RANKIN CASE STUDY:
CASE STUDY OF WORK:
LIFE AND WORK:
Rankin is the working name of John Rankin Waddell. Born in Glasgowin 1966, Rankin is an English fashion and portrait photographer. He grew up in Hertfordshire and while studying at Brighton Polytechnic, he quickly realized that his main interest is photography rather than accounting . So, he joined the Barnfield College, Luton, United Kingdom and later went to London College of Printing. Meanwhile, Rankin met Jefferson Hack and once they graduated, together they started a magazine titled Dazed & Confuse.
In 1999, the two became the founder of a production company known as, Dazed Film & TV. It was the first to broadcast a mast-head television special, Renegade TV Gets Dazed. Rankin then in 2000 launched RANK, a quarterly fashion magazine. The Dazed Group also publishes Another Man, HUNGER and Another Magazine.
By the Royal Photographic Society, Rankin was awarded an Honorary Fellowship. He has photographed many celebrities such as Kate Moss, Spice Girls, Lily Allen, Britney Spears, Kevin Spacey, Cate Blanchett, Queen Elizabeth II, The Rolling Stones, Madonna,
WORK ANALYSIS:
VISUAL:
The image above contains a variety of different textures and forms, from the shiny latex gloves which reflect strong highlights, to the smooth and flawless skin of the model. The barbed wire which coils around the body and the head of the model gives the image a flow and leads the viewers eyes to the top of the image, being central around the model’s head.
There is very strong eye contact being made with the camera which draws in the reader and gives the image an aura of mystery and the unknown. This feeling is further emphasized through the strong connotations that the latex gloves and barbed wire have to violence. Being in black and white, the image is dark and dramatic. The models facial features are very prominent due to the strong lighting used. The focal point of the image is the models face, which is highly contrasted with the black clothing and grey backdrop.
TECHNICAL:
The exposure in this image is very well exposed, with the highlights and shadows complementing and harmonizing with each other. The image is also very crisp and sharp suggesting that a fast shutter speed has been used, in addition to that, a tripod is likely to have been set up as well in order to keep the camera still and get a very horizontal shot of the model. There is soft and diffused light hitting the model directly in front which suggests that a reflector has been used in order to achieve this effect.
The positioning and the eye contact the model makes also suggests that this is a setup, where she has been told what to do and how to pose. The flawless and airbrushed skin of the model suggests that some Photoshop manipulation was used in order to make the image grey scale and to erase any minor imperfections to give a uniform and clean look to the image.
CONCEPTUAL/CONTEXTUAL:
He tries not to prejudge anyone. “I try to think about people in human terms. That’s something my parents taught me – never put anyone on a pedestal, but never talk down to them either, which has been very instructive in my job. I see the person, not the celebrity. I’m a portrait photographer – I shouldn’t bring in my opinion. My job is to capture them in a moment.”
Fashion and celebrity photography can be criticized for being shallow and throwaway. Rankin is often the subject of such criticism and this project was one way for him to respond to his critics with characteristic wit, allowing his images to be destroyed and the sale of the art works benefiting a music charity for young people. There is a great deal of skill and craft in creating seductive images that stand out from the crowd.