Tim Walker

Tim Walker is a photographer best known for his fashion photographs. His work is also included a lot in the high fashion magazine Vogue. He has also started working on short films recently. The photograph I have chosen above I believe is inspired by Alice in Wonderland (from the man wearing hare ears), which relates well to one of my final outcome ideas of Fairytales. I think that this image is interesting as the main colour is pink - perhaps to create the girly, fairytale mood to the image. I also like the slight light orb on the right hand side of the image, also in pink, as I think that it creates a dreamier tone to the image, which is important for Fairytale themed photographs.

The setting of the photograph is interesting as although you can't see much of it, due to the photograph mainly focusing on the models, you can tell that it is set in a field with woodland surroundings, and the use of flowers adds to the idea of the Alice in Wonderland theme. I feel like this makes the image more realistic, but still keeps the mythical feel to it, which is an interesting take on fairytales.

The models take up the majority of the picture, as they are the main focus (as I mentioned before) but I think that the photograph would look better if it was taken slightly further away so that you could see more of the setting, as I think that that way the viewer of the image would have to think more about what the image is about.

The use of lighting is interesting, as it seems to be coming from the left hand side of the image, and from a high angle - perhaps this is suggesting that the source of this light is the sun? This could be to make it more realistic, rather than using studio lights face on. This is something to bear in mind when I take my own photographs.

The idea of the photograph has been modernised with the types of clothes that the stylist has chosen which is something to bear in mind for my own idea. I like how there is not too much going in the background - it has been kept simple so that you focus on the outfits. The models seem to look bored in the image, and it could be to make the viewers wonder why this is - perhaps it is suggesting a meaning behind the image?

I think that if I were to recreate something similar, I would use harsher light, and perhaps turn the photograph into black and white so that it appeared more gothic which is where I think my idea is leading. When making the photograph black and white, I would have to make sure that there was lots of intricate details on the clothing, as you wouldn't be seeing their colours, which is something that I will need to keep in mind. In the clothing in this image, there are lots of details such as ruffles in both outfits. The female model has blonde hair, which reminds me of Alice in Wonderland even more. I think that if I was taking digital prints, I could add light orbs as a new layer on photoshop, but have them in colour, which I think would give the image an interesting look. The makeup in this image is very simple and natural looking, which is something that is a repeated technique in fairytale photography. For my images, I think I might use dark makeup - these will show up in the black and white photography well and I could experiment with dodging and burning to create the right amount of darkness. This will also add to the gothic theme.

Overall, I really like this photograph as I like the use of the simple background, and how you the models are nearer the camera / the camera is more focused on them rather than what else is going on in the background, however the rest is not ignored. The colours are very soft which I think is important to think about. In my final outcome I might try experimenting with using different colours to create different effects, especially as I am thinking about creating gothic fairytales. As my film photographs will be in black and white, the colours that I choose will create a variety of tones in the photograph, rather than colours. I also need to think about how shadows will show up, so lighting is key.


Check out his website here.

Some more of Tim Walker's fashion photography here :