Robert Rankin (photographer)

Robert Rankin
Born
Robert Osmond Rankin

1 April 1951
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Websitehttps://www.rankin.com.au/

Robert Rankin (born 1 April 1951) is an Australian wilderness photographer, writer, scientist, music composer, film maker, computer programmer and publisher. Since 1980, he has published his Australian wilderness landscape photography in a variety of products and media.[1] He has assisted the conservation of the natural landscape through the use of the photographic image[2]and furthered the interest in bushwalking[3] in Australia through the publishing of guidebooks to the wildest and most remote regions of Australia. In addition to his mostly pictorial titles, the subjects of his instructional titles include physics, bushwalking skills and wilderness photography.

Publishing career

Joining the University of Queensland Bushwalking Club (UQBWC), now the University of Queensland Mountain Club (UQMC), in 1970 was instrumental to Robert Rankin developing a knowledge of the mountainous regions of South East Queensland and in particular the Scenic Rim.[4] He edited the club's magazine (Heybob[5]) for 1976 as well as the Brisbane Rock Climbers magazine (RURP) whilst completing a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in physics and a Master of Science (MSc) in environmental physics, concentrating on computer modelling[6][7] of river pollutants[8] and presenting a paper, in 1979, on the subject to the Australian Institute of Physics.[9] While he undertook this work, he was employed from 1972 to 1976 as a tutor in the Physics Department at the University of Queensland. He also conducted photographic trips for the clubs and organized instructional navigation courses. In the early 1990s, he lectured on wilderness photography at the annual climbing festival, Escalade, held in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.[10] In 1998, he was a committee member overseeing the production of the Brisbane Bushwalkers (BBW) First 50 Years[11] book. He has participated in and organized many orienteering events and has been a member of the Federated Mountain Rescue (FMR) participating in searches and cliff rescues. In1973, he wrote two articles, Safari to the Unknown[12] and The Last Wilderness[1] for Walkabout Magazine.

In 1975, he climbed The Minarets (3040m) and Dixon Peak (3004m) in the New Zealand Alps.[13] In 1975 he also received a federal government grant through the Australia Council and the Australian Film Institute to film a documentary about Hinchinbrook Island in north Queensland. With a group of six, he climbed and filmed the ascent, over three days, of the South East Ridge of the Thumb. The film, Climb to the Clouds (1975), was subsequently sold to a Queensland television company.[14] After the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) passed on Rankin's proposal to film an ascent of the East Face of Crookneck in the Glasshouse Mountains north of Brisbane, because of the difficult challenges involved in filming on a vertical cliff, Rankin made the decision to finance and produce the film himself. The subsequent film, To Walk the Vertical (1976) was sold back to the ABC.[1]

In 1977, the Wales (now Westpac) Bank commissioned Rankin to produce a film Walk with Safety depicting safe bushwalking and camping practices.[15] A short film, shot in August 1977, was titled Ice is Nice. It presented a glimpse of life in mid-winter[16] in the extreme environment of Mount Kosciuszko, high in the Snowy Mountains. The film's historic footage from 1977 was later incorporated into a more recent production.[17]

In Queensland in the 1970s, Rankin was one of several film producers in this era of outdoor adventure-oriented 16mm film making. The Mystique of Hinchinbrook again looked at Hinchinbrook Island in more recent times (2007). Jewels of the South West described a 6-day solo trip[18] by Rankin into south-west Tasmania to film the glacial lakes of the Western Arthur Range and lament the flooding of the largest lake in the region, Lake Pedder, for power generation. Other films included Secrets of the Scenic Rim (alternative name Four Seasons on the Rim), Federation Peak, South East Queensland, Climbing Barney, TASMANIA - An Alluring Landscape and others.

Through the 1980s, Rankin received awards for his wilderness landscape photography in competitions at the Gold Coast, the Courier Mail newspaper and the ABC. For several years during the 2000s, Qantas Airways presented Rankin's Wilderness of Australia short films daily on all of its international flights. They stated that his collection of landscapes was the most comprehensive they had seen.[19]

After four years (1977 - 1981) as producer/director of television education programs with the ABC[20] and with publishing ideas of his own, Rankin left the ABC in 1981 to take up the offer of a scholarship to undertake a Doctor of Philosophy degree with Griffith University, Brisbane, to investigate ways of improving the design of visual graphics in science communication.[21] The PhD was awarded in 1986.

