Anyone see the program by Rankin yesterday?

[malc350]

Fasion photographer Rankin attempted to recreate "7 fashion shots that changed the world" or something like that where he re-shot his interpretation of classic photographs.

Interesting seeing him use different techniques and sometimes film (!) cameras like the Mamiya RB67 and a 10X8 camera and you had some insight into lighting - could have done with more "seeing how it was done" but I guess the program was aimed at "joe public" rather than "joe photographer".

One thing it told me was that it's hard to be as creative as the old masters...

Worth seeing though, and as it was on a channel like BBC three or something it will probably be repeated a thousand times every night...

[Scott328i]

Yes I did (Last 25 minutes or so)

His shots were pretty poor in comparison to the original (IMO)

For instance the once shot at 4am in Paris. The original was amazing and the copy looked pretty poor in comparison.

He didn't seem that amazing a tog, probably because I didn't see any of his own work.

I did mention to my better half though if you have an interesting subject that is half the battle.

I think and would be safe in saying that anyone who was standing next to him in paris with their camera could probably take the same photo as he did.

It does go to show though that using film was very hit and miss. I think I heard his say that out of 700 shots he would maybe come back with 1 or 2 good ones!

The shot of his bird was pretty cool.

[malc350]

That's really funny Scott I agree with you almost 100 per cent, it's uncanny!!! Shot of his girlfriend was the best too!

One of the things that amazed me was how much money that show must have cost! And a strange thing, there was a shot where a girl was kind of crouching down against a bright coloured background (sort of a pop art look) and, whereas in every other shot he chose a model that bore some kind of resemblance to the original, in this one he chose a right mouthy bh who was more up herself than maybe everyone else on the programme put togther but more to the point she had nothing like the original look, not even a similarity...

When you saw Ramkin speak his conclusion "OK enough of duplicating other works, time to do something original" he actually cast a doubt on the point of the programme IMHO.

It was good as something to watch that was 100% photography though!

P.S. check out his website: www.rankin.co.uk I looked at the portraits section for ideas and inspiration and thought I must be missing something...

Edited by malc350 on Thursday 15th January 13:01

[curtisl]

like you said, if the point of the program was to recreate the originals he done a bad job. it was good to see david bailey on there and realise how epic that man is in photography, he is the only photographer that i could say is a household name.

[malc350]

curtisl said:

like you said, if the point of the program was to recreate the originals he done a bad job. it was good to see david bailey on there and realise how epic that man is in photography, he is the only photographer that i could say is a household name.

Yes it was good to still see DB around, he was one of my original inspirations!

[CVP]

curtisl said:

like you said, if the point of the program was to recreate the originals he done a bad job. it was good to see david bailey on there and realise how epic that man is in photography, he is the only photographer that i could say is a household name.

Is it just me that remembers the Olympus TV adverts from back in the day with George Cole photographing a wedding (or something similar) laden with kit and up pops DB as a guest with a little Olympus compact and grabs a shot in front of George, cue the line "Who do you think you are...David Bailey?"

Chris

[malc350]

CVP said:

curtisl said:

like you said, if the point of the program was to recreate the originals he done a bad job. it was good to see david bailey on there and realise how epic that man is in photography, he is the only photographer that i could say is a household name.

Is it just me that remembers the Olympus TV adverts from back in the day with George Cole photographing a wedding (or something similar) laden with kit and up pops DB as a guest with a little Olympus compact and grabs a shot in front of George, cue the line "Who do you think you are...David Bailey?"

Chris

No I remember them (just) and they were advertising the Olympus Trip! Later on I went to use Olympus OM 35mm camneras for years, even working professional work with them (can you believe shooting weddings with an OM2n, 50mm F1.8, 24mm F2.8 and a 100mm F2.8 and a T32 flash only, manual focus?!) In those days Olympus were a force to be reckoned with, as they were advertised actively by DB, Patrick Lichfield, Terence Donovan...Later on, with the advent of AF Olympus became a struggling desperate company launching odd cameras and just generally divorcing themselves from their following and the rest of the world. They are back on track with lenses (almost) but they need to see what other manufacturers are doing, body-wise to get back on track with the real world IMHO.

Funny I didn't remember George Cole from the ads though!

[Simpo Two]

CVP said:

Is it just me that remembers the Olympus TV adverts from back in the day with George Cole photographing a wedding (or something similar) laden with kit and up pops DB as a guest with a little Olympus compact and grabs a shot in front of George, cue the line "Who do you think you are...David Bailey?"

