Tim Walker

Portraits on White: David Lynch and Debbie Trutnik (his long time assistant and collaborator). My friend Robert Lussier introduced me to David Lynch. Robert was doing a collaboration with the legendary director for Dior. “Come for dinner” said Robert, and so I went to the Chateau Marmont. David ordered maple syrup deep fried chicken and turned to me and said “Well, that’s the finest fried chicken I’ve ever had in my life”. By the end of dinner, he’d agreed to meet me for a portrait at his house the next day. David Lynch, Sparking Up, Los Angeles, 2010 Debbie Trutnik, Los Angeles, 2010 Unpublished photograph and thank you note from David Lynch, 2010

Portraits on White: I photographed Timothée Chalamet in 2019. Talk about being on fire. He was a white hot ember in the furnace of celebrity. My friend, the infamous casting director and writer, Lynn Hirschberg (see previous posts) had seen him in ‘Call Me By Your Name’ and said “mark my words…. He’s going to be very very famous”. I thought his performance in CMBYN was a heartbreaker. Memorably moving. Chalamet worked the white table and scorched. I think one of his secret weapons is something that David Lynch had told me: “good hair goes a long long way”. Timothee Chalamet, Los Angeles, 2019 Magazine: W Magazine @wmag Editor: Stefano Tonchi @stefanotonchi Sittings Editor: Lynn Hirschberg Style Director: Sara Moonves @saramoonves Hair: Malcolm Edwards @1malcolmedwards Make Up: Lucy Bridge @lucyjbridge Set: Gary Card @garycard Production: Jeff Delich and Connect The Dots Inc @delichproject @ctdinc

Portraits on White: After years of photographing people in cluttered chaotic environments, I learnt the beauty of the void, the nothing. The bright white studio space I learned from assisting Richard Avedon. The seat at the white table was taught to me by Alber Elbaz. It was a huge relief to understand the sublime of the empty page — to learn that with the right subject — less is so so so much more. Burnt out comedians or comic genius? Monty Python, styled here by the legendary Sarajane Hoare, proved that they could be both. Terry Jones, Shoreditch, London, 2009 Eric Idle, Shoreditch, London, 2009 Terry Gilliam, Shoreditch, London, 2009 Michael Palin, Shoreditch, London, 2009 John Cleese, Shoreditch, London, 2009 Magazine: Vanity Fair @vanityfair Editor: Graydon Carter @graydon.carter Styling: Sarajane Hoare @sarajanehoare Hair: Maarit Niemala @maaritniemela_hair_ Make Up: Rozelle Parry @rozelleparrymakeup Props: Rhea Thierstein @rhea_thierstein Printing: Graeme Bulcraig @retouchandprint

How to make good pictures… Preparation: this is my polaroid file, where I kept all my shot Polaroids to gauge the development of a story while shooting. I have always been an organised person. I used to spend afternoons arranging and rearranging my belongings in drawers and pen pots. My early bedroom was monastic, a sanctuary of organisation. To the point that my flatmate Tamsin would come in when I was out and subtly mess with things just to rile me. Of course I always noticed. You prepare a shoot, with all the film, polaroids, scrapbooks, and ideas beforehand… and then on the day you have to embrace the chaos. By nature shoots are always chaotic and it’s your meticulous organisation that is there for you to fall back on in the storm. 1. Polaroid file, exterior, 2026 2. Polaroid file, interior, 2026 3. Polaroid file, exterior, detail of my old photo assistant, Sarah Lloyd, 2026

How to make good pictures… Play: In this scrapbook you can see me standing in for where I imagined the model would be. Looking back at these I can see how playful I’m being. I’m enjoying myself and I think that’s the point of making pictures. It’s that you and everyone else around you has fun. I used to be painfully shy when I first started out, I felt I was being watched, and I would dry up and feel judged… but then I realised, in the end, all your audience want is for you to be your true playful self. Seeing a team of people have fun and make good work is the thing. 1. Pages from Scrapbook, ‘Timeless’, 2005 2-4. Details from Scrapbook, 2005

