In 'Service,' A Celebrated Photographer Turns His Lens On U.S. Troops

toggle caption Courtesy of Platon

As a celebrated portrait photographer, Platon Antoniou (who goes professionally by his first name) is well-known for his close-up depictions of the powerful. He has aimed his camera at the faces of celebrities and world leaders ranging from Vladimir Putin and Moammar Gadhafi to Willie Nelson and Woody Allen.

"Sometimes," he says, "you look in their eyes and you see angels. And sometimes you see demons."

Platon's 2011 book, Power, featured photos of more than 100 world leaders. In Service (Prestel Publishing), the British-born photographer turns his lens on U.S. military personnel and their loved ones.

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Courtesy of Prestel

"I have a rather strange perspective on the times we're living in," he says, "because I've had very intimate moments with heads of state, and yet I've also had these very powerful moments with the people who have to play out the policies that our leaders put forward. It leaves me as someone in the middle."

The book results from a project that began back in 2008, an assignment Platon took on after he was appointed as Richard Avedon's successor as staff photographer at the New Yorker. (He now dedicates much of his time to The People's Portfolio, a nonprofit organization he founded to highlight underreported stories around the world.)

First, he spent time with troops while they trained in a simulated Iraqi village at the U.S. Army's National Training Center at Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert, before they were deployed. Then he waited for them to return. When it was possible, he photographed them again — or the loved ones who survived them.

"I had done so many portraits of leaders," he says. "And what is great leadership? We have seen it being about confidence, charisma, strength, decision-making. We all know that side. But there's another side that's far more complicated — that's the idea of service. I wanted to find out what happens when you're asked to do something and you do it — and it's very dangerous, and the sacrifices you make. This is where I learned about the other side of leadership, which is service."

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In the waning weeks of the 2008 presidential campaign, the New Yorker published several of Platon's images.