The first picture he tried to recreate was the "White Panama Hat" from the Vogue magazine, in 1934 by Cecil Beaton. He tried first to take this photo with the camera which was used by the original photographer and the he did the same with a digital camera. The old camera which was used by Cecil, shows the image upside down- that means that photographers took the pictures ina formal way. One of the important things Rankin noticed is that in the actual picture he took with the old camera, the model had an enigmatic look, which is not there in the picture taken by a contemporary digital camera.
The second photograph Rankin tried to recreate was the Vogue's cover from 1950 by Erwin Blumenfeld. In this pictures is noticeable the influence of surrealism. The original picture was taken in black and white. It was retouched at the printing stage. This is proof that Blumenfeld's work was real art. We can clearly see how easy is to create that kind of picture in nowadays with all those developed technologies. But the question I'm asking myself is "How did Blumenfeld manage to make it so perfect without all these technologies we have in our modern society?"
The third picture was "Dovima with elephants" made for Harpers Bazaar, by Richard Avedon in 1955. This picture fascinates me with its originality.
The fourth photograph was "Jean Shrimpton" from the Vogue magazine in 1963 made by Davin Bailey. Bailey was inspired by sex. This was a real inovation by those times, as such kind of pictures weren't xone before. This picture inspired Rankin intimity, so that's why he asked his girlfriend to be his model.
Personally, I think that the picture Rankin tried to recreate eas quiet different from the original and it also didn't impress me so much. Of course it was a nice picture with a lot of glamour and charm in it, but it didn't fascinate me as it looks quiet common for the modern society.
The fith picture is called "Rue Aubriot" from the Vogue magazine, in 1975 taken by Helmut Newton. This image has a timeless look which personally I think it is in what consists its originality. He suggested that the fashion photographs can be more than a simple beautiful snapshot. Vibeke Knudsen who was the real model of Newton's photography, tells how professional he was. He always had a little distance between hin and the people he worked with. "He was the master..."- This is what I also call "Professionalism". Being professional means, from my point of view, to be able to make difference between work and private life. It is like living in two different worlds at the same time. It is exactly what Newton did.
The sixth photograph was an Untitled picture from Vogue magazine in 1970 made by Guy Bourdin. At first sight it seems a very simple image, but it has to be unmistakeble to reach that kind perfection. He was able to create energy. He was completely controlling everything. He defenetly knew what he wanted. So, from my point of view it is another characteristic to follow: Ambition!...another characteristic a preofessional person MUST HAVE. One of the interesting things about Bourdin is that he hated being photographed because he thought it would steal his soul. This thing reminds me of one of my friend who also has the passion for the photiography.She adore taking pictures, but she never let herself to be photographed. This part of the film particularly captured my attentio for this reason.
The last photograph that Rankin tried to recreate was " Fred with Tyres" from Per Lui magazine, in 1984, made by Hebert Ritts. That time , men started to be the objects for desire. Herb was inspired from simple images about workers and denim. Rankin uses different cameras to recreate that picture. The pictures Rankin created are not exactly what Herb Ritts did, but it was quiet similar.
All these photographs show like a step by step inovation of photography's past.
I liked a lot this film as it shows beayty, originality, history, passion and professionality, and all these things must be a part of every real artist.
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