Professional Photographer: Rankin

13/12/2022

Who Is Rankin?

John Rankin Waddel, otherwise known as Rankin is a British photographer who mainly focuses on portrait and fashion photography. He describes himself as a "portrait photographer who dabbles in fashion" (Ovchar, 2021). Rankin describes himself this way as he says he felt like an "outsider, specifically in the fashion industry" (Hollowood, 2019) and "to be a really big fashion photographer, you need to love fashion" (Ovchar, 2021) which, he admitted he didn't. However, he expresses his love for portraiture as he constantly asserts his love for people, stating "I couldn't stop photographing people, that would kill me" (Boscio, 2016). He says "in portraiture, he believes that you have to understand people. If you want to be a big portrait photographer, you need to love people" (Ovchar, 2021). Rankin originally started out as a documentary photographer however, he saw himself as not very great at it. Portraiture was actually his second favourite choice because he was always interested in people.

Figure 1

When Rankin started out, he made a conscious choice not to stick to any one style. He did this as he felt he would get disinterested in creating the work. As a result of this, he was astonished that people were still able to actually recognise his work. Some people viewed the aspect of having no particular style as a weakness but this 'weakness' is what makes him thrive as he is able to be more creative by photographing different subjects day to day. Rankin admires Peter Lindberg's work and the way he explores their style however, he couldn't do that as he would find himself bored. Although Rankin does not want to conform himself to one style he can still appreciate other artists' work that does.

This characteristic of Rankin's work is what really draws me towards him as I really resonate with the feeling of being not constrained to one style as I completely understand what he means by feeling bored. I think this is the main reason Rankin is such a big inspiration of mine as we have similar beliefs on style and the need for it. However, I have heard many times you need a style as you can't be successful without one as you won't be 'the best' in that genre as you look at many different genres. This can also be seen as unprofessional. Although, Rankin proves this wrong as he is clearly a successful professional photographer without feeling the need to conform to a specific style.

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Publishing

Rankin and Jefferson Hack founded 'Dazed & Confused' (now named 'Dazed') in 1992, which was a monthly youth and pop culture magazine featuring fashion, music, art, trends and politics. It was a place to showcase "emerging stylists, designers, photographers and writers" (Boscio, 2016) In 2001 Rankin created 'Rank' magazine, this was a quarterly innovative anti-fashion magazine which featured the unusual and unconventional.

In 2001, Rankin and Jefferson Hack established 'AnOther' magazine which was a stimulating high fashion, art and culture publication. AnOther magazine quickly became known for its unique content produced by many different creatives in the industry. As a reaction to the increasing menswear market, they also created 'AnOther Man' in 2005.

Rankin founded 'Hunger' magazine in 2011, it was a quarterly fashion and culture magazine described as something you read if you are "visually hungry" (Rankin, n.d). He created the magazine to celebrate the "innate drive that we all possess" (Hunger Magazine, n.d)

If I want to do something, I don't see any mountain too high" (Scott, 2016).

Rankin's history of publishing is also another reason I am so inspired by him, as he has many successful magazines alongside a successful career in photography. Publishing has been a strong interest of mine for a while and I love how Rankin hasn't just felt as though he needs to stick to one medium, he doesn't let that limit him. If he wants to do it he goes out and does it, but he is also successful at it.

'Selfie Harm'

'Selfie Harm' was part of a project called 'Visual Diet' by Rankin, M&C Saatchi, and MT Art Agency. It consisted of a series of images photographed by Rankin of 15 teenagers. The teenagers then had 5 minutes to 'harm' themselves by editing their image and using filters to alter their appearance to make them 'social media ready'. The results were rather drastic compared to the original portrait of themselves. I would go as far as to say they are almost unrecognisable. This project highlights the ways in which it is so easy and quick for people to alter their faces to conform to unrealistic beauty standards.

