Rankin (photographer)

Rankin
Rankin in 2021
Born
John Rankin Waddell

Glasgow, Scotland
Education
Alma materLondon College of Printing[3]
Occupations
  • Photographer
  • Director
  • Publisher
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1995; div. 1998)​
Tuuli Shipster
​
(m. 2009)​
Children1[4][5]
Websiterankinphoto.co.uk Edit this at Wikidata

John Rankin Waddell (born 1966), known as Rankin, is a British photographer and director who has photographed, amongst other subjects, Björk, Kate Moss, Madonna, David Bowie and Queen Elizabeth II.[6][7][8][9][10][11]

The London Evening Standard described Rankin's fashion and portrait photography style as "high-gloss, highly sexed and hyper-perfect".[12]

He has directed music videos, documentaries, a feature film, short films and commercials.[13][14][15][16]

Early life and education

Rankin was born in Glasgow.[17] In 1976, his family moved to Yorkshire,[18] where he attended Thirsk School. They again relocated, to St Albans, where he studied at Beaumont School.[1]

He worked as a hospital porter when he was 21,[19] and studied accounting at Brighton Polytechnic until he realised his interests lay elsewhere and dropped out.[2][15]

Rankin took up photography on a BTech course at Barnfield College in Luton, and then a BA course at the London College of Printing. He did not graduate from either.[3][20]

Celebrity portraits

Rankin's portraiture includes:

His portrait of "a drained-looking" Tony Blair, taken on the eve of the Iraq War for the cover of the Financial Times magazine, was seen as controversial.[46][47][48]

Music videos

Rankin has directed music videos for artists including:-

Magazines and books

Dazed & Confused, published spring 2020

Rankin's works have appeared on the cover of magazines including Vogue, Elle, Harpers Bazaar, Vanity Fair, GQ and Rolling Stone.[21][23][37]

In 1991, Rankin and fellow London College of Printing student Jefferson Hack launched the magazine Dazed & Confused. They drew upon their experience with earlier college magazine Untitled.[54][55][56]

He launched his own fashion magazine, Rank, in 2000. Rankin is also publisher of AnOther Magazine and AnOther Man. In 2011, he founded Hunger.[57][58]

Rankin has published over forty photobooks including Female Nudes (1999), Rankin Male Nudes (2000), Breeding: A Study of Sexual Ambiguity (2004), and Beautiful (2007).[50][24]

Performance by Rankin, published in 2021

Television

Rankin took part in 2008's television reality show Britain's Missing Top Model. The show followed eight young women with disabilities who competed for a modelling contract; photo shoot with Rankin, and Marie Claire magazine cover picture.[59]

In 2011, Rankin was the photography teacher in Jamie's Dream School on Channel 4.[60] He then presented the BBC Four documentary America in Pictures – The Story of Life Magazine.[61]

He travelled to South Africa for the 2012 BBC documentary South Africa in Pictures.[62]

BBC Four broadcast his 2014 documentary Seven Photographs That Changed FashionI, in which he created tributes to images by Cecil Beaton, Erwin Blumenfeld, Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Herb Ritts, David Bailey and Guy Bourdin. Rankin interviewed some of the original photographers, models and assistants, and used contemporary models.[29]

Rankin is a regular photographer and guest judge on Germany's Next Topmodel.[63]

He hosted the 2021 Great British Photography Challenge on BBC4.[64]

Films

Rankin has directed films including:

  • The Lives of the Saints (2006)[13][14]
  • Hardwire (Short 2013)[65]
  • Balance (Short 2014)[66]

He produced visual art for Spectre.[23]

Exhibitions

For his 2009 Brick Lane exhibition Rankin Live, he set out to photograph 1,000 ordinary people, completing one portrait every fifteen minutes, each printed and hung within thirty minutes.[67][68]

Rankin has exhibited at galleries including MoMA, New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.[50]

A Rankin retrospective exhibition was held at 180 Studios in London in 2024.[69]

Commercials

Rankin and his production team have created for brands including:-

Campaigns

Rankin photographing the Surfrider Foundation Plastic Monster.

Rankin has supported Women's Aid, providing photographs for their Blind Eye,[72] What's It Going To Take?, and Valentine's Day[73] campaigns.

Nike and Product Red commissioned him to shoot their 2012 HIV/AIDS campaign, Lace Up, Save Lives.[74][75][15]

In 2019, Rankin designed a plastic waste monster and photographed it to support Surfrider Foundation's initiatives against plastic waste.[76][77]

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Rankin shot portraits of NHS staff to celebrate their work.[19][78]

He was a judge for 2021's Holocaust Memorial Day Trust Light Up The Darkness competition.[79]

Rankin has photographed campaigns for Amnesty International; the Institute of Cancer Research; Oxfam; the Teenage Cancer Trust, and Breast Cancer Awareness[5]

In 2024 he photographed King Charles III[80] for the cover of The Big Issue[81] to highlight the Coronation Food Project.[82]

Studio

Annroy studio

In 2009 Rankin developed Annroy, a contemporary building in Kentish Town (51°32′57″N 0°08′52″W / 51.5492°N 0.1478°W / 51.5492; -0.1478). It was designed by Trevor Horne Architects and incorporates Rankin's photographic studio and gallery. The name is a portmanteau of his parents' given names.[83][84][85]

Personal life

Rankin was married to actress Kate Hardie from 1995 to 1998.[4] Since 2009, he has been married to model and yoga teacher Tuuli Shipster.[86] Rankin has 6 dogs who live with him and his wife.

He is a supporter of Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, where his wife volunteers, and has donated a series of photographs to the charity.[87][88]

Awards

References

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