Up town, top Rankin: Celebrity photographer in Liverpool

By Barrie Mills on Aug 1, 09 03:59 PM

If you have Sky TV, you've probably seen ads for the new Sky Arts series which starts soon featuring the celebrity photographer Rankin (he only uses one name, like Madonna or Cher ... or Kojak).
The idea is that members of the grimy-faced proletariat can have their portraits taken by the master, just as if they were Madonna, or Cher .... or Kojak).

One of the shoots was in Liverpool, and the Post and Echo's absolutely-not-grimy-faced-in-any-way-whatsoever fashionista Emma Johnson was invited to go along for a sitting - well, it was more of a standing, actually, as you can see:

I'm fairly certain the heating was on, so there was no danger of Emma catching cold, if any of you were worried.
Our photographer James Maloney was intrigued to discover that Rankin has an assistant to adjust the aperture on his camera, as well as another one to shield his eyes from the glare of the flash. It is a worry for photographers, I have to admit.

The Rankin show is available to watch online at Sky's website from August 4 and on TV in September. See TV guides for details. Terms and conditions apply. Other satellite-based arts channels may be available. The value of a Rankin portrait may go down as well as up.