The next time you think it’s a good idea to grab the digital camera and take some snaps in compromising positions, it might be time to put down that mega-pixel and head back to bed- try to forget the whole thing (it never leads to anything good) and go dream about it instead.
Although if you’re famous, there’s a certain cache in dropping the duds and usually there’s someone around to catch the action. Except those kinds of photographs tend to end up in cyberspace and seem to reveal most of what we’d like to see least of a person, up close.
But it doesn’t have to be like that. 
Stripping down to bare skin can reveal style, seduction and a photographer’s perspective into sexuality that lands somewhere between visual provocateur and an artist who doesn’t pull his punch – a kind of Svengali serving babe-crumpets who stare effortlessly from their frames while giving a nod to Gloria Steinem.
Which makes the opening of “Eye Candy,” a collection of wall-high nudes not only a perfect fit for the premise of this city, but more than enough reason to ditch the naked Maxim-girl fantasy, don trousers and drive over to Fahey/Klein Gallery on La Brea in Hollywood.
This is the first US show for internationally renowned photographer, Rankin, who counts his blessings every day for his talent, his family and his subjects – the human race.
Famous for his many photography books, advertising campaigns, countless cover shoots for the planet’s fashion bibles, and years of wildly successful gallery exhibitions, this warm and charming man was headed into the drudgery of accountancy, had fate not intervened.
“I didn’t discover photography until college when I was 21,” Rankin says. “I was so lucky to have had the greatest parents who made me feel like I always had a protective net and they sheltered me a lot from the realities of the outside world. This gave me a fantastic sense of security and total confidence in believing that no barriers existed to succeeding in life. Even so, they wanted me to be an accountant. By signing up for that, I was lucky to end up in a hall of residents who were all artists. A discussion emerged amongst them about the possible sexism in a Robert Palmer video and having little idea about anything outside my upbringing, I didn’t understand why you would think about pop culture or media on those terms. I was intrigued – that ideas and concepts could be tied to images really challenged my perceptions. It was exciting to think along new lines and break out of the box I had found myself safely within,” he explains.
Throughout his work and conversations, the theme of innovator and humanist resonate deeply, perhaps in part to his days and discoveries in school. He says he never understood the conceptual part of art class that expected you to have read and understood artistic work as interpreted by another person who was usually an “expert”- and that regarding his pictures, he strives for people to use their gut reaction to find their own meaning in what they see.
“I think my photos are quite raw- and people have different tastes. Some like more glossy pictures with less nudity and others love the comment I make on the subject. It’s funny that culture can play into it as well. In England, women love the photos more than British men. Yet here in LA, I’ve found many guys really like them and they are very vocal to me about it. Maybe it’s something to do with the British stiff-upper-lip… like a man here would tell you to your face he thought your girlfriend was beautiful, while across the pond most men wouldn’t admit to liking anything to do with another guy,” Rankin laughs.
Choosing to sidestep the obvious exhibit- part of his massive archive of iconic celebrity portraits- the point of Eye Candy was to show what he considers to be a very small part of his work and to display what he feels can be the most fun aspect, deciding to use pictures that were “a bit cheeky.”
Never wanting to be part of the elite photographer group that finds it necessary to be critical of pop culture, Rankin feels this collection is not really nudity per se but portraits of people who “happen to have taken off their clothes.” And the theme is more a revelation of British sexuality, which may not necessarily reflect American ideas on the issue.
“I’m always looking for subject, the person, in the shot as opposed to capturing just what they look like,” he continues. It’s the same when I photograph guys – as a portrait photographer you really don’t get good photos unless you’re fascinated by people and almost falling in love while you’re working with them.”
The self-confessed photographic addict holds the passion for his art as one of the main reasons his success has not landed him on the beaten track toward the darker vicissitudes of early fame.
