Service: Platon

Having created over twenty-five Time magazine covers and succeeding Richard Avedon as a staff photographer for the New Yorker, Platon has become a household name. His evocative portraits of world leaders comprised a hugely successful previous book, Power. Now Platon has turned his lens to military service, embedding himself outside the battlefield in places where so much occurs that is so rarely mentioned. Given unprecedented access to U.S. military training facilities, Platon photographed soldiers preparing for battle in a staged Iraqi village. Aboard the USS San Antonio, he photographed soldiers the moment before they set sail. Platon's images capture both, joy and grief, strength and vulnerability, support and dissent: a young man's t-shirt that reads "Iraq veteran against the war"; an African American woman stands proudly in full military regalia; a double-amputee stares directly from his wheelchair and, in arguably the most important image of the 2008 U.S. presidential election, an American Muslim mother cradles the grave of her soldier son.Together, these photographs speak volumes about the lives and families of those who fight: their physical and psychological wounds, their extraordinary valour and often modest backgrounds and the fierce emotions that surround their service.