John Rankin Waddell (born 1966), known as Rankin, is a British photographer and director who has photographed, amongst other subjects,

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

Kate Moss Katherine Ann Moss (born 16 January 1974) is an English model. Arriving towards the end of the "supermodel era", Moss rose to fame in the early 1990s as part of the heroin chic fashion trend. Her collaborations with Calvin Klein brought her t ...

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

and

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. The ''London Evening Standard'' described Rankin's fashion and portrait photography style as "high-gloss, highly sexed and hyper-perfect". He has directed music videos, documentaries, a feature film, short films and commercials.

Early life and education

Rankin was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. In 1976, his family moved to

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, where he attended Thirsk School. They again relocated, to

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

, where he studied at Beaumont School. He worked as a hospital porter when he was 21, and studied accounting at Brighton Polytechnic until he realised his interests lay elsewhere and dropped out. Rankin took up photography on a BTech course at Barnfield College in

Luton Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census. Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...

, and then a BA course at the

London College of Printing The London College of Communication is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. Its origins are in education for the printing and retail industries; it now specialises in media-related subjects including advertising, animation ...

. He did not graduate from either.

Celebrity portraits

Rankin's portraiture includes: His portrait of "a drained-looking" Tony Blair, taken on the eve of the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

for the cover of the ''Financial Times'' magazine, was seen as controversial.

Music videos

Rankin has directed music videos for artists including:-

Magazines and books

Rankin's works have appeared on the cover of magazines including Vogue,

Elle Elle may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Elle (magazine), ''Elle'' (magazine), a fashion publication ** Elle Style Awards * Elle (India), ''Elle'' (India), the Indian edition * Elle (film), ''Elle'' (film), a 2016 French film * ''Elle: ...

, Harpers Bazaar, Vanity Fair, GQ and

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

. In 1991, Rankin and fellow London College of Printing student Jefferson Hack launched the magazine '' Dazed & Confused''. They drew upon their experience with earlier college magazine ''Untitled''. He launched his own fashion magazine, ''Rank'', in 2000. Rankin is also publisher of ''

AnOther Magazine ''Another Magazine'', styled ''AnOther'', is an international fashion and culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, bel ...

'' and ''AnOther Man''. In 2011, he founded ''Hunger''. Rankin has published over forty photobooks including ''Female Nudes'' (1999), ''Rankin Male Nudes'' (2000), ''Breeding: A Study of Sexual Ambiguity'' (2004), and ''Beautiful'' (2007).

Television

Rankin took part in 2008's television reality show '' Britain's Missing Top Model''. The show followed eight young women with disabilities who competed for a modelling contract; photo shoot with Rankin, and

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' (stylized in all lowercase; ) is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on women aro ...

magazine cover picture. In 2011, Rankin was the photography teacher in '' Jamie's Dream School'' on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. He then presented the

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

documentary ''America in Pictures – The Story of Life Magazine''. He travelled to South Africa for the 2012

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

documentary ''South Africa in Pictures''. BBC Four broadcast his 2014 documentary ''Seven Photographs That Changed FashionI'', in which he created tributes to images by

Cecil Beaton Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was a British fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, and interior designer, as well as costume designer and set designer for stage and screen. His accolades ...

, Erwin Blumenfeld,

Richard Avedon Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004) was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for ''Harper's Bazaar'', '' Vogue'' and '' Elle'' specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and ...

Helmut Newton Helmut Newton (né Neustädter; 31 October 192023 January 2004) was a German-Australian photographer. The ''The New York Times, New York Times'' described him as a "prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer whose provocative, erotically ch ...

Herb Ritts Herbert Ritts Jr. (August 13, 1952 – December 26, 2002) was an American fashion photographer and director known for his photographs of celebrities, models, and other cultural figures throughout the 1980s and 1990s. His work concentrated on b ...

, David Bailey and Guy Bourdin. Rankin interviewed some of the original photographers, models and assistants, and used contemporary models. Rankin is a regular photographer and guest judge on '' Germany's Next Topmodel''. He hosted the ''2021 Great British Photography Challenge'' on BBC4.

Films

Rankin has directed films including: He produced visual art for Spectre.

Exhibitions

For his 2009

Brick Lane Brick Lane () is a street in the East End of London, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, borough of Tower Hamlets. It runs from Swanfield Street in Bethnal Green in the north, crosses the Bethnal Green Road before reaching the busiest, mo ...

exhibition ''Rankin Live'', he set out to photograph 1,000 ordinary people, completing one portrait every fifteen minutes, each printed and hung within thirty minutes. Rankin has exhibited at galleries including MoMA, New York, and the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

. A Rankin retrospective exhibition "The Dazed Decades" was held at 180 Studios in London in 2024. In 2025 he hosted his exploration of AI and its implications in his Faik exhibition at Annroy studios, giving away to visitors 1,000 free copies of his 'Faik Free' books exploring the topic.

Commercials

Rankin and his production team have created for brands including:-

Campaigns

Rankin has supported Women's Aid, providing photographs for their ''Blind Eye'', '' What's It Going To Take?'', and ''Valentine's Day'' campaigns. Nike and Product Red commissioned him to shoot their 2012

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

campaign, ''Lace Up, Save Lives''. In 2019, Rankin designed a plastic waste monster and photographed it to support Surfrider Foundation's initiatives against

plastic waste Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are cate ...

. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in 2020, Rankin shot portraits of

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

staff to celebrate their work. He was a judge for 2021's Holocaust Memorial Day Trust ''Light Up The Darkness'' competition. Rankin has photographed campaigns for

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

; the Institute of Cancer Research; Oxfam; the Teenage Cancer Trust, and Breast Cancer Awareness In 2024 he photographed King Charles III for the cover of

The Big Issue ''The Big Issue'' is a United Kingdom–based street newspaper founded by John Bird and Gordon Roddick in September 1991 and published in four continents. ''The Big Issue'' is one of the UK's leading social businesses and exists to offer ho ...

to highlight the Coronation Food Project.

Studio

In 2009 Rankin developed ''Annroy'', a contemporary building in

Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town, close to Hampstead Heath. Kentish Town likely derives its name from Ken-ditch or Caen-ditch, meaning the "bed of a waterw ...

(). It was designed by Trevor Horne Architects and incorporates Rankin's photographic studio and gallery. The name is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of his parents' given names.

Personal life

Rankin was married to actress Kate Hardie from 1995 to 1998. Since 2009, he has been married to model and yoga teacher Tuuli Shipster. Rankin has 6 dogs who live with him and his wife. He is a supporter of Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, where his wife volunteers, and has donated a series of photographs to the charity.

Awards

*Honorary Fellowship of the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is the world's oldest photographic society having been in continuous existence since 1853. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as th ...

(2002) *Co-awardee for Best Advertising and Best Editing – London Fashion Film Festival (2015) *Lifetime Achievement Award - Mercedes-Benz Bokeh Fashion Film Festival (2016) *British Photography Awards Fellowship (2019)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rankin Alumni of the University of Brighton Alumni of the London College of Communication Scottish businesspeople in fashion Scottish film directors British fashion photographers Living people Photographers from Glasgow Photographers from Yorkshire Television commercial directors British music video directors 1966 births British portrait photographers Anglo-Scots 20th-century Scottish businesspeople 21st-century Scottish businesspeople