rankin

rankin bio

John rankin waddell has shot everyone from royalty to refugees, his powerful images are part of contemporary iconography, and mix a cross section of his own personal intrerests with commerical campaigns, from nike to womens aid. his work is regularly exhibited in galleries around the world from sao paolo to moscow,london to la

Rankin first came to prominence when he co-founded dazed and confused with jefferson hack. one of the most important magazine of the 90s, it established its stylist in the fashion elite, broke some of todays top designers and nartured the budding carreers of a generation of creative photographers.

earning his reputation for creative portraitive and a telant for capturing the character and spirit of his subjects, rankin quickley become a top photography,shooting britans pop bands including pulp and blur,including top pop singers such as kyle and madonna.rankins carrer continued to progress and started getting cvers for german vogue, harpers bazaar, area and gq quickley followed.

his work included a lot of politicans, popular musicans, revered artists and celebrated models since the early 90s however, rankin also continued to take on projects that featured ordinary people, often questioning nations of beauty and causing debates along the way.most recently he travelled to johannesburywith the bbc to film south africa in pictures, a documentary in which he traces the countrys photographic history.

Rankin is affilited with a number of charites and has created hard-hitting campaigns for womens aid and oxfam to name but a few.

A number of books of rankins work has been published, including a retrospecture of his work, visually hungry, a collection of his most best portraties celebration, a book of Rankins images of his model wife Tuuli Tuulitastic, alex box, a collatration with avant-grade makeup artist and book to accompany the bbc documentory.

In addition to his photography carrer, rankin has co-directed music videos, commericals and feature films with chris cottum. their debut film, the lives of saints, writer by tony grisoni, enjoyed sucess on the festival circuit and won the grand jury prize at the salento international film festival. rankin now live in london with his wife tuuli and his son lyle.
These are some of the more frequently asked questions that he been asked in many news interviews.

What was your first encounter with photography?

I had my photograph taken when I was 17 by a hairdresser who did a really crazy hair cut on me, I just liked the idea of the glamour of it all at that point. I didn’t start taking photo’s until I was 21.

How did you start in photography?

I had begun an accountancy degree at Brighton Polytechnic when, at 21, I started taking pictures. Quickly realizing that this was what I wanted to do I dropped accountancy and went back to my A-levels to study photography.

What was your time at university like?

I was being taught photography by very 1970s Victor Burgin studied tutors, who didn’t really take photographs, and the critique of your work was heavy and semiotics driven. But it was good, because I just rebelled against it massively. It gave me this real drive to go and do something more commercial, reach a broader audience. The main reason Jefferson and I started Dazed & Confused was because we couldn’t get jobs. We promoted nightclubs – that’s how we survived. We put clubs together and we’d do nights, get a couple hundred quid, and that was enough to get us through to the next week.

There was a thriving music industry at the time, which had quite a substantial amount of money, at the time, to commission photographers. I would get PR jobs for record companies from Dazed & Confused. It was a direct link, where we would photograph a musical artist, and they would like the photos and use them for promotional purposes. From there, it was about getting the right agent and the right portfolio, continuously putting stuff out there, doing exhibitions and that sort of thing.

From that era, I’ve taken away the idea that you should do stuff for nothing, because that’s what you had to do then to get ahead. To be innovative is to be in control of what you do, and if you do work for nothing then you have got a lot more control.

When did you decide to start Dazed & Confused and how did you manage to publish it?

Jefferson and I met at college about twenty years ago. We were both excited and inspired by similar things, so we decided to start the magazine together. By hook or by crook we got it published and we started it because we were all at college doing student magazines. I think we were lucky, being in the right place at the right time with the right attitude. It was the advent of desktop publishing and we were at a college whose focus was on designing and taking photographs for print. We were involved in creating college magazines and it was just an obvious next step into publishing our own. In all honesty we didn’t think it would last more than a few issues and here we are all this time later!

When we started Dazed & Confused there was a massive recession in Britain. Thatcher’s policies promoted the black economy, encouraging small, underground businesses. That Do-It-Yourself spirit coupled with a few sponsorships helped us get a leg up.

What was the big break that made your career?

I made my own opportunities and wouldn’t say essentially that I had one big break. Starting Dazed with Jefferson was because I wanted to get invited to cool parties and shoot people I admired. I really do feel like a “big break” is a bit of a cop-out term. It’s like saying it was my destiny, which it never was. I worked hard, consistently and knocked on doors until they all seemed to open at once.

What would you say inspires you, where do you draw your inspiration from?

People inspire me.  I’m really inquisitive about them, so just people, just meeting people is very inspirational. I think it probably came from my Dad – my parents brought me up to question everything and everybody and were constantly trying to answer everything for me. I think it made me keenly inquisitive about people and I find that I draw my inspiration from asking those questions about people and trying to answer them.

How do you know when you have THE shot?

It’s a gut instinct when everything comes together – you just feel it, and you know you have the shot.
What is or who are your major influences?
People are my major influence. I love meeting new people and getting inside their heads. The best models have great personalities and it really makes my job so much easier. In terms of photographers who have influenced me, the list is endless, but I would have to include Bailey, Avedon, Eggleston, Teller, Knight, Newton, Blumenfeld, McCullin, Leibovitz and Penn in my list.

How would you describe the Rankin style?

