Interview with Rankin

S Magazine: You have been named one of, if not the most influential photographer of our times. Do you yourself have any idols, like some of theold masters of photography, and have they influenced your style?

Rankin: Wow, that’s quite an introduction. Thank you. But I would never think that myself. I do have a lot of idols in photography. Bailey, Avedon, Penn. I guess you could say they have all influenced me in so many ways. Lots of critics would say I am just a pale imitation of them, but I really believe that photographers that are any good make their own place in the world. Critics love to make stuff more or less important than they are. I’m a practitioner, not a talker!

You once said that your only wish is to make the people in a picture look good, stunning. How does this transfer to a naked lady in a shopping cart, a person with a sow’s head in a pigsty or a nude in front of a row of display dummies?

Well I guess I think they all look great. I stand by that statement in a way, but I also think that I probably said it about the project Rankin Live. And, besides, I always say I 'm nervous of wanting to please my subjects too much.

You have commented that the 30,000 visitors to your exhibition in Liverpool are more important to you than any review by an art critic; but don't you see this huge number of people like a single agglomeration of individual critics? A democratisation of taste perhaps?

Oh yes, definitely. But the biggest critic I have is myself, so I tend to just let the negative things go. Life is too short!

Would you concur with Cecil Beaton’s saying that in every picture you can see the mind and the intelligence of the one who took it?

Definitely. I think if you’re any good as a photographer, people can see who you are in all of your work. I consider my archive almost a diary of my life, which you can’t see me in but where you can feel me in every image.

To quote you: “When you get to 40, you can go one of two ways with your career as a photographer: just take the money (for commercial jobs) and concentrate on personal projects, or reinvest in what you’ve been doing.“ Are the pieces in your upcoming exhibition in Rostock more important to you than your commercial work; are they an anthology, a retrospective, so to speak? Would you give up commerciality to focus on what interests you, like your involvement in Congo or your Oxfam work?

No, I consider each piece of work as important as the next. I really believe that separating commercial work from personal work is disingenuous. I have to be proud of everything I do even if it's shit. I don’t think I will give up any one particular part of anything I do. My bank manager asked me the other day when was I going to retire, and my answer was never.

Do you ever get tired of “pop culture” or do you see developments in it that keeps you enthralled?

I don’t understand how anyone can get tired of pop culture. It moves so fast and throws up so many new things; for example, who would have thought ten years ago that there would be millions, if not billions, of people taking photos on their phones. How could you not be excited (and a little bit scared) of that?

You have stated that you live in a very happy relationship, have been very lucky in your life and are a bit humbled by it all. How have your circumstances influenced your work?

That depends on the day you ask me. In lots of ways I don’t think my work has changed that much, I still feel like the same person with the same inquisitive nature, just a lot less arrogant. But I’d say I am calmer and a lot more sensitive about other people’s feelings. I hope I've developed, in my work, as a human being, etc., but obviously I can still be a twat. I’d love to go back and apologise to a lot of people that I offended or didn't treat that well but, at the same time, I wouldn’t change a thing, as I think that’s the wrong way to approach life.

Is there any advice that you would give a young and aspiring photographer?

Take lots of photos.

Do you consider the importance of the exhibition in Rostock on par with, say, one in L.A., London or Paris? And why, in your opinion, are you so popular in France?

Every show we work on is as important to me. In fact, this one in Germany is incredibly special to me because it's the first time I've been brave enough to bring this work together and let it stand for itself. Working with Ulrich, the curator at the museum, gave me the confidence to do so and I have to thank him for that. I have no idea why I am popular anywhere. I do work for myself and I just hope people will like it!

Which cameras have influenced your work and why?

Well, when I was using film, I used to use a mamiya rz 67, which I loved. It was so bulky and felt like a proper camera with really big negs. I used that most of my film career. When we moved to digital I started with a Canon, the 1 ds I think – though I'd have to check when that came out, but the equivalent to that! It was great as it was so user friendly and easy to shoot with. Though the files were tiny. Then I moved on to a Phase one which I still think is an incredible camera and I've been using that for about six years I think. I have flirted with other cameras and have tried most of them at one time or another. The Leica S series is one that I use a lot and really love. It’s a large format camera but shoots like a 35mm and the depth of field is really low. The auto focus on it is amazing as well. But I always say it's not the camera that takes the good photos, it's the photographer.

This article was originally published by Leica S Magazine.