In 1980, Rankin released a locally printed calendar entitled Queensland's Scenic Rim Wilderness Calendar 1981.[22] Rankin then turned his attention to the book publishing industry. From the start of this venture, Rankin took on the roles of author, photographer, book designer and publisher, delegating the wholesaling and distribution work to his staff. Inspired by the black and white photographs of the early 20th century American wilderness photographer, Ansell Adams, Rankin would insist that his own full colour images, wherever possible, would have that ethereal and majestic quality characteristic of Adams' work.[23]

Rankin's first two major books published were the paperback Australian Wilderness Skills (1983) and the casebound On the Edge of Wilderness (1983), both printed in Brisbane[24] and both commercially successful. On the Edge of Wilderness showcased the wilderness regions surrounding the city of Brisbane in south-east Queensland. At the time, its publication was very welcome, there being a lack of information on the wild regions around the capital of Queensland.[25]

The larger casebound Classic Wild Walks of Australia (1989), also printed in Brisbane, performed even better, becoming an Australian classic[26][27] and selling 20,000 copies over four editions.[28] Later Rankin re-worked the content of this book into a software version available on CD-ROM. The software received many reviews with the Sydney Morning Herald labelling it the best of its kind in Australia[29] and a truly impressive resource. They called Wild Walks the most beautiful and moving software title they had ever seen, not just good by Australian standards but by any standard.[29] Also in 1989, William Heinemann Australia chose two of Rankin's images for the front and back covers of their latest book on the Snowy Mountains.[30] His next book, Wilderness Light (1993), was written to explain how Rankin went about producing a quality image, with an emphasis on the artistic aspects rather than the technical and explaining why lighting and composition are of such importance.[31] Rankin knew there were spectacular Australian landscapes that were relatively unknown to the general public, places such as Hinchinbrook Island,[32] Federation Peak, the Western Arthur Range, the Scenic Rim[33] and many more. Displaying images of these wild places to the general public through stationery products such as calendars, diaries and cards would help ensure that the broader population would already be informed of what might be lost should the regions be subsequently threatened by development or by nature through, for example, climate change.[34]

In the early 1970s, Lake Pedder in Tasmania was flooded for hydro-electric power generation[35] with very few medium or large format images of the original pristine lake ever having been taken. It was realized then that it was essential to photographically document such places. Photography became a valuable tool for presenting wilderness to the general public.[36] Former politicians, Bob Brown and Christine Milne,[37] share that view.

Rankin had flown over and photographed Lake Pedder in early 1972, landing on the beach just months before the enlarged lake began to fill. He was there again in January 1973 and the original lake was fast disappearing under the flood waters of the Serpentine Dam. He has one good aerial photograph[38] amongst a small collection of the lake taken on the 1972 trip.[39]

So began the growing range of Australia's Wilderness products, all based on Rankin's photographs, videos, music and prose.[40] Rankin Publishers was founded by Rankin in 1980 and from that year to 2014, he wrote, produced and published a large range of Australian Wilderness pictorial calendars, with a total of more than 150 different titles over the 34 years and selling up to 100,000 calendars, diaries and boxed cards over the Christmas period each year alone.[41] There were also books (13 titles), prints (12 titles), music CDs (4 titles), short films (13 titles), DVDs (10 titles) and software (3 titles). In 1990, he signed with Music Sense to sell his music CDs throughout Australia. All products were dedicated to showcasing the best wilderness landscapes Australia had to offer.

For 45 years, Rankin has owned and managed Rankin Publishers since its formation in 1980. Rankin Publishers began in the garage of his home at Toowong in inner Brisbane before moving eventually to a much larger warehouse in the industrial suburb of Sumner Park.[42]

In 2002, Rankin produced the coffee-tabled-sized casebound book Beyond the Horizon (2002) describing some of his adventures in the most rugged of Australia's mountains where he set fast times for traversing the high ranges. In 2009, Rankin travelled to the Himalayas and Everest Base Camp (5364m), reaching the summit of Kala Patthar (5644m). He climbed the Gran Paradiso (4061m) in Italy in 2011 and Mont Blanc (4809m) in France in 2012 at the age of 61.[43] He has also hiked in Yosemite National Park in the USA and the Dolomites in Italy.[44]

Beginning in 2012, Rankin produced a series of three casebound books entitled Australia which comprised a collection of what he considered to be some of his best photographs. He also wrote and published two science book titles, Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Reality, utilizing ideas from his previous studies in science communication, before embarking on a project, commencing in 2016, to produce a series of guidebooks to the best hiking areas in Australia. As of 2025, three titles have been written and published in this hiking series (Secrets of the Scenic Rim, Tasmania - Wilderness Walks and High Peaks of the Australian Alps) with a fourth in production.

He continues to photograph, write and publish information relating to Australia's wildest regions.

