Tim Walker; Wonderful Things; V&A; October 2019; 7/10

The first room in the exhibition is marvellous.  I read the captions, looked at the photographs and was alternately amused and mesmerised by the videos.  The first image is an enlargement of four photos taken in a photo booth which, in my youth, was the only place where you could cheaply play at photography. In this room there is a lovely eclectic mix of fashion photographs, portraits and other work all containing a sort of magic. Walker has been photographing for Vogue since he was 25 and the big budget nature of his work is clear although that doesn’t make his work less entrancing.  What is different is that the spectator knows that he or she couldn't take photographs like this.  Walker says that “making photographs is a kind of dream state… the camera is a state of mind“ and you really feel that he does live his life through the lens - it’s inspiring.

After the first room the rest of the show was mostly a disappointment.  Walker was commissioned to make a number of new photographs for this exhibition based on items in the collection of the V&A and for me this new work was generally unsuccessful: I didn’t like the candy wrapper colours of some of the photographs or his love affair with the fisheye lens.  There is always the risk that showing your work , along with the items that inspired it, leads to your efforts being overshadowed by the quality of the original.

In the end though I liked the show, the series “handle with care” based on the protective packaging for a Alexander McQueen dress somewhat made up for the other disappointing commissions.