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When talking about smartphone filters he stated "I've got a bee in my bonnet" (Hollowood, 2016), as he didn't like the way they alter people's natural features "because they're gamifying people's personal development. You press a button and your eyes get bigger" (Hollowood, 2016). This is unhealthy and potentially damaging to your self image. This is one of the reasons he created the Selfie Harm' project. Rankin says "I've been through the 90s and early noughties when the criticism of Photoshop was massive. I'm like, we've been here before guys! Now the audience are doing it to themselves" (Hollowood, 2016).

"It's time to acknowledge the damaging effects that social media has on people's self-image" (Cascone, 2019).

This project is very powerful and shows the ways that Rankin does not agree with the toxicity of the media's beauty standards and shows the way it is damaging viewers' self-image as "the teens were mimicking what they see their idols do" (Cascone, 2019). I applaud Rankin for the way he is taking a stance against it, especially when this is the area he works in.

Post Production

As someone who is very knowledgeable and successful in the industry Rankin is someone that I look up to as he knows what makes a good photo and what post-production is required to get them looking their best.

Below are two images photographed by Rankin of Rupert Meats for Rank magazine. The left image shows a detailed description on how Rankin will retouch the image and what he feels needs to be done to it for it to be ready for publishing. The right image shows the finished result after going through his post-production process.

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Figure 5

It is fascinating to me how he has clearly done a lot of intricate retouching however the final result still looks like the same person. I really admire that he hasn't altered his face in any way but instead just smoothed skin, fixed lighting, added shadows, removed loose threads and eliminated blemishes. He has also altered the tones in the image, resulting in adding more depth and contrast. The methods used has resulted in a natural but polished look with subtle alterations.

This subtle retouching has influenced me in my own post production as it results in professional standard images but in a way the model still looks like themselves.

Overall

Overall, I can understand why Rankin is such a successful photographer and has created several prosperous publications. He is someone who is experienced in the field of photography and because of this, he inspires me as he has done photography for so long he knows what works and what doesn't.

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References

Boscio, C.D. (2016). EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH RANKIN - LESS IS MORE. Eluxe Magazine. https://eluxemagazine.com/people/exclusive-interview-with-rankin-less-is-more/

Cascone, S. (2019). For a Project Called 'Selfie Harm,' the Photographer Rankin Asked Teens to Photoshop Their Own Portraits. What They Did Was Scary. Art Net News. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/rankin-selfie-harm-1457959

Hollowood, K. (2019). "I've always loved people. That's been my talent": Rankin in conversation with It's Nice That. It's Nice That. https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/rankin-in-conversation-photography-191119

Hunger Magazine. (n.d). Home [LinkedIn page]. LinkedIn. Retrieved December 13, 2022 from https://www.linkedin.com/company/hunger-magazine/about/<br>

Ovchar, I. (2021). World-Famous Photographer Rankin on Inspiration, Great Images, and More: Exclusive Fstoppers Interview. Fstoppers. https://fstoppers.com/interview/world-famous-photographer-rankin-inspiration-great-images-and-more-exclusive-578172

Rankin, (n.d). WHAT DO YOU READ IF YOU'RE VISUALLY HUNGRY?. Rankin Creative. https://rankin.co.uk/work/hunger

Scott, L. (2021). Rankin interview: "If I want to do something, I don't see any mountain too high". Digital Camera World. https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/features/rankin-interview-if-i-want-to-do-something-i-dont-see-any-mountain-too-high

Bibliography

Figure 1 - Rankin (2016). Rankin has earned himself a place among the most respected photographers in the world. [jpeg]. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/rankin-inside-the-the-life-of-britains-greatest-fashion-photographer-2016-4?r=US&IR=T

Figure 2 - Hunger (2014, January 1). Hunger, (The Fearless Issue), 1. https://www.hungertv.com/shop/issues/issue-7/

Figure 3 - Rankin (2019). Mahalia [jpeg]. Art Net News. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/rankin-selfie-harm-1457959

Figure 4 - Rankin (2000). Bootiful [mp4]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/Clx4E-Koxio/

Figure 5 - Rankin (2000). Bootiful [mp4]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/Clx4E-Koxio/