Photography

Rankin made using quality images the pre-eminent requirement for his publications. He has walked for over a week at a time, mostly solo, to reach the remotest regions of the continent where he photographed scenes of Australia that few had seen, in the hope that, displaying these pictures would get more people involved in improving the environmental protection of the region.[8] He carried a backpack weighing up to 25 kg, made up of food and water, tent, sleeping bag, camera equipment and sturdy tripod.[45]

The majority of Rankin's still images are on film, using a Komamura[46] Horseman VH-R medium format camera and positive 120 size roll film (either Fuji Velvia or Kodak Ektachrome) with a frame size of 6x9cm and a film speed of ISO 50. The slow film speed meant a fine grain image was achieved but the resulting long exposure time almost always required a tripod to steady the camera. When scanned using a high quality film scanner, the resulting digital file compares in quality with the best digital equivalent.[47]

Rankin's early films (1975 to 1991) were shot using a Bolex H-16 Movie Camera with spring-wind drive and 100 ft film load. Sound was post-synced. Film stock used was Kodak Ektachrome 7252 and later, for the Super 16 shots, a Kodak fine grained negative stock was selected, the Bolex camera having been converted to widescreen format. Later films (2006 to 2019) were recorded digitally using a range of cameras with formats from DV, DVCAM, HDV, Full HD and 4K. The Standard 16mm and Super 16 format stocks were later scanned using a high-end film scanner and saved as a digital file. All films were then re-edited where necessary using Adobe Premiere and exported as a MP4 video file. Where necessary, the aspect ratio was cropped from 4:3 to 16:9.

Personal life

Rankin lives in Brisbane, Australia with his partner Carmel Keating and their son.[48]

Published articles

  • Rankin, Robert (1973) Safari to the Unknown, Walkabout, February 1973, Sungravure Pty Ltd
  • Rankin, Robert (1973) The Last Wilderness, Walkabout, August 1973, Sungravure Pty Ltd
  • Rankin, Robert O (1976) Salinity and Dissolved Oxygen Investigations and Simulation in the Brisben River, Master of Science Thesis, Physics Department, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 1976
  • Rankin, Robert (1978) Amid the Challenging Snow, Sunday Mail, 29 October 1978
  • Rankin, R O and Milford, S N (1979) Computer Simulation of Brisbane River Part 1 Salinity Australian Water and Waste Water Association, March 1979
  • Rankin, R O and Milford, S N (1979) Computer Simulation of Brisbane River Part 2 Dissolved Oxygen/Biological Oxygen Demand, Australian Water and Waste Water Association, June 1979
  • Rankin, R (1979) Salinity and Dissolved Oxygen Simulation in the Brisbane River, Australian Institute of Physics, 1st National Conference on Applied Physics, July 1979
  • Rankin, Robert O (1986) Communicating Scientific Concepts through the Use of Graphs and Diagrams, Doctor of Philosophy Thesis, Griffith University, Brisbane, 1986
  • Rankin, Robert O (1989) The Development of an Illustration Design Model, Educational Technology Research and Development, Volume 37 No 2 (1989)
  • Rankin, Robert (1990) A taxonomy of graph types, Information Design Journal, Vol 6/2 1990

Published books

  • Rankin, Robert (1983) Australian Wilderness Skills, Robert Rankin Publishing, Brisbane. A comprehensive guide to the skills required to venture safely into the wildest regions of Australia. (paperback) ISBN 978 0 9592418 0 8
  • Rankin, Robert (1983) On the Edge of Wilderness, Robert Rankin Publishing, Brisbane.  Describes, through pictures, maps and text the wild areas surrounding Brisbane, Queensland. (hardback) ISBN 978 0 9592418 1 5
  • Rankin, Robert (1989, 1990, 1995, 1999) Classic Wild Walks of Australia, Rankin Publishers, Brisbane.  A large and detailed bushwalker's guide incorporating pictures, maps and text describing 25 top wilderness regions of Australia. (hardback) ISBN 978 0 9592418 2 2
  • Rankin, Robert (1992, 2015, 2016) Secrets of the Scenic Rim, Rankin Publishers, Brisbane. A bushwalker's guide to the Scenic Rim near Brisbane. (paperback) ISBN 978 0 9874938 5 9
  • Rankin, Robert (1993) Wilderness Light, Rankin Publishers, Brisbane. Discusses photographic techniques useful to the wilderness photographer. (hardback) ISBN 978 0 9592418 4 6
  • Rankin, Robert (2002) Beyond the Horizon, Rankin Publishers, Brisbane. Discusses Robert Rankin's fast traverses across Australia's wilderness. (hardback) ISBN 978 0 9592418 6 0
  • Rankin, Robert (2011) Australia – Wild Places, Rankin Publishers, Brisbane. First in a series of 3, this book features some of Rankin's best pictures of Australia's wild places. (hardback) ISBN 978 0 9592418 8 4
  • Rankin, Robert (2011) Einstein's Relativity, Rankin Publishers, Brisbane. A high-powered scientific theory explained in a simple way. (paperback) ISBN 978 0 9592418 7 7
  • Rankin, Robert (2012) Australia – Mountains, Rankin Publishers, Brisbane. Second in a series of 3, this book features some of Rankin's best pictures of Australia's mountains. (hardback) ISBN 978 0 9592418 9 1
  • Rankin, Robert (2013) Australia – Forest to Sea, Rankin Publishers, Brisbane. Third in a series of 3, this book features some of Rankin's best pictures of Australia's forests and seas. (hardback) ISBN 978 0 9874938 0 4
  • Rankin, Robert (2018) Tasmania – Wilderness Walks, Rankin Publishers, Brisbane. A bushwalker's guide to Tasmania. (paperback) ISBN 978 0 987 4938 6 6
  • Rankin, Robert (2020) Quantum Reality, Rankin Publishers, Brisbane. A high-powered scientific theory explained in a simple way. (paperback) ISBN 978 0 9874938 7 3
  • Rankin, Robert (2023) High Peaks of the Australian Alps, Rankin Publishers, Brisbane. A bushwalker's guide to the high peaks of the Australian Alps. (paperback) ISBN 978 0 6455771 2 9