How to make good pictures… Originality: originality in photography is very rare… but it’s impossible to be original at the outset of making photographs. Everything starts by being derivative, and then you find your own voice by mixing up all the things that inspire you. Quote by Jim Jarmusch

How to make good pictures… LOVE: As far as you can, only ever engage with and photograph what you love. Your love of the subject will be the viewer’s love of your photograph. It’s all about love. The words you love, the song you love, the friend you love, the old ripped quilt you love or the moth in the bathroom dancing… If you truly madly love what you’re photographing you’re half way to making a great photograph. Elizabeth Moses, Love, 2001 Magazine: Vogue Italia @vogueitalia Stylist: Cathy Kasterine @cathykasterine Model: Elizabeth Moses

How to make good pictures… Sketchbooks: Call them what you want, scrapbooks, day books, diaries. When you’re feeling uninspired your very own garden of earthly delights collaged into a book will be an endless pick me up. Still Life of Cuttings, 2007 and Pages From Scrapbook, c. 1998

How to make good pictures… Keep Going: and going and going and going and going. If you’re very lucky a great picture can happen immediately. Generally it’s about PATIENCE and TIME. You just have to keep pushing and pushing. Until you exhaust all the possibilities. Look at the sequential polaroids on the second slide. The position, the poses, the clothes, were all wrong until they were right. The black fan, serendipitously brought by Simon Costin, was the full stop in the sentence of this fashion photograph. The search finally ended. The picture finally felt complete. 1. Hannelore Knuts, What’s In Vogue, London, 2005 Magazine: Vogue Italia @vogueitalia Editor: Franca Sozzani Stylist: Jacob K @kjeldgaard1 Make Up: Sam Bryant @sambryantmakeup Hair: Gianni Scumaci @giannischumaci Set Design: Simon Costin @simon_costin Model: Hannelore Knuts @hanneloreknuts

When you’re photographing someone as famous as Rihanna, you kind of have to let go of the way you might normally photograph. You get pulled into a world and you simply have to go with it, navigating the crazy amount of people involved. In these photographs you only see Rihanna. Her palace reads serene and empty of guards…. but in reality around every corner and doorway were an ever present, ever overspilling navy of styling, hair, make up, gaffers, set designers, DJs, location security, assistants, nannies, BTS crew, and multiple fine jewellery custodians unable to resist Ri’s gravitational pull, inching closer and closer as she moved and posed in front of the camera. We were shooting on a super wide fish eye lens whose parameters didn’t seem to register with the Rihanna battalion. Every time I went to make a picture, I’d see thirty watching faces that shouldn’t have been in the frame. It was comedic. Rihanna, however, is smart enough to navigate her own orbital pull, and on seeing my sleep deprived photo assistant’s arduous efforts to get the crew to pull back, she took matters into her own hands, standing bold upright on her Liwan pedestal to shout: “Everybody! …… OUT!”. She was not indifferent to the creative struggle and wanted to help. “Whatever you need to create… just say. If you need me to do that again, I will”. Despite the cuckoo circus of celebrity, Rihanna is an artist at heart and gets it. 1-2. Rihanna, Fashion: Chanel Couture, Paris, 2026 3. Rihanna, Fashion: Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood, Alaia, Givenchy, Vaquera and Manolo Blahnik, Paris, 2026 4. Rihanna, Fashion: Valentino and Christian Louboutin, Paris, 2026 Rihanna for W Mag @badgalriri @wmag Editor-In-Chief: Sara Moonves @saramoonves Styling: Jahleel Weaver @illjahjah Hair: Mustafa Yanaz @mustafayanaz Make Up: Daniel Sällström @daniel_s_makeup Manicure: Jenny Longworth @jennynails Set Design: Miguel Bento @migsbento Lighting: Paul Burns @paulrburns Movement Direction: Pat Bogulawski @pat_boguslawski Production: Simon Malivindi and Ashleigh Hayward at @onethirtyeightproductions Printing: Graeme Bulcraig @retouchandprint