“I was lucky to be so consumed by photography that the alternatives at my disposal seemed to be pure escapism to me. To keep doing what I loved required me to keep thinking clearly in order to conceive what I wanted to create. So the usual drug and alcohol route didn’t make sense or appeal to me.”
Upon meeting people who have made names for themselves later in life, Rankin has noticed the late bloomers seem able to revel in their success and can appreciate it without the inner turmoil that can beset one who has not had to wait a lifetime for recognition.
“Having success very young is bad, bad, bad,” says Rankin, shaking his head. “At 29, I had everybody telling me how great I was and paying me what I still consider to be outrageous amounts of money, so after a while you buy into your own hype because you don’t know who you are and what it all means.”
Having earned an initial reputation for being a little “petulant” and “hard” as a much younger man, Rankin credits getting older, being a father, and time spent on the movie set for bettering himself as a person and for allowing him to remain as intrigued by his work now as he was when he began.
His longtime love for film eventually led him to the director’s chair in 2002, with award-wining short film Perfect and cutting-edge gangster feature, The Lives of Saints. That he would jump at the chance to make movies again is an understatement. 
“This idea that photography and film-making are very similar is so far from the truth. What I do in the portraits only requires a small team that does exactly what I say,” he muses. “Making movies is like working on a huge jigsaw from a distance, done in very small pieces with hundreds of people contributing at different times toward different parts. I came away from the experience humbled and softened.”
It was not long afterwards that Dove approached him to shoot the prominent ad campaign running through magazines and on billboards that uses real women and shows them naked and wonderfully imperfect. Having started out as a commercial photographer, he was excited to be part of the trend toward breaking boundaries in the beauty industry where it was presumed that marketing without stick-thin models would fail. Since the switch to more realistic images, sales for Dove are up 900 percent in Europe, with similar numbers recorded in the US.
“There is an idea that photography creates that I don’t like…it can have people thinking that the world in the photos is real. But it’s all about fantasy. I don’t think men’s "desirable" female aesthetic is as narrow as the media would have women believe,” Rankin says.
With empowerment of women being one of his goals, Rankin finds it important to keep a focus on controversial issues in order to keep them from being overlooked by society. The chance to give back adds balance to his life and the Special Olympics, breast cancer research and Women’s Aid – a British organization concerned with domestic violence – are just some of the clients for which he has been commissioned.
His commitment to embracing new concepts is why his opinion on culture and trend has made him a force in the publishing world with several groundbreaking magazines, launching Dazed & Confused with business
partner Jefferson Hack in 1991 and his own fashion quarterly, RANK, in 2000.
His support for young photographers and effusive admiration for fellow artists like Damien Hirst and Mark Laita appears to be a personality trademark and it is gloriously rare to come upon such generosity and enthusiasm for others whilst navigating any celebrity stratosphere.
Yet one star in the galaxy continues to elude him…soccer Adonis, David Beckham.
“It’s weird isn’t it?” Rankin says. “I’ve already taken pictures of his wife, Victoria… I must do that… it’d be great to work with him at some point,” he counters, and his voice trails away.
That said, it really is a question of time.
Given only five minutes to photograph the Queen and only another five to snap former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, Rankin’s latest schedule is crammed full with shooting Angelica Huston, supermodels for Victoria’s Secret, a fashion show, and a portrait shoot with Seal before heading home to put Lord Puttenham on camera for a part in a charity project.
As this Brit continues to redefine success on his own terms, he is looking forward to marriage, more kids and making movies. But he won’t be getting his face in front of a camera anytime soon.
“I hate having my picture taken! I think most photographers do, “ says Rankin,
Which is kind of a relief, really.
Without him behind the lens we could only dream about the things he sees inside our skins and that as beings, shows that we are so much more than meets the eye.
The Eye Candy exhibition runs September 6 through October 20 at the Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles.
Fahey/Klein Gallery
148. N. La Brea Avenue, LA, CA 90036
323.934.2250
www.fahey.kleingallery.com
For more information about Rankin go to www.rankin.co.uk/
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