Terrific photo, this one, I thought. I can say this because I’m not the photographer. When this lady told me her name (see above!) I gulped!

Rankin is, after all, one of Photospace’s heroes. He’s one of the most important photographers making portaits at the moment. Lots and lots of people have written about his work, and I’m not a great photography critic, so I’ll just tell you why I like his work so much.

Rankin for me can shoot an image that sums up a person completely and utterly. That is to say, he sums up what I believe to be true about public figures – captures their glamour, their charm and a bit of their mystique and persona. This would be impressive enough -but I think what sets Rankin apart is that he is at his best when he finds something new to say about his subjects through his photography – exposing vulnerability or awkwardness or another side to a person which he may have noticed (but we may not have done) .

Have a look through his portrait portfolio. Have a look at the Gilbert and George Portrait and the Bowie portrait – I hope you’ll see what I mean.

Anyway, back to this portrait. The reason I like it so much is because actually it does what Rankin’s portraits do. I don’t know this lady at all – but the image seems to capture what I believe to be true about her -that she’s stylish, charming and friendly – and that’s all we could ever want from a subject!

Tags: artsfest, birmingham's people, tweet