The Rankin style is that there is no style! I don’t use a specific type of lighting, I don’t use the same way of shooting all the time, apart from looking for honesty in it. That’s my signature really, the honest thing.

How do you take a good portrait?

When I’m photographing subjects, whether they are models, celebrities or regular people I always talk incessantly to the person in front of the lens. I do it mostly to get a reaction so that I can capture something about their personalities; every person will have a different reaction, a different outlook. Portraiture for me is all about making a connection with my subject, building up a rapport, which the viewer also feels.  I see it as a collaboration.  I try to make it fun, which also comes across in the photographs. I think a good portrait is based on how people feel when they’re having their portrait taken, basically if they feel great, it’s pretty easy to make them look great. Also, it’s important that people feel they can be ridiculous; sometimes you have to risk looking uncool to make an emotional connection with the camera. But for that you have to trust the photographer, to know they wont make you look stupid. Last but not least. Most people hate having their photo taken, (even the famous ones) if you know that, it helps with the way you treat them.

Having worked with some of the biggest names in the world from the Queen to Kylie, Marilyn Manson to Kate Moss, what’s your most memorable professional experience?

There are so many fun and memorable things that have happened to me. I get to jump between very bizarre worlds all the time, from Buckingham Palace one day to hanging out with rock stars another. I get an insight into people’s lives that other people don’t – and maybe wouldn’t want to! One of the most surprising shoots was The Rolling Stones because they were so young at heart and so enthusiastic about everything. You get a lot of bands that are photographed a lot and they are really serious and quite mellow and a bit grumpy.  I think that the Stones even at their age now were excited that they were still doing it and excited about life which for me was a surprise.

How would you describe a typical shoot?

There’ll be about 10 people in the studio. The producer goes through the pre-production (call sheet, hair and make up, model, stylist), and deals with people during the day of the shoot, then hands it over to post production. From the client side, there would be an agency producer or art buyer, creatives, the client, and possibly an account handler. I have at least three assistants on set. Their roles would be digital technician, first assistant who would be the camera assistant, and second assistant, who would be on lights. I would normally have five assistants at any one time, and it’s pretty intense. They stay for at least three years, although some have been with me for eight or nine years.
Every shoot is different but we would normally start with a creative meeting to discuss the concept and aim of the shoot.  From there I like to see the project through from start to finish and that may include casting, styling, hair, make up, retouching & printing.  Saying that, no two jobs are the same & that’s why after 20 years of being in this industry, I’m still inspired by new concepts & working with new people.

How does your intern system work?

We currently run 4 intern programs; Studio, Post Production, Archive and Film. With each internship you would be working alongside that particular part of the team for a 3 month period.

HIS WORK

With rankins work i have notice he loves colour and contrast, were he uses them to give the main focus. he enhance the colour ti give that definition and detail that captures your eye in all his photos. every shot tells a story be he always show a sexual essance or a hidden humor in his images. rankins work has always focus on the peoples portrait and there impireations on there faces, showing not just big named people but everyone he can take photos of. 



with this photo i like how he darken the background and puts the main light on her and the grass to make it the main focus.

using the mirror to reflex the model image is a great way to play with light and objects together. i like how he done this image by the colours he uses, a dark colour in the back ground to enchance the main focus of the model with using bright colours. the shadows our a great defination with the texture of her and evoirment around her,

the bright contrast and colour is a great eye capture in this image

 with the dark image he wanted to get with mr manson. in love that he captures what the singers imagination of himself as dark and twisted.

with the work im trying ti acheive i want to tske photos using different coloured ameint lights around me without using a flash and as you can see rankin has done this with one of his own and looks great  with the blue light. the blue light shine nicely on her perls on her cheast and give a great deteil on her hair which is white, you can see the fine line of her hair which give a great defination of her hair the the perils.

the black and white effect give more detail of her complextion and contrast of her face. the hat has detail that you think that you can touch and feel with the ruthness of the hat. the shadows on her face and shading show the lining and shape of her face. 

another great portrait image that he taken with the main focus is her eyes. i love how its light and fairy looking to make her look sewat and inacent, making her look up to get that cute look in her.

this is a unreal image that he done but knowing the fun making it would be something to remember but  using the white background makes her more of the focus and he wanted to bring the sexual look that make the male viewer look twice at this image, but the texure and detail is very unique and you get drawn into her eyes.

many off rankin work has always make you want to look twice but he shows the beuity of people that everyone can see and with all his work he loves to capture that with every shot he takes.

this is one of the biggest shots that rankin has taken and getting the previlege to take photos of the queen was a great thing to do, but he didnt do any normal shot of her, he still takes it like she still a model and he does this with any one he get to shot for. this show how much his work is well known in england and getting this far was a great thing for him.  

this last one he shot for is one of my favorite actors, i love how he has captured his eyes you can see the colour of his eyes and you just get drawn to them. the blue shadow around him is a great effect to make him look bolder in the image to bring him out of it. having the film over him is just a feature to show that he love of acting in films and it give it a 3d look in the image. his expression show the actor to be a genious and creative man and you could tell the his mind is focused and this is what rankin wanted to show in this image.

after veiwing these images it has gave me some ideas to put in my shots to get what i want in my images, to show peoples personalites in one images and using colours to give contrest and defination in my images including showing shadows and shades will show detail in the there to. i love taking peoples close up show there eyes so i be trying that out in some of my shot to get people drawn by them and get the story behind them.