"Sometimes when you're taking a picture an extraordinary sense of luck and chance takes over and propels you to make pictures that you couldn't in your wildest dreams have imagined. This is the magic of photography." - Tim Walker

If magic, wild dreams and the extraordinary are what you crave, a visit to Tim Walker's exhibition at London's Somerset House will leave you thoroughly sated.

READ: Tim Walker's thrilling fashion photographs go on show

Walker, the most un-fashiony of fashion photographers, was on hand this morning to give an awed group of fashion editors a personal tour of highlights from his work from the past five years.

Throwing open the unassuming door leading to the first room, I was reminded of Willy Wonka showing the golden ticket winners the Chocolate Room for the first time. Inside, a life-sized Spitfire - a prop from a 2009 British Vogue shoot starring Lily Donaldson - has artfully 'crashed' through the fireplace, setting the fantastical tone for the rest of the show.

But despite the elaborate props (here a giant bumblebee playing the cello, there a 15ft tall child's doll that once chased Lindsey Wixson through the woods for Vogue Italia…) forming the centrepiece of every room of this lovingly staged exhibit, all eyes are firmly on the photographs that gave birth to them decorating the panelled walls - a mixture of fashion magazine editorials, portraits and personal work.

In one scene, Karen Elson is up against it with a giant crocodile, while in another room, Agyness Deyn stands in the sand dunes of Namibia. Tilda Swinton is looking ethereal in Iceland, Stella Tennant is in a pink cloud among the rhododendrons of an English country garden, and a visitor from outer space has surprised a foxhunt in Northumberland. Must see? More like has to be seen to be believed.

IN PICTURES: Highlights from 'Tim Walker, Storyteller'

The show is being staged with support from quintessentially British fashion brand, Mulberry, whose campaigns Walker has shot for the past four seasons. The pairing is a match made in heaven - for spring 2012 models posed on Brighton beach alongside giant sticks of rock and melting ice creams, while autumn 2012's Where The Wild Things Are-themed campaign stars an enormous shaggy beast on the prowl in the woods.

But ask Walker about his favourite photos in the show, and his answer might surprise.

"I think I'm happiest with the portraits," he reveals, referring to the more stripped back shots of famous faces including Vivienne Westwood, Helena Bonham Carter and Alber Elbaz, and unknown models such as redhead Nathaniel Lyles.

"When you've been dealing with all this [Walker gestures at the orchestra of giant insects beside us] for so long, it's a joy to see something on a clean white background.'

"The set up - the table and the white background - has been the same since the birth of photography, but how do we make that interesting? I think that's where I'll go next…"

So, no more props? "I feel like they're a twisted toy cupboard that follows me around sometimes - a ball and chain! Time for something new. Basta."

If Walker does indeed pack away the props and opt for a simpler life, this could be the last chance to catch this magical period in photographic history in all its glory. Don't miss out.

Tim Walker Story Teller, supported by Mulberry, runs from October 18 - January 27, 2013 at Somerset House, London.

Via: Tim Walker takes us on a tour of his 'Story Teller' show at Somerset House