I recall seeing David Bailey taking part in a programme with some rather dim but chatty female presenter. DB was lining up a shot of a building and moving backwards. Dim female says excitedly 'Ah, I see you're moving backwards David - why is that?' DB replies 'Because I can't get it all in'.

[TTwiggy]

I can't stand Rankin... was less than 'proffessional' towards some of my colleagues when we were all at Uni...

[Bee_Jay]

malc350 said:

CVP said:

curtisl said:

like you said, if the point of the program was to recreate the originals he done a bad job. it was good to see david bailey on there and realise how epic that man is in photography, he is the only photographer that i could say is a household name.

Is it just me that remembers the Olympus TV adverts from back in the day with George Cole photographing a wedding (or something similar) laden with kit and up pops DB as a guest with a little Olympus compact and grabs a shot in front of George, cue the line "Who do you think you are...David Bailey?"

Chris

No I remember them (just) and they were advertising the Olympus Trip! Later on I went to use Olympus OM 35mm camneras for years, even working professional work with them (can you believe shooting weddings with an OM2n, 50mm F1.8, 24mm F2.8 and a 100mm F2.8 and a T32 flash only, manual focus?!) In those days Olympus were a force to be reckoned with, as they were advertised actively by DB, Patrick Lichfield, Terence Donovan...Later on, with the advent of AF Olympus became a struggling desperate company launching odd cameras and just generally divorcing themselves from their following and the rest of the world. They are back on track with lenses (almost) but they need to see what other manufacturers are doing, body-wise to get back on track with the real world IMHO.

Funny I didn't remember George Cole from the ads though!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=i_Yo3FRPeQw

[nick_bbb]

I missed it but have found that it is on again on Saturday...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00gq75c

[pastrana72]

great programme. I loved it.

[GolfGT]

nick_bbb said:

I missed it but have found that it is on again on Saturday...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00gq75c

Thanks was talking about this tonight at my course

[CVP]

malc350 said:

CVP said:

curtisl said:

like you said, if the point of the program was to recreate the originals he done a bad job. it was good to see david bailey on there and realise how epic that man is in photography, he is the only photographer that i could say is a household name.

Is it just me that remembers the Olympus TV adverts from back in the day with George Cole photographing a wedding (or something similar) laden with kit and up pops DB as a guest with a little Olympus compact and grabs a shot in front of George, cue the line "Who do you think you are...David Bailey?"

Chris

No I remember them (just) and they were advertising the Olympus Trip! Later on I went to use Olympus OM 35mm camneras for years, even working professional work with them (can you believe shooting weddings with an OM2n, 50mm F1.8, 24mm F2.8 and a 100mm F2.8 and a T32 flash only, manual focus?!) In those days Olympus were a force to be reckoned with, as they were advertised actively by DB, Patrick Lichfield, Terence Donovan...Later on, with the advent of AF Olympus became a struggling desperate company launching odd cameras and just generally divorcing themselves from their following and the rest of the world. They are back on track with lenses (almost) but they need to see what other manufacturers are doing, body-wise to get back on track with the real world IMHO.

Funny I didn't remember George Cole from the ads though!

Yep, my folks still have their OM-1 and OM-2 plus quite a few lenses. I haven't seen them in a while but hope they are still in good condition. I used the OM-1 to learn on and I really liked that camera, learning to balance exposure with the little needle in the viewfinder. A great no-nonsense machine. They really have lost their way since then but do seem to be making somethign of a cniche comeback, esp with the underwater photographers.

Chris

[Andy M]

BBC4 in a couple of minutes

[stigmundfreud]

Excellent program and worth every minute of watching. I think it was a valid point about copying work, these 7 photographers were responsible (or given the credit for) new styles that people will mimic, intentionally or otherwise.

[Don]

I thoroughly enjoyed the programme.

David Bailey is such a character.

[nick_bbb]

I watched this last night, very interesting. There is a real diminishing return with media work, I'm sure he could have got the same result with just him and one assistant but seemed to need an entourage of about 20 people everywhere he went. I noticed that the important thing for him was to be the one to press the shutter even if he wasn't always looking through the viewfinder. Some photogrpahers don't even do that now but assume a role of a director.

There was still some of the snobbery attitude that digital was cheating shown in the programme even though it was discussed how much the film shots were manipulated in post production and the admission that some of the film guys shot hundreds of frames to get one shot.