Rankin - The masters of photography..

John Waddell also known as "Rankin" is a portrait and fashion photographer from the U.K He is 47 years old and has been taking images for over 20 years, He was born and grew up in Glasgow and then went and studied at London school of printing. 

Rankin's work is very individual and his images are easy to recognize. They are usually very vivid colours or black and white with a strong contrast. Here is some of his own work.

Rankin gets very inspired my others work and decided to do a documentary on him duplicating others work but with his own twist on things. During this documentary he gets inspired by loads of photographers such as Cecil Beaton, Erwin Blumenfeld, Richard Avedon, David Bailey, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin and Herb Ritts. 

This is the original photo of the white panama hat was taken for a photo shoot for vogue. It is a very iconic and famous image.

Cecil Beaton has taken loads of beautiful images. His images are usually taken with black and white film. He has taken images of many famous people such as Audrey Hepburn, Twiggy, Marilyn Monroe but also takes many self portraits.   

                    

This is the image that Rankin took. I like this image a lot more than the original. It looks a lot more cleaner and more vivid because this image was taken with a digital camera and not a film camera. I love how Rankin put his own touch into with image using a pale model and dark black on the hat and makeup. 













The image in the left is a front cover for vogue in 1950 it was taken by Erwin Blumenfeld. I think this magazine cover is very unique and almost looks animated even though it was taken of a real person but just edit with an almost pop art style.

The Image on the right is Rankins re- creation of the same image it almost looks identical with the colours and placement but with the added nose and different mouth. I prefer the original because i think it looks a lot more classy and vintage.

The image on the left was taken by Richard avedon it is called Dovima with elephants and was taken in 1955.
I don't really like this photo the elephants look scared and like they don't want to be there. But i like how the model is standing and the fact the elephants almost look like they have been shrunk because of the models height.
I like Rankins version better it looks more realistic unlike the original i think the original looks more like a drawing than a photograph.

 The image on the left was taken by                            david bailey in 1963 the image is of                          jean shrimpton , she was a very iconic                      modle in the 60s. Rankin decided to                          use his girlfriend and do a co construction                  of it, i like the original beter because its                      more grey and white than white and black                but i think that rankins version is very him and            he has done well on putting his own stamp on it.

This original image was taken by Helmut Newton for vogue in 1975 it has a wierd almost freaky feel to it. its weird how the women looks very boyish but also has a sense of class to it. This image was taken in paris and rakin took his image in exactly the same place it almost looks identical.jade Parfitt was a very good model for rakins version of it but i like the original i think it looks less staged and natural.

This image was taken by guy Bourdin 1970 for vogue it is a very colourful and bold image. Rankin decided to recreate it but it made it a lot more modern using model Daphne Guinnes I like rankins one much better i think looks a lot bolder and the shadows and use of colour make it look a lot more interesting.

The image on the left is the origninal taken by Herb Ritts in 1984 it was taken in a Tyre yard it is called "fred with tyers" i think both of these images would have looked better in colour but I like rankin version better, it looks a lot more natural. Rankin used a Polaroid camera to take these images and the contrast is a lot nicer on it than the original.

Rear window.

Rear window is a film made in 1954 staring James Stewart and Grace Kelly. This film is about a middle aged man in a wheelchair because of a broek leg. He is a photographer and is currently spying on his neighbors because he can't move from his room after a while of spying he becomes convinced that the man across the road and killed his own wife and is burying her around town.    




I really enjoyed watching this film i found it very gripping considering that the entire movie was filmed from his perspective in the same room. It was almost like he was watching other peoples lives through his window until he suspects the man across the road has killed his wife. He continues to do his own investigating into it and in the end he finds out he was actually right and in fact the man had chopped up his wife and was burying her around the town.

Here is the trailer for the movie...

Dave Severn.

David Severn is a social documentary and fine art photographer based in Nottingham, UK. His work is concerned with the relationship between people and place. More specifically, how individuals and communities interact with or are affected by their environment. Within this context, he is particularly interested in working class culture and the places associated with it.
(http://davidsevern.foliosites.co.uk/about/)

David takes pictures of everyday things such as people and the environment they live in, he puts a lot of thought into his images and they often have a meaning behind them.

Thanks Maggie



This photo of an elderly man playing bingo was taken when David was with his dad at his dads work where he sings on karaoke and is an Elvis impersonator. He spoke to the elderly man asking why he was on his own and he replied saying that he wife has recently passed away and that they always used to go there and he wanted to keep up the tradition. 





This is one of David most famous image it is of a girl smoking and waiting for her friends to come and meet her.it was taken in Mansfield where he lives. it was exhibited in London.

I really like this colors in this image they looks washed out and almost old fashioned like. 

 This is a photo Dave took when he went to the mines to take photos of some youths doing council work they told him that a homeless man was camping in the woods and then took him to where he was.

This is the homeless mans house and where he had been living for a while david talked to the man and got to know him.  

This is a photo of his grand dads house after his grandma died this is an image of her belongings and favorite things on a small table. 









Odds and Ends
This is definitely my favorite project david has done, his work seems  so effortless but at the same time extremely effective.

   

This image always makes me laugh the cat almost looks evil and i like how the image is focused on him and the window and that the fence is out of focus.   

This image reminds me of a holiday resort i used to go as a child it looks like the apartment we used to stay in. I really like how the images has really dull colors but a really clear blue sky with the mood just above the buildings.    









This is an image of  a saloon it reminds me of a bar of some sort of old  fashioned pirate ship i think the light coming from the window shinning onto the ship wheel give it a good effect and the fact that there are lots of different shades of brown in there.

This is my favorite image out of the odds and ends project i love how David has caught the dog mid way shaking his coat this makes him look surreal and un animal like i think he looks more like a human than a dog. 

I also like there colors in this image the fact the main colors are brown and blue they contrast well.  









I really enjoyed davids tutorial i found it very 
inspiring and i like how passionate he is about 
photography. 

William Eggleston

William was born in 1939 in Memphis Tennessee and spent most of his life living with his grandparents. When he was 18 he was brought his first ever camera it was a black and white camera even though he is best known for being one of the first photographers to take photographs in colour. His career has lasted over fifty years and he has taken over one thousand photographs just in his home town. When he takes an image he only ever takes one of each subject because he says it confuses him if there is more than one of the same image. He is known for taking images of everyday boring things but he makes them look more interesting to look at. He is said to have the same style of image when he took them  in black and white as he does now in colour.



His most famous image is of a red ceiling with a light bulb in the center with white wires going to it, This is the house of a friend that soon after got murders with an ax, I think this image makes you think because the red almost looks like blood on the walls and ceiling.





These are two images William has taken one is taken with black and white film the other in colour film
I really like these images I think they are very similar and might even be taken in the same location.

This is definitely my favorite images William Eggleston has taken. I love the colour and how the car kind of matched with the rubbish on the road