Melanie C - Rankin Photoshoot

this is a quick video on how rankin work with portrait photography

Rankin shows you how to take a photo

this give a idea on how are professional photographer will present his work and how to progress to get better in your skills into photography.

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. 

HALLOWEEN

INTENTION OF INTENT 208 THEME 2 portraits and events

Theme:-                                                   portraits and events
Title of the theme:-                                  Halloween                          

Intentions/purpose of the photography to be undertaken

Improve my photography skills.
Learn how to use my camera in low light, composition, frames, focal point, setting to my location, perspective properly and using flash only if needed and controlling the exposure on the flash and control exposure with the light around the area . experimenting with my exposure setting and my light comp setting to help get the right lighting and definition into my photos.

Reasons for selection of theme (including inspiration from the work of others)

while looking into David lachapelle work in wanted to capture the change and unreal of people personalities through the camera. bring fantasy into realatie of people and taking this onto my photos using my imagination to help. on Halloween every one played there role in what they dress up as and i wanted to capture this and try and make them look like it part on a film or story behind it.

The photo imaging equipment and medium that will be used and why

i be using my nikon d3000 with a AF- Nikkor 18-55mm lens as this is the only camera i got at this moment

Techniques that will be used and how they will help convey the visual message

 i be using the disco lights and lasers to give my theme its look and angle shoots with give it a more action pack to it by being higher or lower of what I'm focusing on. getting some blurred vision in the shoot will give movement and speed of the event . capturing peoples face expressions and movement will give the impact of fun , joy and emotions within the photo.

How light quality can be used to help convey the visual message

the location is completely dark with very little disco light,lasers and lots of people moving and jumping around so i be only use flash if location is completely dark and putting my shutter speed slower and my ISO to it highest to capture more of the ambient light and the disco light. i be changing the f stop for different light situations and position myself in the areas where the light is behind me to help pick up detail on people.

Safety considerations

1) Be aware of the environment around you.

2) Ask people permission to take there photo before hand to prevent confusion and aggravation of taking there photo

3) making sure there no objects or obstruction our moved away to avoid tripping or fulling over while taking photos

4) making sure of people around you as most are under the  influence of alcohol and not knowing what there doing.

BLUSH

This is the 2nd time Ive taken photos for blush and they are great for different ideas for events. i been ask for several times to take photos for them for the later future and will be doing this for them. with this event it Halloween and i wanted to get all the scary and twisted photos of people in blush in there fantastic outfits. there was alot of great shots that night and the atmosphere was very electrifying, so many opportunities of great images and i nearly taken them all but there was some that didn't come out great as with night life photograph, its always on the go and capturing them quick.  

shutter speed 1/10

f stop 4.8

iso hi 1

exposure -2.0

This was a photo taken in my house just before we left for blush. my partner was trying to set his fangs to set and at that time i was adjusting the setting on my camera. while i was waiting for him to set i notice a great theme, a clip of a horror film that came to me. first i taken the photo with my flash on and it was just to plan and there was no esscue of fear i wanted, so i switch my flash off and switch the light on in the kitchen then position myself so that the light is just aside of him. there was 3 different tone of lighting to give its definition between him and the background, there is shading of light and shadow that help with detail and that dark theme. one thing that i found on my camera was the the exposure which help me adjust the exposure from the value metered by my camera, making the entire frame brighter,negative values to make it darker. having him completely black help with giving the shape of his figure and not showing his detail give you his dark presseus of him.

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.5

iso hi1

flash rear

exposure -2.0

flash comp -1.0

with eric work he wanted to take photo with a fantasy feel, taking his photos to a different world and using unique way of using people and objects to get his vision of peoples dark fantasy without using any special effects. by getting people to dress up and using different themes in the background then get people to please there part, give that effect he wanted. with using blushes halloween party was the best place to get this effect without finding people and getting lots of custumes including blush has decurated to bar so no need to find the theme when it in front of me. with my friend, she was dress as the doll from the saw film so i wanted to play that part of the film but with a twist of humour just like eric work. making sure my main focus was her, my frame was fix just around her and i put it as a portrait so that she is the main focus.    

