The Photographer: Rankin
To visualise the success of these entrepreneurs and capture the essence of their business, all 20 winners of the 2008 campaign have been photographed by famous portrait and fashion photographer Rankin.
From his iconic shot of Kylie, which graced a million bedroom walls, to his portrait of the Queen smiling enigmatically in front of a Union Jack, Rankin's intimate portraiture style and his mischievous eye have gained him a reputation as one of the world's leading photographers, working with a who's who of culture and celebrity.
However, looking at the entirety of Rankin's work over the last decade, it is clear it isn't celebrity alone that exclusively holds allure for him; some of his most outstanding images feature ordinary people who answered an advert asking how they would like to be photographed. His images consistently seduce the viewer - he is a master at drawing out individual personality and quirky detail, yet his photos never fail to comment on and consider broader ideas.
Please click next
Rankin has never shied away from addressing difficult subject matters, portraying issues such as domestic violence and body image in his personal work, and through his charity and commercial projects.
Rankin chose to work on the BT Business Essence of the Entrepreneur campaign because of his admiration for and affinity with the entrepreneurial spirit of the subjects. To be a successful entrepreneur requires relentless passion, belief and determination. It was this same drive that got Rankin to where he is today and it was for this reason that he was particularly excited to shoot this new generation of driven and creative-minded individuals. It was a challenge that he was keen to rise to; to capture the essence and spirit of their businesses through photographic portraiture
Commenting on the thinking behind the photographs Rankin says;
"What you're doing is you're capturing a facet of that person's personality and what they're doing within their business. You are just trying to get a sense of it, a taste of it and really also get a photograph of them that you want to look at even though you don't know who they are."
