Tim Walker

Dugo sam razmisljala kako zapoceti pricu o Tim Walker-u... Kada su vizuelne umjetnosti u pitanju misljenja sam da rijeci nisu dovoljne za opisivanje onoga sto umjetnik stvara. Reci da je Tim vizionar naseg vremena i da ono sto on radi sa modnom fotografijom je korak ispred ostalih i dalje je nedovoljno da opise magicni svijet koji zivi na njegovim fotografijama. Prije nego rijeci ustupe mjesto fotografijama koje ce pricu ispricati same, zelim vam otkriti neke detalje o njegovoj karijeri.

Njegov prvi posao bio je razvrstavanje Cecil Beaton-ovog (jos jednog sjajnog modnog fotografa,jedne od ikona Vogue-a) arhiva u Conde Nast biblioteci u Londonu. Nakon trogodisnjeg skolovanja na Exter College Of Arts dobija trecu nagradu kao nezavisni mladi fotograf godine. Napusta London i odlazi u Njujork gdje dobija posao asistenta u studio legendarnog Richard Avedon-a. Kako sam kaze bio je njegov cetvrti asistent i nije bio dobar u tome, ostala tri asistenta su bila mnogo brza, spretnija, tehnicki potkovanija nego on. Rekao je da se nije trudio dovoljno i zato je dobio otkaz. Njegov posao u studiju nije bio nimalo glamurozan. Imao je neka basic zaduzenja ali je zato bio u prvom redu posmatrajuci Richarda kako fotografise. U jednom intervjuu ispricao je pricu o tome kako je Avedon komunicirao sa modelima. ''Kada su Kristen i Nadja usle u outfitima, Avedon im je odmah podijelio uloge i rekao: zamislite da ste vrane i stojite na grani, na zemlji se nalazi crv, vas dvije se borite za tog crva.'' Jednostavan skoro kao djeciji scenarijo koji je vrlo neposredan ali efektan.

Kristen McMenamy & Nadja Auermann, Versace kampanja 1995, Photo Richard Avedon

Iako su stilski rad Avedona i Walkera potpuno razliciti zajednicka im je fantazija u stvaranju. Walker je usvojio nacin komuniciranja sa modelima, i sam kaze da nikada ne govori modelima poziraj ovako ili onako, a sve to duguje Richardu.

Nakon povratka u Englesku fokusirao sa na stvaranje portreta za Britanske stampane medije. U julu 2005.godine, sa 25 godina fotografisao je svoj prvi fashion story za Vogue. 2008. godine imao je svoju prvu izlozbu u Muzeju Dizajna u Londonu, a iste godine Internacionalni Centar Fotografije u Njujorku nagradio ga je Infinity nagradom. 2012. primio je pocasno clanstvo u The Royal Photographic Society. Tim je objavio 8 knjiga, a The Victoria & Albert muzej (gdje je do marta ove godine bila izlozba njegovih fotografija pod nazivom The wonderful things) i National Portrait Gallery u Londonu uvrstile su njegove fotografije u svoje stalne postavke. Pored fotografije, Tim se oprobao i u snimanju kratkih filmova, pa je tako njegov kratki film The lost explorer nagradjen na nekim festivalima (osvojio je nagradu za The best short film na Chicago United Film Festivalu) dok se njegov drugi projekat The Muse moze pogledati na Youtube-u. Izjavio je da zeli da se u buducnosti vise bavi i filmskim projektima.

Medjutim pored sveg uspjeha cini se kao da je okretna tacka u njegovoj karijeri bila 2009.godina kada je za Vogue fotografisao legendarnog Alexander McQueen-a. Prethodno osmisljen scenarijo sastojao se od masne napravljene od kostiju i kosturske glave koju je McQueen trebao da nosi na svojoj glavi. Alexander je to kategoricki odbio. Rekao je da mu se lobanja dopada, stavio joj je cigaretu u usta, zapalio sebi drugu i bio je spreman za fotografisanje. Tako je nastao sigurno najpopularniji McQueen-ov portret. Posebno uzimajuci u obzir da je samo dvije nedelje nakon toga preminuo. Tim je rekao kako je toga dana naucio veliku lekciju, McQueen-ov postupak i preuzimanje kontrole naucilo ga je vaznosti toga da subjekat preuzme vodjstvo.

Alexander Mcqueen,Vivienne Westwood,Helena Bonham Carter,Grace Coddington,John Cleese,

Margaret Atwood,Anna Piaggi,Amy Adams,Willem Dafoe,Solange,Nicole Kidman,Gilbert & George,Anna Wintour mannequin torso Keira Knightley,Georgia May Jagger & Jerry Hal,

Thom Browne,Karlie Kloss,Timothée Chalamet,Jason Wu,Charlotte Olympia,Cillian Murphy,

