In the World of Tim Walker

When I purchase the latest issue of British vogue I tend to run home, change swiftly into my sweats, get some hot water boiling for some tea and guiltily start reading the magazine backwards. And it’s for one reason only. Mr. Tim Walker. Where has he been to now? India? Marrakesh? Russia? Who is he painting pink now? A cat, a horse, an elephant? Which world is he re-creating? What props is he using? Such beautiful narratives intertwined with doll-like faces. The fashion photographer never eases to shock me with awe. His photo shoots remind me more of theater sets, and if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’d know I have a great passion for all things performance, particularly the theatrical stage.

His photography which is now displayed at the Design Museum is filled with immaculate detail, every prop and texture has been thought of. When visiting his exhibition at the Design Museum I was at complete awe at his thought process where I scoured his scrapbooks, notes, drawings, and photographs. Tim Walker puts together these scrapbooks filled with ideas and snapshots for his future shoots.

The backdrop of the photographs were the larger than life props he had used for his shoots. But what was wondrous to me was the ability his photographs had to transport me into another world. A world of imagination, desire, and entertainment. Photography has always been a huge part of my life, starting with the thousands of albums I have of me growing up. A camera always around, my mother made sure to document and capture every family trip, every birthday cake, and school play. Laid out in chronological order my life is documented in large binded photo albums now sitting in volumes in the living room of our home. In between watching my favorite soaps I tend to pick one out and start flipping the large glossy pages to glimpse moments of my life posing with Minnie mouse in Disney and eating ice cream in Cannes.

My true relationship with photography was further explored when I left to go to summer camp in England when I was 14 years old with some friends. For the first time my mother was not there clicking away. And I was entrusted with the family camera, which I then lost at a football match on my last week in camp, to take my own photos. I’m so grateful it wasn’t a digital film and rather than losing hundreds of photos I had 9 rolls of film waiting to be printed out. Since then I have constantly been armed with my camera, documenting absolutely everything in my life in a very amateur way.

Walker offers me inspiration to make my own real moments, to then go home and make some sense out of them. His photographs are reminiscent of his childhood and roots back to happy times from mine. Everything he photographs is connected to his drawings of his child, and it is so easy to immerse myself in his notions of childhood and memories. I also managed to record some part of the short film at the Design Museum showing Tim Walker putting the shoot together on youtube. Click here if you want to take a look-see.

The Photographs

The Scrapbooks

The Props

Street Style Hunting: Tate Modern, Hoxton Square

From the street art on the walls of the Tate Modern to the graffiti on the streets of Hoxton Square I found the ultimate hotspot for menswear street style, and that is the Old Street. For some reason almost all the men there were dressed to impress, and if it wasn't for the dying camera battery I would have snapped some more.

Red Bull Festival

I have never been a person who wins things at random. You name it- I've lost it. Carnival raffle in school- nope. Writing competition in school - nope de nope . I poured my heart and soul into those 12 pages.

So it came as a lover-ly surprise when I signed up for Red Bull Festival tickets and won. Sure they were free but who cares. When I found out 80,000 people were attending the same event that didn't faze me one bit. I still think my luck is looking up. I printed out my free 4 tickets, and started planning which victory summer dress shall share my win in Hyde Park. For those of you who've never attended a Red Bull Flugtag it is a HILARIOUS crazy looney competition which involves man powered flying machine (or not) and a crazy pilot and fly crew who launch themselves off a 6 meter ramp into the mucky Hyde Park River. 41 teams invented, designed, constructed their own crafts for months to then fly them over the ramp into the water. The event is too funny for words, and I got mouth lock jaw from smiling and laughing like a twat for 7 hours.

All the crowds had great views of the action around the pond because of the four big screens installed on the grass areas. Presenters were hilarious, food was expensive, Red Bull wasn't free but I was amazed at the team's enthusiasm for choreographed routines before their flights, their choice of costume, music, and team name. There was Banana Man, the Blonde Bimbos, men dressed as nuns, men dressed as women, Alice and Wonderland and her crew, Batman and Robin, Cleopatra on a Sphinx, a rooster flappings it wings, a flapping Swan heading straight into the water. This event was certainly not fashion related but it did give me a much needed good laugh and I got a stream of yummy street style pics!

I highly recommend raffling up for this event for next year! Lets just hope I get lucky again.

I took a kabillion films at the Red Bull Flugtag hoping to capture the fun mood. Hope you enjoy them!