Rankin on the BBC

I was watching a program on BBC4 the other night where Rankin (the photographer) was trying to recreate some very famous and Iconic images by other photographers. You might ask "Why" well I suppose it is good publicity for Rankin for a start and it fills a nice slot on TV. But I feel that basically we are always told take your inspiration from other photographers and don't just try to imitate what they have already done. I know he set out to copy their images and he does have his own style. But what I found fascinating was the Bailey section, Bailey had done a shot of his then girlfriend, back view turned looking right, one hand on hip the other on her head, a very strong simple image. Now Rankin came in with about 3 or 4 assistants etc, and all the modern digital gear, his camera wired up to the laptop (which is great) but when Bailey handed him a Twin Lens 6/6 Rolleiflex which actually uses "Film" (remember that) he was totally lost at first. Focusing by hand was I think a fairly new experience and the best bit for me was when he actually took a photograph on the Rollei he never remembered to wind on the film, one of his assistants was standing there to turn the wind on handle for him. (this advances the film in the camera and cocks the shutter ready for the next frame)
Now my thought is that if Rankin wanted to recreate the photographs then why not use the original equipment or similar to try and get the image, that would have been much more entertaining.
The program was interesting but hardly informative.
I think Rankin seems an alright sort of guy.

Just my thoughts.

COE (see I just use one name too!)