Films

  • Climb to the Clouds (1975)
  • To Walk the Vertical (1976)
  • Walk with Safety (1978)
  • Ice is Nice (1978)
  • Secrets of the Scenic Rim 1991 (1991)
  • Jewels of the South West (2006)
  • Climbing Barney (2006)
  • The Mystique of Hinchinbrook (2007)
  • The Walk to Everest (2010)
  • Federation Peak (2011)
  • In the European Alps (2012)
  • South East Queensland (2017)
  • Secrets of the Scenic Rim (2017)
  • Tasmania - An Alluring Landscape (2019)

ABC educational documentaries produced

  • Brisbane's River (1978)
  • Canungra (1980)
  • Ingham (1979)
  • Earth, Wind, Fire and Rain (1979)
  • The Rainforest (1978)
  • The Eucalypt Forest (1980)
  • Forces (1979)
  • Energy (1980)
  • Waves (1981)

DVDs

  • Wilderness Experience (7 Volumes) (2004 – 2012)
  • The Rim - Landscapes of the Scenic Rim (2006) ISBN 978-0-9874938-1-1
  • The Mystique of Hinchinbrook (2007) ISBN 978-0-9874938-3-5
  • South East Queensland – Wilderness Landscapes (2017) ISBN 978-0-9874938-4-2

Music CDs

  • Visions of Wilderness (1994)
  • Dreams of Wilderness (1994)
  • Images of Australia (1996)
  • Wild Land (2001)

Software

  • Classic Wild Walks of Australia (Software Version). A comprehensive guide on disk to the wildest regions of Australia. ISBN 978-0-9592418-5-3
  • Australian Wilderness Diary and Screen Saver
  • Australian Wild Scenes Screen Saver (Rainforest and Wilderness Collection)

