Blog 11

In a previous blog I slagged off Rankin for his recreations of iconic images that he did for “Seven Photographs That Changed Fashion”, I wondered if his inability to replicate the images exactly were down to his incompetence or the technology but now I’ve realised that there are many other factors that would disable him from making exact copies. Firstly, creating an exact copy of someone else’s photography would be considered a violation of copyright and it would be inappropriate for him to do that, regardless of his status in the fashion industry, and would he be able to anyway? His eye is different to his idol’s. As for the technology, he had access to any photography equipment that he could’ve possibly wanted to use but he chose not to use the same equipment and it does give the images a different feel, that coupled with the fact that all these other factors had changed; lighting, models, make up, clothing, they were all different and there wasn’t any choice in the matter. Now I’ve been away and thought about it I have massive respect for the guy for making those images and he made them with his own style incorporated, as I said before his eye is different, you could look at the photos and see his work, especially with the Guy Bourdin recreation that I looked at. I actually feel it’s important as a photographer to look at the work of others and try to replicate an image we’re curious about, why did the photographer make that photo? How did the photographer make that photo? What lighting did they use? They’re all questions that need answering and the best way to do that is practically and through research. My tutor has given us a mini project to recreate an iconic photograph of our own and I chose to do a Rankin one as I thought it would be only right! As a result of recreating this image I’ve found that it’s a lot harder than I first thought it would be. See the older post for the recreated photograph...