Rankin portraiture

John Rankin Waddell, working name Rankin, is a British portrait and fashion photographer. studying Photography at London College of Print, Rankin has gone on to work with international companies on advertising campaigns, photo shoots for various magazines and worked with many stars of music and film.
The work which I really enjoy looking at is his collection of portraiture shots, his ability to capture a look, mood, feel and a sense of humour  comes through his work time after time.

Justin T shoot... the use of strong background shadows ads to the dramatic impact of the overall image, the stance has a strong feel of the Andy Warhol "Elvis - Gun Slinger" Screenprints produced in the 1960's linking past and present international stars together.

Ian Brown - this intense image of Ian works in so many areas, the picture has been taken in mono with a strong use of contrast, the background starts to blend with the subject intensifying his face and stare.
The light used to highlight his face has been captured in his eyes and this also adds to the look, the camera has been lowered below his face level giving the impression that he is looking down on the viewer again adding to the overall feel of the portrait.

Bill Nighy - the subject is engaiging directly with the viewer, the use of his glasses as a prop and the way in which he is holding them - putting them on or taking them off adds to the composition, a white highlight has been captured in the eyes bringing them to life (I would be intrested to know if the glasses has glass in them). The angle of the pose, his face shape and smile/pout helps to emphasize and capture his personalty.

The image has been cropped through the face and body, this close crop helps draw your eye towards the face and the use of white space to the left helps to give the image a well balanced look and feel.