The legendary British photographer on fame, social media and his relentless curiosity for image-making

Written by Lauren Scott All images © Rankin Photography Ltd

Rankin

John Rankin Waddell, known professionally as Rankin, is a British photographer and director. He is known for his photography of famous faces and models including Kate Moss, Madonna and the Queen. Rankin has also shot philanthropic campaigns for the NHS, Women’s Aid and Surfrider Foundation. He has over 60 book publications to his name and oversees a huge creative team with his brand and studio Rankin Creative, whose motto is “We want to Change the World.” Rankin co-founded Dazed + Confused magazine in 1991, and in 2011 founded Hunger, the website and biannual fashion, culture and lifestyle magazine. This year, he hosted the Great British Photography Challenge tv show on BBC4.

To find out more, visit: www.rankin.co.uk

How has the last year or so been for you? It’s interesting that you ask me. I thought I was doing all right actually, but I think that there’s so much lost over these virtual mediums. Part of it felt like, “Oh yeah, it’s really great, because we can still keep working,” and we’ve definitely done a lot better than some businesses that have really struggled, because of restrictions.

We’ve been allowed to work all the way through, pretty much from June last year so, that’s been great, but I just think that what we gained in ease and the ability to just have these types of conversations, the loss is the personal one-on-one stuff. People don’t really, or haven’t till maybe the last few months, realised how important it is. Being a photographer, so much stuff is in the room, so much of it is what the vibe, what the energy, is. Now, in terms of my social life, I’m quite a solo person anyway. But if it had happened to me in my 20s, I would have been devastated.