The beautiful people…

Even the most ordinary of us can look attractive or at least interesting, with a real professional behind the camera lens. Paper specialist GF Smith let loose Rankin, renowned celebrity photographer and founder of Dazed & Confused magazine, on 150 members of the design industry, and proved the point.

At an event this March, sponsored by GF Smith, Rankin gave a presentation, then spent between 8.30pm and 11pm snapping an endless stream of wannabes. Addison,

Bamber Forsyth, Design Bridge, Dewe Rogerson, Fishburn Hedges, HGV, Imagination, Interbrand Newell and Sorrell, Landor Associates,

Merchant, Pentagram, Trickett & Webb, Wickens Tutt Southgate and Pauffley were all caught on film.

As the evening progressed, poses developed from the coy to the confident, moving into the realms of the positively lewd.

‘I might have spent 30 seconds or a minute and a half [on one person] and it’s a challenge to get good shots,’ says Rankin.

Nineteen favoured images were then incorporated into a catalogue for GF Smith, which also features out-takes of some of Rankin’s better known models – David Bowie, Bono, Kylie Minogue, Patsy Kensit et al.

The catalogue, designed by SEA, acts as a photographic diary of that memorable evening. The design is kept simple, allowing the images to speak for themselves. Print is avoided on the cover, with the title embossed instead. ‘I think the design is really beautiful,’ Rankin says.

Everyone present that evening will receive a copy of the book within the next few days.

Designer: SEA

Photographer: Rankin

Client: GF Smith/Dazed & Confused