Reviews and further reading

References

  1. ^ a b c McLean, Hector (1997). "Shedding Light on Robert Rankin" (PDF). Wild Magazine (Winter 97): 36–39.
  2. ^ Pollak, M and MacNabb, M (2000). Hearts and Minds - Creative Australians and the Environment. Hale and Iremonger Pty Ltd. pp. 156–187. ISBN 0868066923.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Deutch, Richard (June 1990). "Australia's Big Boom in Bushwalking". Reader's Digest: 90–95.
  4. ^ "Visit the Scenic Rim". Scenic Rim Council.
  5. ^ University of Queensland Mountain Club c/o University of Queensland Student Union University of Queensland St Lucia, Queensland
  6. ^ Rankin, R O and Milford, S N (March 1979). "Computer Simulation of Brisbane River Salinity". Australian Water and Waste Water Assoc. 6 (1): 9–12.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Rankin, R O and Milford, S N (June 1979). "Computer Simulation of Brisbane River Dissolved Oxygen". Australian Water and Waste Water Assoc. 6 (2): 14–16.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ a b McLean, Hector (Winter 1997). "Shedding Light on Robert Rankin". Wild: 36–37.
  9. ^ Australian Institute of Physics, 1st National Conference on Applied Physics, Capricornia Institute of Advanced Education, July 1979.
  10. ^ Escalade was a climbing festival held in the Mount Victoria region of the Blue Mountains in the 1990s.
  11. ^ Brisbane Bushwalkers (1998). Brisbane Bushwalkers First 50 Years 1948 - 1998. Brisbane Bushwalkers Inc. p. 46.
  12. ^ Rankin, Robert (February 1973). "Safari to the Unknown" (PDF). Walkabout. February 1973: 52–53.
  13. ^ Climbed the Minarets with John Webb.
  14. ^ McLean, Hector (1997). "Shedding Light on Robert Rankin". Wild. 65: 37.
  15. ^ Courier Mail, September 1978, $20,000 for Walk with Safety film.
  16. ^ Rankin, Robert (29 October 1978). "Amid the Challenging Snow". Sunday Mail.
  17. ^ Entitled The Snowies from the Wilderness Experience Vol 7 DVD.
  18. ^ McLean, Hector (23 October 1997). "Shedding Light on Robert Rankin". Wild (65): 38.
  19. ^ Qantas In-flight Entertainment
  20. ^ Pollak, M and MacNabb, M (2000). Hearts and Minds - Creative Australians and the environment. Alexandria, NSW: Hale and Iremonger. p. 187. ISBN 0-86806-692-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ Rankin, Robert (1989). "The Development of an Illustration Design Model". Educational Technology Research and Development. 37 (2): 25–46. doi:10.1007/BF02298288.
  22. ^ McDonald, Keith (24 August 1995). "Wilderness Calendars". West Australian.
  23. ^ Adams, Ansel (1985). Examples: The making of 40 photographs. New York: Little, Brown and Company. pp. vii–x. ISBN 0821215515.
  24. ^ Printed by James Ferguson Pty Ltd, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane
  25. ^ Ord, Bill (9 December 1984). "Green Scene". Sunday Mail.
  26. ^ Baxter, Chris Editor Wild Magazine, 1992
  27. ^ Corness, Mary (2 June 1989). "An expert puts the wilderness in focus". Courier Mail (2 June 1989).
  28. ^ The first two editions printed by Inprint Pty Ltd, Zillmere, Brisbane. The third and fourth editions printed by Everbest Printing Company, Hong Kong.
  29. ^ a b "Classic Wild Walks of Australia CD-ROM". Sydney Morning Herald.
  30. ^ McHugh, Siobhan (1989), The Snowy - The People Behind the Power, Melbourne: William Heinemann Australia
  31. ^ Rowell, Galen (1986). Mountain Light. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. pp. 25–37. ISBN 0871567245.
  32. ^ Pullan, Robert (1986). Guide to the Coast of Queensland. Reader's Digest. p. 164. ISBN 0864380119.
  33. ^ Groom, Tony (1979). The Scenic Rim. Rigby Ltd. pp. 6–53. ISBN 0727010816.
  34. ^ Camm, Mark (23 October 1997). "Just one flick and it's gone". Northern Herald: 18.
  35. ^ Brown, Bob (1986). Lake Pedder. The Wilderness Society. pp. 13–23. ISBN 0908412215.
  36. ^ Dombrovskis Liz, Brown Bob (2002). Landscape: Four Young Wild Photographers. West Hobart: LandscapeTas. pp. 3–5. ISBN 0975002805.
  37. ^ Pollak Michael, MacNabb Margaret (2000). Hearts and Minds. Hale and Iremonger Pty Ltd, Alexandria, 2015.
  38. ^ Rankin, Robert (2011). AUSTRALIA - Wild Places. Rankin Publishers. pp. Picture 33. ISBN 9780959241884.
  39. ^ Camm, Mark (23 October 1997). "Just one flick, and it's gone". Northern Herald: 18.
  40. ^ McLean, Hector (1997). "Shedding Light on Robert Rankin". Wild (65): 36–37.
  41. ^ McDonald, Keith (1995). "Wilderness Calendars". West Australian (27 Nov 1995).
  42. ^ "Map of Sumner, QLD 4074 | Whereis®". www.whereis.com. Retrieved 2025-02-21.
  43. ^ Scott, Jane (2012). "Snapshot - Rob Rankin". Brisbane News (November).
  44. ^ Rankin, Robert (1993). Wilderness Light. Rankin Publishers. pp. 14–16. ISBN 0959241841.
  45. ^ McLean, Hector (1997). "Shedding Light on Robert Rankin". Wild Magazine (65): 39.
  46. ^ "Horseman VH-R Press Camera". jolommencam.com. Retrieved 2025-02-21.
  47. ^ Master Class. "Digital vs Film". Master Class.
  48. ^ "Home". www.rankin.com.au. Retrieved 2025-02-21.
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