Before the shoot, the stylist Jahleel shared his clothes and styling ideas for the story: a masqueraded Adam Ant by way of Barry Lyndon baroque rock mash up seemed to be the way — which I loved. I’d always loved that Stanley Kubrick lit his movie by candlelight and had to have extra thick wicks made so the candles burned brighter for the camera’s f-stop. Simon, our producer, sent me and W editor Sara locations to consider and we fell in love with this particular place where the owners still reside. They opened their doors to us at midday, but we didn’t start actually shooting until long after midnight (delays delays)… on top of this, Ri likes music (loud) when she’s photographed (fair enough). This meant that by 3am the location owners’ patience (and sleep) was running thin on the ground… and they told us we had to go. Our Barry Lyndon fantasy bubble was about to burst and we’d barely been shooting for an hour… with another nine looks to shoot (see slide 6). By sheer ambassadorial determination, Simon persuaded the owners to give us until 6am to shoot. We didn’t stop till 8:30am. Thank you Simon. A fleeting all nighter… but mummy dearest shone bright like a diamond. 1-2. Rihanna, Fashion: Yohji Yamamoto, Schiaparelli, Stephen Jones, Dior by JW Anderson, Amina Muaddi, Paris, 2026 3. Rihanna, Fashion: Balenciaga, Chloe and Amina Muaddi, Plinth by Liwan, Paris, 2026 4. Rihanna, Fashion: Saint Laurent, Valentino and Christian Louboutin, Paris, 2026 5. BTS of me and Rihanna as we wrapped at 08:30am 6. BTS of Jahleel’s ten looks we had to shoot Rihanna for W Mag @badgalriri @wmag Editor-In-Chief: Sara Moonves @saramoonves Styling: Jahleel Weaver @illjahjah Hair: Mustafa Yanaz @mustafayanaz Make Up: Daniel Sällström @daniel_s_makeup Manicure: Jenny Longworth @jennynails Set Design: Miguel Bento @migsbento Lighting: Paul Burns @paulrburns Movement Direction: Pat Bogulawski @pat_boguslawski Production: Simon Malivindi and Ashleigh Hayward at @onethirtyeightproductions Printing: Graeme Bulcraig @retouchandprint

I first photographed Rihanna back in 2016 when she posed with other young kids for her collaboration with FENTY x Puma. Her casting brief, at the time, was ahead of the curve: “you can cast whoever you want” she said, “they’ve just gotta be brown to black kids, and they gotta look ROYAL”. It’s hard to imagine how progressive this was ten years ago and yet it still was. Rihanna’s stance on wanting to see difference in pop culture was powerful. Her wants and requirements felt like the first wave of a cultural sea change — which they proved to be. I got to photograph Rihanna again this last January in Paris for W Magazine, modelling the Spring Summer 2026 couture. This time she wanted to make a portrait of her with her little baby, Rocki. As before, Rihanna brought great vibes to the set, funny, beautiful and an incredible mover (obvs). As soon as I’d shot her and baby Rocki, I showed Rihanna the photograph. She looked at the photo and started sniffling, wiping away her proud mommy tears. Then she laughed and said “Damn, these babies have killed my gangsta”. 1-2. Rihanna and Rocki, Fashion: Dior by JW Anderson, Hat by Stephen Jones, Paris, 2026 3. Rihanna, Fashion: Prada, Hat by Stephen Jones, Paris, 2026 4. Unpublished alternative, Rihanna, Fashion: Prada, Hat by Stephen Jones, Paris, 2026 Rihanna for W Mag @badgalriri @wmag Editor-In-Chief: Sara Moonves @saramoonves Styling: Jahleel Weaver @illjahjah Hair: Mustafa Yanaz @mustafayanaz Make Up: Daniel Sällström @daniel_s_makeup Manicure: Jenny Longworth @jennynails Set Design: Miguel Bento @migsbento Lighting: Paul Burns @paulrburns Movement Direction: Pat Bogulawski @pat_boguslawski Production: Simon Malivindi and Ashleigh Hayward at @onethirtyeightproductions Printing: Graeme Bulcraig @retouchandprint