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.5

iso hi 1

rear flash

exposure -2.0

flash comp -1.0

carrying on with the film humor twist, i wanted to capture the checks and colour  of her shirt and the main feature was freddies claws so i wanted to get that feel that there coming out of the screen. i angled the shot above her so that her top of her looks bigger and more front, the lower part is smaller and ferther away. so when you see the image the claws our more domimaly the main feature and it looks like it coming to get you.  

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.5

iso hi 1

rear flash

exposure -2.0

flash comp -1.0

in this photo i wanted to capture the light in  the back and the focus of the model, i had to balance both my flash and the ambient light to get the effect i want. to get this i put the exposure and flash comp right down to help it not drown out the background including you can see the detail of colour of the lights. the red colour was great catch as it help to see the green laser spots that catches your eye. the other thing i like is that you are focus is on her eyes which is only little but a great look that she gives put the mood i wanted. 

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.5

iso hi 1

rear flash

exposure -2.0

flash comp -1.0

with this one i wanted to angle the shot to make it more dromanic effect its like its from comic book. i angle it so its looking down with her and with this it gave a lot of dimanion to the image. it was quite hard to balance the light in this one as she is wearing black so i had to get it right by putting the iso on the highest and shutter speed on slow so that she didint go completely dark so you couldnt see her at all.the image would be lot better if i had a sepreate flash and defuser which will help with giving more light without exposing the background and drowning it out with the flash, this will help as i would able to put the iso down to get it less grainy in the photo.  

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.5

iso hi 1

exposure -2.0

this one i wanted just to use only the ambient light and not my flash to get image of the night club look, i had to take seveal shots to get the right one as the lights go pretty quick and the people was moving. so i had to take time and pateince to get that right shot were the lights was in the right place and they didnt look blurry due to movement, i had to keep a steady hand too. i love how the lights captured the faces and again angled shot gave it that dimanion i wanted i wanted them to be the main focus so having the background very dark was a great way to do it.

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.5

iso hi 1

rear flash

exposure -2.0

flash comp -1.0

this is one of my favourite shots as there is lots of colour, defination and detail that just capture your eye. the light which ilumminates behind them and the contrast of colour was in great detail, i use all above settings and features, i would like this as my final image as i didnt need to do any adjustment at all.

with the next couple of photos i carried on doing the method i learnt and played with different themes and got different people expressions that help to show what i wanted. same with david lachepelle work he capture every emosion and expression of people joy or hate it gave the story within the photo.   

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.5

iso hi 1

rear flash

exposure -2.00

flash comp -1.00

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.5

iso hi 1

exosure -2.0

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.5

iso hi 1

exposure -2.0

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.5

iso hi 1

rear flash

exposure -2.0

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 5.6

iso hi 1

rear flash

exposure -2.0

flash comp -1.0

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.8

iso hi 1

exposure -2.0

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.5

iso hi 1

rear flash

exposure -2.0

flash comp -1.0

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.5

iso hi 1

exposure -2.0

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.5

iso hi 1

exposure -2.0

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 5

iso hi 1

rear flash

exposure -2.0

flash comp -2.0

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.5

iso hi 1

rear flash

exposure -2.0

flash comp -1.0

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.5

iso hi 1

rear flash

exposure -2.0

flash comp -1.0

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.5

iso hi 1

rearflash

exposure -2.0

flash comp -1.0

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.5

iso hi 1

exposure -2.0

shuttet speed 1/20

f stop 5.6

iso hi 1

rear flash

exposure -2.0

flash comp -1.0

shutter speed 1/20

f stop 4.5

iso hi 1

exposure -2.0

Why did i choose these final images?

I have chosen these photos because it represents the quality im looking for when using portrait and people photography.

After researching David lachapelle photography he wanted you to capture the dark side and fantasy aspect within an image.He wanted to bring imagination in to reality using real life photography

With the photos i have captured and then made a final choice on i beleive i have shown how the camera can capture the essence of peoples emotions and take on the persona of the character their costume is portraying, including using the right lighting and shadow to create the atmosphere and set the scence.

