Photo in the style of Platon

For my second mini task, I was asked to replicate the style of my chosen photographer. I chose Platon, as I thought I could create some interesting compositions and shots using his methods. I specifically chose the photograph Platon took of Bill Clinton, because I found that was the shot that I would find easiest to replicate, as I had a short amount of time to take it.

Here is some background information on the photograph:

It was Platon's first President shoot, and Esquire magazine said to him, “Right, Platon, we want a nice dignified headshot of our President looking very slick, very warm and friendly. And don’t do any of that weird wide angle stuff—whatever you do, don’t use that lens.” They gave him eight minutes to do the shoot. They closed down a 200 room hotel just to do the picture because Clinton was on tour. Eventually, he walks in the room after this big buildup. Platon spent seven-and-a-half minutes doing the pictures for the magazine and then thought, "Screw it. This is the moment where you step up. I need to express myself here as an artist." And against all opposition, Platon thought: "How many times am I going to be in front of the President again? I owe it myself to do a Platon picture." So he put on his usual wide-angle lens and said to him, “Mr. President, will you show me the love?” and everyone in the room gasped in horror. There were about thirty people in the room—all Clinton's White House aides, drivers, security—and they all thought, "Oh no. Whatever you do, whatever this guy’s after, don’t give it to him!" And Clinton told everybody to be quiet as he knew what Platon wanted. So, he put his hands on his knees and he gave the Clinton magic. Platon had about ten seconds to take the picture. Clinton was a new generation of Presidents at the time—he was a rock n’ roll President—and Platon was a new generation of photographers. He hated that stuffy portraiture with a hand on the chin and everything that the establishment wanted. He wanted something much more punk rock. So you put them together and that’s what you get.

Here is my recreation of the image using one of my photography teachers, Mr. Pressnell. 

Because Platon used a wide-angle lens, I did too. I used a Sigma 10-20mm f/1.8-5. In the shot of Clinton, the wide angle lens creates the illusion of him having very large hands in comparison to the rest of his body. In my shot, however, I went for the illusion of a larger head because I didn't want the picture to be exactly the same as that of Clinton's. 
In order to get Sir to pose the way I wanted him to, I asked him to sit on the stool, with his feet on the floor. I then asked him to place his elbows on his knees, and to flip his tie over his shoulder, which he did. However I still didn't feel the photo was going to be as interesting as I'd wanted it to be, so I asked him to remove his glasses, yet keep hold of them. When it comes to the facial expressions, I had originally planned for him to create a stern look as he stared directly into the camera - but without me asking, Sir went for a more mischievous approach by raising an eyebrow, which I thought created a much better photo.  
As to the editing, I reduced the saturation of the suit, and then lowered it slightly less in order to keep some colour in the skin tone. In a software called GIMP, I selected the shirt and I balanced the colour to more of a Cyan in order for the shirt to pop out more. I chose Cyan because blue is one of the main colours in Clinton's portrait.