Rankin comments

John Rankin Waddell (working name Rankin, born 1966, Paisley, Glasgow)

He is a British portrait and fashion photographer. His subjects have included Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Kylie Minogue, Leonardo DiCaprio, the Spice Girls, Cate Blanchett, Damien Hirst, Queen Elizabeth II and Tony Blair. Born in Glasgow, he was brought up in St Albans, Hertfordshire. After being expelled from school, ( I met one of his old teachers on my Avignon holiday in sptember this year) he briefly studied accountancy at Brighton Polytechnic before moving to Peckham and studying photography at the London College of Printing, which he left to found Dazed & Confused with Jefferson Hack in 1991. He launched his own quarterly fashion magazine, RANK, in December 2000. In 2002 he launched with art gallery owner Alex Proud a photographic book imprint, Vision On. He also publishes Another Magazine and more recently Another Man. He continues to work in fashion, advertising and for magazines internationally. He is divorced from the actress Kate Hardie. Rankin has recently moved into film production with his project The Lives of the Saints, a gangster film set in London. Rankin was recently the photographer for Regatta’s upcoming advertising campaign featuring outdoor loving celebrities; Bill Oddie, Janet Street-Porter, Michaela Strachan and ex-Blue Peter presenter Peter Duncan. The photo shoots which took place at Richmond Park, Hampstead Heath and a Scenic location in Yorkshire, were part of Regatta’s efforts to promote their forthcoming Spring/Summer 2008 range.

I had the good fortune to be in London on Saturday 12^th September 2009 when I visited “Rankin Live” in Brick lane. It was very interesting to see how he worked. I was very surprised at how close he was getting to his subject, how close the light was to the subject, and how little time he spent taking the photographs. It was all in aid of his 1000 portraits project that he is currently undertaking. It was also useful to see how many assistants he had working with him. There was a light person, a wind machine person, and a technician working with him when photographing. He then handed the camera to the technician when finished, and at least went to the laptop with the subject to quickly discuss the photographs. The photographs he took I felt were disappointing as the poses were very similar, whether portrait or nude, and with the lights so close the faces etc quite were washed out. Looking at some of his other work displayed, it seem to rate from rank to excellent. Some were so ordinary and did not have any obvious meaning, only to him and his idea. For example, he had a dress which several models wore in different locations, but they tended to look the same, and the style of the photograph was always similar. I know that was part of the intention but?

I was impressed however with his pictures that were displayed along the Southbank, of which I have noted mainly as examples of his work. These are what I would like to achieve once I can get into a studio, as they have given me several ideas. Once again, though they are celebrities of one sort and another. How would they be if they were of ordinary folk, and what would the meaning be?