Birds of Paradise

 

Photographer Tim Walker's talk with ex-Vogue fashion editor Kate Phelan (now at Topshop) was so oversubscribed that they had to do it twice as the queue went around the venue.  It was worth the wait though as Walker and Phelan took us behind the scenes of some of their most iconic shoots such as Lily Cole in India for the July 2005 issue or Sasha Pivovarova in Northern Russia for the January 2007 issue.  If you own Walker's big coffee table tome, Pictures or you have seen a Tim Walker exhibition, you'll be familiar with his fascinating scrapbooks of sketched out shots and reference imagery for every shoot to get those visually stunning results, that remain some of my favourite imagery (not just fashion imagery), of all time.  Phelan and Walker recounted stories of working under stressful conditions where you're carrying twelve suitcases on a rowing boat or shooting whilst there's a Russian family punch-up going on in the room.  

I learnt a few surprising things such as the fact that Walker shoots entirely on film and that he doesn't rely on any sort of artificial light, reflectors or flash guns.  He quite literally chases the perfect daylight to get his shots, which is an incredible feat considering the modern tools at his disposal.  Phelan and Walker also grazed the topic of high fashion exotic locale photoshoots and being sensitive to their surroundings.  Phelan noted that she didn't like the idea of taking all these luxurious clothes to poor countries and flaunting that contrast.  Walker's photographs for me though never take advantage or shine a poor light on whatever far flung location he shoots in though.  If anything he's incredibly respectful of where he's going even if he is looking to portray a fantasy and romantic notions of a country rather than a harsh reality.  A lovely unexpected touch was when Walker showed us a clip from BBC's Planet Earth of the birds of paradise in Papua New Guinea, which inspired trip there for the Vogue August 2007 spread featuring Iekeliene Stange.  It apparently affirmed for Walker why we as humans could be inherently drawn to wearing beautiful things because these male birds of paradise puff up their vividly coloured feathers to attract the females.  Notice how the female birds are modestly dressed..