Harry Styles,Bill Hader,Amanda Harlech,David Attenborough,Tilda Swinton,

Anthony Joshua Peter Blake,Margot Robbie

Tim je jedan od rijetkih fotografa danasnjice koji izbjegava online promociju. Njegov rad zivi na papiru. Posjeduje zvanicni website ali nijednu drustvenu mrezu, makar ne zvanicnu. Smatra kako fotografije ne trebaju da se konzumiraju vec da se osjete i dozive a ne da se posmatraju sve u istom formatu na malom ekranu. Kaze: ’’Instagram je zastrajuc. Budite pazljivi.1984. ’’. Iako pripadam generaciji koja je pokupila nesto od oba svijeta, odrasla sam citajuci razlicite casopise, cuvajuci fotografije iz istih, ali i download-ovanjem slika, citanjem blogova itd. mislim da ne mozemo potcijeniti ono sto internet pruza za svijet fotografije. Iako se slazem sa njegovom idejom da fotografije trebamo osjetiti i na papiru, vidjeti ih u velikim dimenzijama u galerijama i na izlozbama, ipak ti mali kvadrati, u kojima svi pokusavama uklopiti svoje fotografije, daju nam prostor da svi kreiramo svoje mini izlozbe u digitalnom svijetu. Timove fotografije se najcesce mogu vidjeti u Vogue, W, Love, I-d, Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar itd.istini na volju, Instagram mu bas i nije neophodan :) ...

Za izvore inspiracije kaze da se ne razlikuju od bilo cijih drugo. Gleda televiziju, cita knjige, gleda Nacionalnu geografiju,cita novine, posmatra dokumentarnu, modnu fotografiju, gleda filmove itd. Kako sam kaze : “Anything that any one of us has seen – high, low, mid – and then I mix it all up.” Timovi modeli su uglavnom netipicne ljepote, svih rasa ,nacionalnosti i pola. Motiv koji se cesto ponavlja jesu merdevine i stepenice, objekat koji se na prvi pogled ne cini kao vazan dio modne fotografije, u Timovom magicnom svijetu su lajtmotiv. Njegova interpretacija Bosovog Rajskog vrta, Alise u zemlji cuda,Marija Antoaneta ,Brizit Bardo i film ‘’I Bog stvori zenu’’ samo su neki od tema koje je Tim obradio. Ne krije svoje izvore inspiracije, jasno su prepoznatljivi ali je i on inspiracija drugima: The Fear i Only girl in the world diskretno su dali omaz Timu.

Ono sto njega zanima jeste da nas potakne da razmisljamo o prici koja je samo zapoceta na slici. Njegove fotografije ne serviraju ideale ljepote one ih cine raznovrsnim. Njegovi modni editorijali nas odvode daleko od realnosti a portreti vracaju u stvarnost.

Za kraj, Tim in his own words : I find the word ‘art’ a little bit self-congratulatory and I find it uncomfortable: I’m a photographer. Art isn’t decided at the moment it’s made – a lot of people would disagree with me, but I think time decides what art is. The most unlikely things become art. For me to say, ‘This is art photography,’ I’m just not that sort of person; this is photography, this is me playing with a camera. Call it what you will but I would call it photography. I think some photographers have become art, someone like Dianne Arbus, because time has passed and there’s an emotion she’s captured as a photographer. You can call her a photographer but you can also call her an artist. But she would never have called herself an artist. Avedon would never have called himself an artist.

As adults, time is lost. We're all so busy and everything is accelerated. What a child has is a lot of time to wander and daydream. That's what I did as a child.

When you work as a photographer you’re working more with a mood and with a suggestion of something that enables the viewer to be able to put themselves in to the picture and imagine themselves in that situation: that’s what I think the human element in still photography is. With film you have to be a storyteller and not stray from the story; you have to be very, very specific – that’s what that film is about.

They’re all dreams: every picture is a fantasy. Not so much the portraiture, but the set pieces definitely are fantasies and I think that the model or the sitter in a picture is the window for the viewer – for any person – to be a part of that fantasy. It’s me asking them, inviting them, to enter into that, whether it’s a dark and sinister mood or a beautiful fairytale. It’s escapism – that’s what it is. I’ve always had a very strong sense of entertainment and the need to entertain visually; I find a lot of photography, a lot of visual media, uninclusive because it’s not as obviously entertaining as these pictures are.

Fantasy isn’t something I put into the pictures; I don’t try and inject them with a sense of play. But it’s about being an honest photographer; a photograph is as much of a mirror of the photographer as it is the subject. A lot of links and inspiration come from my childhood and my reluctance to give it up. You lose a lot as you mature, but if you lose it completely you couldn’t possibly be a photographer – you need that sense of curiosity.

Your aim as a photographer is to get a picture of that person that means something. Portraits aren’t fantasies; they need to tell a truth. When I’m commissioned to do a portrait of someone I do a lot of research about that person; who they are, what they represent, what I am attracted to about that person. When you’re taking a portrait of someone you’re dabbling with their identity – it’s not like a fantasy – and I think that’s a very tender, vulnerable thing. It’s a fragile thing, you have to collaborate with that person.

The secret of fashion photography to me is creating an unaffected, genuine response to a magical setting. 50% of the backdrops I use are scouted and they’re real places picked for their beauty and they are magical to us. Fashion is the dream department of photography and I’ve always been a daydreamer. The ideas for all my photographs come from any number of places, a film, a book I’m reading, the story someone tells me. I take a loads of visual references that come for me in just about anywhere and I put them into these scrapbooks and I’ve got all hundreds of these scrapbooks now.

My mum is a cook so she’s always talking about ingredients and the importance of each ingredient. It is precisely the same for me, photography needs the people I work with ,they are ingredients: the background, the set designer, the costumes, the fashion, the hair, the makeup they’re all ingredients that you pull on, in fact you know the scrapbook is for me as a cupboard full of ingredients .

Long live Tim ❤️ !