Tim Walker is a British photographer whose vision is so stunning that every picture feels like a yet-unmade Tim Burton movie. The most famous celebrities and models turn into magical creatures of Tim Walker‘s land where the laws of physics don‘t really apply. The photographer once said: “I like capturing stuff that is disappearing - that’s the point of photography. What I am photographing is an imaginary place that never existed, but is connected to something that has already been“. Well, when you look at Tim Walker‘s photos, you surely feel like all of his imaginary places are oh so very real.
Walker was born in England in 1970. His passion for photography, on the other hand, was born a bit later at the Condé Nast library in London. The library was his workplace while he worked on the Cecil Beaton archive for a year before he started university. Recognition didn‘t take too long. After a three-year BA Honors degree in Photography, the young photographer was awarded third prize as The Independent Young Photographer Of The Year.
“Even the pictures I was doing at college - a little narrative based on a butterfly catcher, or a chimney sweep - the images were always telling stories. They were all scenarios and moods which I storyboarded and worked through - it's exactly what I do now.“ – Tim Walker
He graduated in 1994 and worked as a freelance photographic assistant. After that, he moved to New York to work with Richard Avedon. Later on he moved back to the UK and did portrait and documentary work for British newspapers. His first shoot for Vogue happened when he was only 25 years old. Ever since that moment, his photos are constantly featured in Vogue magazines all over the world.
Tim Walker has a way of showing haute couture pieces in a fairytale-like way. He makes it look like the piece of clothing he has to show is an integral part of the photograph. When it comes to clothes, Walker has a very specific opinion. “I've never been in love with fashion, actually; trends and catwalks don't interest me. I love clothes; I love them historically and currently. They represent a spirit of the times and the zeitgeist.“
Tim Walker‘s pictures could be interpreted for hours. There‘s so much going on in every shot, so much background and meaning. There‘s a certain magical feeling his pictures carry. His style is very hard to confuse with anyone else‘s.
“I don't want to sound mystical but sometimes when you take a picture - when the sets are in place - then something takes over and leads you. It's this sense of extraordinary luck and chance. The shoot is blessed and charmed, and you make pictures that you couldn't in your wildest dreams have imagined. That is the magic of photography.“ – Tim Walker