heeky, in the obscure parlance of the Brits, signifies something brash, impertinent and in your face. This proves to be an apt description of the mono-named photographer who made his reputation in the United Kingdom with his brash, impertinent and in-your-face manner. Rankin—as this photographer is known— was born John Rankin Waddell near Glasgow in 1966. He first made a name for himself in 1991 when he and Jefferson Hack launched Dazed a Confused magazine in London. Dazed ii Confused became die perfect antidote to the legacy of Margaret Thatcher, a life-affirming voice in a time of grimness and debilitation.
Rankin, like Cecil Beaton and Helmut Newton before him, went on to greater glory as a fashion photographer and portraitist. His photographic subjects have included Heidi Klum, Naomi Campbell and Queen Elizabeth II (posing magnificendy in front of a Union Jack). "To take a great portrait," says Rankin, "you have to let yourself fall slightly in love with the person you are photographing. You have to be flirtatious and want to know more about them. You need to bring out that desire within you and within them."
While his work is often intentionally derivative, Rankin has established a style of his own. One of his greatest skills is in taking sexy photos of beautiful women, as is evidenced on these pages. The images seen here may also be enjoyed in Rankin's Cheeky, a forthcoming book of erotic photography (with a foreword by one of his more notable fans, Hugh M. Hefner). The photographer's cheekiness continues to serve him well. "I don't want my work to aspire to anything," says Rankin. "I'm not an art photographer. I'm not a media photographer. My interest lies in the people I take photographs of."
