Who Is.. Rankin

Whether you’ve ever even heard the name John Rankin Waddell or not has little bearing on the fact you are sure to know the work of Rankin - the name by which the celebrated British photographer is better known. Considered one of our times brilliant creators, a capturer of stills and film that reach the world in a way that has allowed him become a recorder of the century.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1966, Rankin moved several times due to his Dad’s job and ended up spending his teenage years in St. Albans in the countryside of Hertfordshire in England. Of his childhood he says ‘I wasn’t really surrounded by much imagery growing up. My parents were lower-middle-class. Art and culture wasn’t something they ever had any contact with and consequently I didn’t either”. His first foray into photography didn’t comet light until he was in his late teens when a local hairdresser who typically cut his hair asked if he could photograph his new look. However it wasn’t until he was 21 that he actually starting shooting his own work - all the while doing the rather opposing task of studying for an accountancy degree at Brighton Polytechnic. During this time he began to further investigate the medium of print and with a quickly growing love of the creative world he deserted his accountancy studies and began a formal education in photography at the London College of Printing.

It was at college that he met Jefferson Hack and together they started a friendship that would become an infamous relationship from which would stem successes far beyond realms of anything the young photographer had once been allowed imagine in his childhood, once the furthest thing from art and the cultured world of London’s creative scene. Together they founded Dazed + Confused. The celebrated publication began - and has ever since remained - a cult status monthly style magazine, documenting the art and culture scenes of the Brit Pop and Britart movements. Now just called Dazed, the publication has been in existence for 28 years and continues to be one of the industries go-to authorities on style and culture. 

It was the early 90’s and the era was a super creative one, the parties were notorious and the high-brow fashion scene was on fire. The magazine was a direct link for Rankin to create and share amazing images and be invited to all the right parties. He got to shoot all the ‘in’ crowd and using his inherent curiosity about people’s character he was motivated to keep on creating. While working with his subjects he is known to talk to them ceaselessly so as to provoke a natural yet different outlook of their personality. “Portraiture for me is all about making a connection with my subject, building up a rapport, which the viewer also feels”, he says. 

He has gone on to shoot an incredible list of famous faces including celebrities, politicians, models and , from The Rolling Stones, Daniel Craig, The Spice Girls, Bill Nighy and George Michael to Kate Moss, Jude Law, Britney Spears, Tony Blair, Alicia Keys, Cindy Crawford and Grace Jones. Also part of his priceless portfolio is Adele, Alexander McQueen, Pharrell Williams, Kate Winslet, Carey Mulligan, Alicia Vikander, Ralph Fiennes, Selma Blair, Madonna, Damien Hirst.. the list goes on and on. Perhaps some of his most notable portraits are of Queen Elizabeth and Prince William. Rankin’s commercial work has included campaigns for Rimmel, Nike, Dove, H&M, BMW, and Coca Cola. Branching into directing, he has also creatively directed music videos for artists like Kelis, Miley Cyrus and Rita Ora among others. 

Apart from his extensive work as a portrait and fashion photographer he has extended his collection of magazines over the years, launching others publications like RANK, Another Magazine, Another Man, and his most recent, HUNGER, a bi-annual fashion bible which is accompanied by HUNGERTV.COM, a website that adds a whole other creative layer to each shoot in the magazine with behind-the-scenes film. 

So from his early and more provocative portraits in the 80’s to becoming one of the most sought after photographers of our time, Rankin has helped both the creation and capturing of the attitudes and aesthetics of a generation.

Who Is.. Annie Leibovitz

Born Anna-Lou Leibovitz in Waterbury, Connecticut, October 2 1949, the celebrated portrait-photographer Annie Leibovitz, as the world more famously knows her, is something of a brilliantly talented creator, perhaps one of the finest of her time. Growing up in an idyllic middle-class family where her mother, a modern-dance teacher, instilled in her a love of the arts and a passion that would later thread it’s way through her majorly successful career. Her first experimentations with photography came about in the 1960’s when her father, a lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force, was stationed in the Philippines during the Vietnam War and she would spend her time there documenting the very raw scenes around the military base along with her explorations of nearby locales. However, she didn’t really ignite a real enthusiasm for her craft as a possible profession until, in 1967, when she moved to San Fransisco to study painting at the San Francisco Art Institute. In her second semester there she signed up for a photography module and transferred her major in a heartbeat. 

While still in school, Leibovitz started her first big job in the industry, with a position at, the then very new and experimental, Rolling Stone magazine. She had shown her image of Allen Ginsberg smoking pot at an anti-Vietnam march to the magazines creator, Jann Wenner and he immediately hired her. The magazine’s culture suited her and her new vision of the world, focused on counterculture that was steadily emerging from the nonconformist mentalities of the late 1950’s.  Within three short years, at the age of just 23, she worked her way up the ladder, landing the role of Chief Photographer. Her time at the prominent publication saw her create a very distinctive look for them and with her creative freedom a completely boundless liberty, she thrived as a creative, paving her way and making her name known in the industry. Renowned for her dramatic iconic portraits of rock and roll stars up until this time, it was a huge risk in deciding what to do when, in 1983, Vanity Fair came knocking on her door. 

Shifting from the gritty, fast-paced and very unforgiving ways of the Rolling Stone way of life, she took Vanity Fair up on the offer and jumped ship. Her 13 years at Rolling Stone had left her with a heavy drug habit; she had overdosed twice in recent years and it is said that she reportedly once peddled her camera equipment to fund her cocaine habit. So, in many respects, the glossy pages of Vanity Fair and it’s more polished mainstream culture came at an important time for her, both professionally and personally. Her iconic work brought a lot to the magazine in terms of a celebrity base, a lot of whom previously had not wanted to be shot for the publication but once hearing it was Leibovitz as head creative, they jumped on board immediately. Budgets at Vanity Fair were practically non-existent and her career soared to such heights and made her a household name for all the right reasons. 

Her personal life sees her mother to her daughter, Sarah, whom she gave birth to in 2001 at the age of 51 and twin girls Sam and Susan who were born in 2005 via a surrogate. Her adult life has been marred with moments of difficulty and distress. Seeing her life partner, the critic, writer and political activist Susan Sontag, lose her battle to acute myeloid leukemia in the Spring of 2004 left Leibovitz devastated. Also, despite commanding six figure payments per shoot, she is legendarily bad with money. During a period of personal sadness, around the time of her Mother’s death, Leibovitz found herself a cool $24 million in debt. She journeyed through a lengthy legal battle while filing for bankruptcy and trying to remain the solo owner of the rights to her extensive and vastly valuable portfolio of images. Which she eventually secured. However trying this period of her life, she lived many amazing moments too, one of her proudest being deemed a Living Legend by the Library of Congress and her honour at being awarded The Royal Photographic Society's Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship in 2009.

Known firstly as a celebrity portrait photographer, she credits the foundational ideas and philosophy of her work, and a career that has spanned almost 40 years, to her biggest inspirations, industry greats such as Richard Avedon, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank and their ability to create images that last a lifetime. She lives in New York City.