Frontlines: Rankin File

Rankin once seemed an unlikely candidate if you were hoping for a little honesty. Bursting on to the fashion scene when he founded the ultra-hip Dazed & Confused with pal Jefferson Hack straight out of college, the Scottish photographer’s public persona at the height of Britpop positioned him as a kind of Damien Hirst-with-a-camera. With classic Glaswegian self-confidence, he pulled no punches with his opinions and dived into the party lifestyle at the first taste of success.

There was the self-confessed ego, and the negatives to back it up: born John Rankin Waddell in 1966, his portfolio is jammed with pretty things and famous faces. Among dozens of star names, Kate Moss, David Bowie, Keith Richards and Tony Blair stood before him, completely at his mercy, their image in his hands. He snapped.
The last decade has brought personal change. The birth of his son. Both of his parents’ passing away in a painfully short period. The arrival of middle age. Facing mortality. The endless partying is now a thing of the past. But then, all along, the Glasgow snapper was more far interested in the people than the clothes or the fame.
He got involved with Dove’s Campaign For Real Beauty; travelled with Oxfam to shoot portraits in the war-torn Democratic Republic Of Congo; and did a remarkable series of pictures of people with terminal illnesses.
“I would just like to be remembered for trying to take honest pictures,” he says now. “Obviously I’ve got a commercial head on my shoulders or I wouldn’t be able to succeed. But I don’t do it to make money. It’s always about having a view on the world that’s an honest view. Taking people off of pedestals. I think that’s what makes the work a bit different; I try and see everyone as a human being, whether they’re a kid in the Congo or an A-list movie star.”
Having moved into directing himself, this August he is fronting a new short filmmaking initiative, Collabor8te. Eight promising scripts have been selected, developed and funded by Rankin Film Productions, with the finished products airing on Sky Arts in the four-part Rankin Presents: Collabor8te.
“Having been in the industry in one way or another for 10 years and having made films through different schemes, it felt like there was a gap we could fill. It wasn’t just me being charitable, we had an ulterior motive, which was to find new talent, and give them a leg up. And hopefully they would help us in the future. Like planting seeds.”
He’s been keeping an eye on young Dublin photographer Conor Clinch, the recent winner of Samsung’s ‘Launching People’ competition. At 18, Clinch is roughly the same age as Rankin’s son Lyle. If you think the Scot’s new mentoring role has dulled his competitive edge, however, you can think again.
“They’re all competition!” he laughs. “My ex-assistant’s just asked to do a shoot with somebody who I work with full-time. I said, ‘sure, you’re not competition... yet’! Which basically means you’re not good enough, yet. I’ve always tried really hard to give everybody encouragement, even my peers. It’s the reason I set up a magazine. It’s one of those things that gets lost when you become successful –  we were always promoting other artists, other creators, other photographers. I’m just a really big fan of photography and film. So I want other people to do well.
“I’ve always encouraged other people to be the best they can be. That goes from the kids like Conor, and the kids that come in for work experience, right through to photographers like [David] Bailey. But through TV, I can reach a couple of hundred thousand people as opposed to 30 people in a room. One of the reasons I do a lot of documentaries or, for example, this show for Sky, is because I’m going to reach people.”
So Rankin grins and bears having to stare down the barrel of the camera himself for the greater good.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for the Laura Whitmores and Ant & Decs of the world that can do it really well,” he says of presenting. “People go, ‘ah, they’re just talking to the TV’ but it’s a hard thing to do. When I’m reading the auto cue... I’m terrible at it!”
Interviewing is different. Rankin has a reputation for putting people at ease, while simultaneously drawing something previously hidden out of them – he even managed to coax a smile out of the Queen Of England.
“I’m just really excited to be meeting people that are great at what they do,” he says. “I always think of it like a masterclass, or getting a degree in a couple of weeks, when you do a documentary. Because you get this incredible amount of information and learn so much about the subject. To be a good photographer, you have to be fascinated with people and in love with humanity. At least to be a portrait photographer. So that probably translates to being a good interviewer – you have to be inquisitive.”
His trip to one of the world’s most dangerous places for From Congo With Love is one that truly stuck with him.
“I can’t even begin to put into words what it meant at the time. It was such a big shift for me. I don’t want to sound like a twat: ‘Oh my god, I went to the Congo and it really changed my life!’. I always take the mickey out of Bob Geldof and Bono. I admire what they do but at the same time, you kinda want to go ‘come on!’ It can be taken bit too seriously.  “The selfish part of me was like, ‘fuck, you’re so lucky to not live in this that you should really take life a bit more seriously’. So while I don’t think I can change people’s lives, really, there’s no harm in trying, right? I really am a humanitarian in the biggest sense of the world. I just can’t believe we don’t treat people like they’re family.” 
 Rather than portraying his subjects as victims, Rankin returned with photos filled with warmth, laughter and humanity.
“That was the idea and it was even more acute when I got to the Congo. We all become immune to everything, so you’ve got to try and look at things from a different perspective. I’m joking about Bono and Bob, because I think what they do is amazing. But at the same time, it’s great when you see Ricky Gervais take the piss out of it. It’s so easy to put things in a box: ‘oh, that’s the Bob Geldof box, fuck that! I’m not gonna take that’. They’re very clever in the way they get other people to become the voices of it because you’d get bored of one voice talking about it.
“Looking at another photograph of some starving African is not always going to work. You’ve got to be really aware of your audience. Look at it in a different way.” And that, in a nutshell, is the Rankin way.