Musée Magazine Issue No. 5 Vol. 1 - Fashion | Page 14

You left photography in 1991. Why?
Well, Guy Bourdin was always my guiding light, my shining
light. I would always look and see what he was doing.
When he died in ’91, I thought: ‘Well, I’m never going to
make it. That’s it.’ So, I stopped and went home and said
to my wife, ‘I’m going to open up a gallery.’ I think all of
the years I spent being a photographer taught me how
very, very difficult it is to do. The conversation we’re having
now, we can only have because I tried to do it myself.
I know how hard it is.
What makes a great photograph?
It has to change my point of view. Of course, quality, and
all of the usual things, but the [defining] point is: does it
change the way I think about something? Did I know that
before, have I ever thought about it like that, have I ever
looked at it like that, or is there something about this that
is teaching me something? That’s what makes a great
photograph. Wouldn’t you agree? n
Interview by Andrea Blanch
All photographs courtesy of Michael Hoppen Contemporary
The Michael Hoppen Gallery is 20-years old and exclusively
represents Tim Walker’s limited edition prints globally.
Contact:
The Michael Hoppen Gallery
3 Jubilee Place
London SW3 3TD, United Kingdom
[phone]
Eagle owl and hatched eggs, Shotover Park, Oxfordshire, 2010
© Tim Walker, courtesy of Michael Hoppen Contemporary