John Rankin Waddell - Rankin

By far one of my favorite photographers. It's not only his amazing images that inspire me but his clear passion for the Art.

I know pretty much all of the great photographers have their own personal story for how they came to love photography but Rankin's story is a little more personal to me.
He was edged into an accountancy degree by his family. Living in the student halls with his peers who were studying Art. He soon realised he had inner creativity that he wanted to unleash.

Like Rankin, I myself had been on another route in life. One that wasn't my absolute passion. Luckily I also had time to change this direction and find my love for photography.

rankin.co.uk

The most interesting of Rankin's Photographs for me, is the tight cropped head shots. He's passionate about getting as much from the sitter as possible and while shooting, he talks to them to change their expression. One of his favorite things to say to them is to imagine him naked.

www.polyvore.com

When taking the Queen's portrait he says he acted like Austin Powers to provoke a natural smile from her. For me personally, it's the first time I've ever seen a Photograph of her smiling.

Rankin is a photographer I'll probably follow for the rest of my career / life. I'm always excited whenever I hear he's released a new project.

The Studio Portrait.

My Chosen assignment is to create a series of Studio Portraits. Using techniques of the masters in this genre and to create not only pieces of Art but a communication between myself, the sitter and the audience viewing our creation.

I will research different styles, techniques and also what makes a good portrait.

After deciding my preferred style and lighting, I will upload a minimum of 3 images to a Printing Laboratory for professional printing. Something that will also take some consideration is which Paper type I will use. This is another avenue I will investigate before completing my assignment.

My Personal View.

My Personal View.

Before finding out what the masters views on Portraiture is, I thought it would be a good to start with my personal view on the subject.

I feel a Portrait itself isn't necessarily a Picture or Photograph of a Person themselves but a snapshot into their life. This could possibly be a collection of things they own that have some form of sentimental value or even what they carry in their Pockets/Handbag.

As this is a 'Studio Portrait', I Would like to capture the sitter and some kind of story and emotion.
To me, The most significant thing we look at in a person is their Eyes. Although many people say it's the Eyes themselves that are the key to their Soul, I see this in the way their face frames them. How their Eyebrows are composed when I take their picture.
The Mouth can be very deceiving. There can be a smile on someones face but their upper face can be saying something totally different.

With this in mind, when I'm Making my images. I will wait for the perfect time, when the Eyes and Mouth are telling me the same story.

Platon.

Platon.

After having a look at Platon's Website ( http://www.platonphoto.com ) I thought it would be a very good starting point for my research. A Photographer that not only takes amazingly composed photographs but the people he takes the Photographs of are World Leaders and A list Celebrities.
My reason for being interested in him making photographs of these people is, although there are hundreds, possibly thousands of candid pictures of these people and Movies with them in. None of these pictures actually capture their true self.

Being able to get up close and personal with the likes of leader of the revolution of Libya Muammar Gaddafi and actually have a few moments of his time to be able to compose him for your own work is a pretty amazing.

http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/photographing-gaddafi

A technique Playton uses when photographing these high profile subjects is to shoot from a very low perspective. This gives the subject an aura of a God-like figure. making you feel almost dominated by the picture.

He says he's very clear about what his pictures read but finds it very interesting to hear how other viewers interpret them.

http://reelfoto.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/platon-power-of-portrait.html

This image he was commissioned to take of President Bill Clinton was to be his last official Portrait as President. He was instructed to take a neutral, formal Headshot rather than putting his own signature style into the Photograph.

After this instruction Platon said to the President. "Mr President. Will you show me the love?" This obviously didn't go down too well with his staff but President Clinton assured everyone he understood what Platon was talking about.

Months after taking this image, there was a debate regarding the way it was composed. the way his Hands were placed so far in front of the rest of his body to give them a larger perspective to the rest of his body. The Smirk on his face, even down to the way his Tie is pointing to his Crotch. Some believe this was composed this way to signify how he got away with the things he was accused of.

Is this looking into a Photograph too much and making something of nothing?

Absolutely not!

If a simple image can create so many debates and controversy, simply from a Tie and a small trick of perspective then the Photographer won.

Not only does he take Photographs of World Leads but he also visited Egypt during the revolution. He set up a pop-up Studio in the Street and invited the people to sit for him.

He doesn't see his images as just 'images'. His images are more of a story.

Images Copyright Platon.