed and captured through portraiture the dozens of doctors, activists, lawyers, police, students, and advocates who are leading the fight for justice and accountability, and also tackled the long-standing source of conflict: natural resource wealth that fuels violence in the country.
Partners for this project included Physicians for Human Rights and Dr. Denis Mukwege, 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and the institutions he founded, Panzi Hospital and Foundations. Time published the portfolio in February 2017. This portfolio is the basis for the debut film by Platon, ‘My Body Is Not A Weapon’. The film will be released in 2019.
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