David LaChapelle portrays Maybach - Making of

THIS SHOW HOW DAVID PUT HIS AMAZING WORK TOGETHER 

The World of David LaChapelle

THE AMAZING WORLD OF DAVID LACHAPELLE

David LaChapelle Short Documentary

this is a documentary on how david became a famous photograher and how he progress to get there.

reseach on David Lachapelle

with my photography i wanted to capture the different side of people, there emotions and there dark side of them. you can capture this in night life events as people are relax and enjoying there selves bring there real personalites out into the open, this is my kind on photography. the next skep is to take this further and look into the minds of people and bring out there fantasay and dark dreams onto image so that people can see.using mine and there imagination the complish this and combine what i achieve now with the art of  imaginations. i was interduce to a photographer name David Lachapelle, he was inpired to take his photography to the next level and i be given detail how he does this and how i will be interduced into my phography.

bio of David Lacapelle

David lachoplle is a surrealist photograher, video, commercical and film director. known for his unreal celbrities porteaits, David is easily one of the recongnized and accomplish photographer of the modern world. his photograhy carrer started in the 1980's in new york, after attending the north carotina school of arts, he moved to new york where he enrolled at both the arts student and the school of visual arts. he was then offered his first professional photography job by andy warhot and the editers of the INTERVIEW magazine, david quickley began photographing some of the most famous faces of the time. Before long he was shooting for the top editoical publications of the world, and creating the most memorable adverting campaigns of a generations. he striking images have appered on and between the covers of the top magazinesin america, he also photographed peronalilites and top celebritie names such as David Beckham, eminem and leonardo dicaprio. After estabishing himself as a fixture amongst cotemporany photography, David expanded his work to include direction of music videos, live theatriical events and documentery films. his directing credits include music videos for artist such as christine agulera and jennifer lopez. recent years have brought David back to where he started, with some of the worlds most greatest galleries and museums exhibiting his work. In 2009, exbitions such as paris at the musee de la monnaie and mexico city at the muses del artigue colegio de son lidefonso all broke attendence records, these shows presented his lastest series of  work with which David has broken out of the frame , prsenting three-dimensional sculptiral murals.

  The Rape of Africa

MAYBEACH

these are the few photos that David has done and would like to bring this into my own design of photography, i be explaining what i like and what i think of what captures my eye in these photos and will explain in detail of shape, colour and depths of these.

this is a picture of angelina jolie he did and the thing i like about this image is the colour and texure of the grass is very real, he captures this very well and its a great background to use. he angled this image as it give it a great design as it look like she just fullen on to the ground and you can see it is very windy in the photo.

the colour is bright and you can capture her in detail and how he gets her to look surductive and sexaul which make you capture her eye. the other cheeky thing that he captured was her tatoo on the right hip that make you want to look closer and take a cheeky peep at it. he wanted to capture a sexual mood in this picture and he has done that.

as i love working with light within the dark, i like how it get the message over to who looking at it.

the image give a impact of  colour, shape and brightness to capture any just passes by and get them to look at the image. i can see how he uses this as i have work with it my selve to get the right shot by not using no flash and just using the lights of the object provided. the message im getting from this was drugs are bad and not to use them but it does give out mixes messages to different auidences which i think that what he attended.

this is a amazing shot he uses fog and water and light to get this image, this must be a difficult shot to do as he has to balance with light, movement and water to get a great shot like this. i like how he make it  look light and how it look silent image, the light above and the dark bottem give the feeling of ,that the man is sinking into the dark sea below him and how he looking up to the light that is slowly getting darker has he drifting into the darkness. the image looks like it was from a action movie and he just been killed and push into the sea for his watery grave. it give a big impact and again it tells different story everytime you look at it and thats how David like to do his pictures.  

one thing a notice about these photos is that it all like a fairy tale touch to it and shows a fun lovimg theme with all his photos. i want to introduced this with my photos and have the impact that he done with his. i love how he capture the water shevering off the unberrlla again its the action shots he does that i like doing without getting blurring and capturing it at the right time and coulours are bright and stands out which i love.

the shapes of the heart is eye capturing and using blue and whate is great in this shot.  

now this one i like how he captured the foggy mist behind him and using the light on one side without effecting the whole background is amazing. the dark look give a great theme to it and give a great impact of the actor. the twisted and dark sinister look with a sexual content is a powerful maleality which some people love to see. he wanted to show the dark side of humality and give a hint humour is what he wanted. having that living in a fantasy world can come out of people bring there darkest dreams and fanstasy to life is great way to show the world and i want to show this myselve in my photography by doing night life and any events with doing theme portraits of peoples fantasy is a art i love.