Oliver
London, United Kingdom – 2023
This was a fun shoot to do and a first for both Cara and myself. She couples versatility with a razor- sharp mind and I never have to worry about her performing – she was born a performer. She was an easy choice to pay Oliver, whereas it would have been a bridge too far for many in her profession.
The kids, however, in my orphanage in the old Chatham dockyards in Kent, were less seasoned with the camera and they all needed some tutoring; there were many distractions for them on set and I needed their focus and attention. They all did a grand job in the end.
Photography is about light as much as it is about any other variable. Some have described it as the language of light and I understand that description. There are settings such as this where the ambient light allows the photograph to be elevated to a higher level than would normally be achieved by the content on stage. It adds a layer to the story and the search for additional layers in a still image is core to our purpose.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 20
- Image Size: 56” x 86" in (142.2 cm x 218.4 cm)
- Framed Image: 71" x 101” in (180.34 cm x 256.5 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 20
- Image Size: 37” x 57” in (93.98 cm x 144.8 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 72” (132.08 cm x 182.9 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
Cara and the Robbers
Durango, Colorado – 2023
Photographing a famous person next to something visually outstanding represents a riddle as there must be a debate as to which subject to deprioritize.
The best images tend to favor, both subjects equally – an example perhaps being Diana Spencer – the then Princess of Wales – against the backdrop of the Taj Mahal. She is dwarfed by the magnificence of what is behind her but is central and pivotal to the story.
Cara Delevingne cannot be taken up to a remote forest, fresh in new snow and then asked to play a secondary role. She has too powerful a look to be relegated to the role of a contextual extra, but equally, the Durango Steam train in winter is one of the great props a storytelling photographer can have. In scouting the journey the day after an intense snowstorm, I found a spot that I thought could offer a balance; I would just need Cara to be strong and sure footed on the banks of a river in a huge amount of fresh snow.
There is a confident swagger to her and my best narrative was that she could be celebrating a robbery before it had even occurred – hence the cigar in her mouth. She can smoke a cigar like the best gambler in Vegas.
It was a cold afternoon that day. This was no studio and as always, it was an honor to work with Cara, she is one of the very best in the business. It’s not a bad backdrop either.
Available sizes
LARGE: Edition of 20 + 3 AP
- Image size: 56" x 71" in (142.2 cm x 180.3 cm)
- Framed Image: 71" x 86" in (180.3 cm x 218.4 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 20 + 3 AP
- Image size: 37" x 47" in (93.98 cm x 119.4 cm)
- Framed Image: 52" x 62" in (132.1 cm x 157.5 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
Reservoir Dogs
Durango, Colorado – 2023
I am not ashamed of the fact that I often have an audience in my mind when I take a shot. In this case in the Diamond Belle Saloon in Durango, Colorado, my instincts were that it would appeal more if the frame was busy because my experience with this famous old wild west bar is that it is always something of a gathering place for all those who like a drink. It is how bars should be and is celebrated as such. I want the audience to say; “I wish I was in that bar that night” or even “we need more interesting people in our bar”. This frame sweats and that was always my intent.
Anyone close to my camera had to be characters out of a story book and play to the lore of the wild west. I want to exaggerate not dumb things down as that helps the storyteller. In a staged image such as this, there is no need to ask permission to be creative; in fact, it is a necessary precondition.
Cara Delevingne’s face is so strong and powerful that I knew there was no room for another girl on her same focal plane, but there would be room for a black wolf and then a menacing poker player. The background could then look after itself, but I wanted to pay homage to the saloon girls who are synonymous with the bar.
Cara loves this image – which always matters to me. She is a gift for a photographer and not to fully capitalize on her eyes and her vibe would be a rookie error.
Available sizes
LARGE: Edition of 20 + 3 AP
- Image size: 56" x 91" in (142.2 cm x 231.1 cm)
- Framed Image: 71" x 106" in (180.3 cm x 269.2 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 20 + 3 AP
- Image size: 37" x 60" in (93.98 cm x 152.4 cm)
- Framed Image: 52" x 75" in (132.1 cm x 190.5 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
The Shift
AVAILABLE SIZES:
Standard
- Image size: 37" x 42"
- Framed with a 3" mat: 48" x 53"
- Framed with a 5" mat: 52" x 57"
Large
- Image size: 56" x 63"
- Framed with a 3" mat: 67" x 74"
- Framed with a 5" mat: 71" x 78”
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
Bonnie
Creede, CO, USA 2021
The old mining village of Creede sits in a tight box canyon 9,000 feet up in the Southern Rockies of Colorado. An imposing vertical cliff face bullies main street and adds to the sense of ‘a town at the end of the line’. Creede plays to the lore and mythology of the wild west and consequently is awash with tourists during the summer. However, in the mid-winter, the place has an abandoned look to it and this was always going to be the best time to film. It would be a bridge too far to try to close the town down in July.
We had been throwing around ideas as to where to stage a Bonnie and Clyde story and chose Creede, not just because the high street is little changed from the 1920s, but because the locals, including the sheriff and the council, were fully supportive of our concept. To a man, the town folk of Creede were committed to helping us bring the project to fruition. For two days, our crew and extras seemingly doubled the winter population of Creede and the one restaurant in town was at capacity most of the time.
Fine tuning the composition was a challenge as ideally, I wanted Bonnie – played by Cara Delevingne – to be as big a part of the image as possible, but I also needed the buildings on both sides of the street to frame the narrative in the middle. Working with wide angle lenses risks making a loose image and I was determined not to fall into that trap. We had not dragged everyone up to this cold final frontier outpost to create a mundane image.
My goal was to create one single vignette to emphatically celebrate the heavily mythologised story of Bonnie and Clyde. It therefore had to be rich enough to inform, whilst remaining simple and cinematic. The final result is a great credit to all involved – Cara, her team, my production team and the many extras.
Faye Dunaway played Bonnie in the original film and she was my reference for Cara, who played the role immaculately, as I knew she would. Meanwhile, we will never know whether the driver in the car gave his best Warren Beatty impersonation – perhaps that’s just as well.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
Standard
- Image Size: 52" x 56"
- Framed with a 3" mat: 63" x 67"
- Framed with a 5" mat: 67" x 71"
Large
- Image size: 71" x 77"
- Framed with a 3" mat: 82" x 88"
- Framed with a 5" mat: 86" x 92”
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
Drive
Montana, USA
This photograph, taken high in the mountains of Montana, offers strong clues as to why Cara Delevingne is a global superstar. She has the eyes and the face to steal most scenes and the intelligence to play a prescribed role. There is nothing I would change in her look in this vignette. It is a perfect combination of purpose and rather unhinged menace. She can do this as easily as some people flick a switch.
Chief John Spotted Tail of the Lakota tribe was an excellent foil for Cara and they work well together. He is revered locally and it was an honour to have him on set. He brings a further edge to an image encapsulating my read on the old Wild West: a place of guns; trouble in hard drinking saloons; occasional bad weather and maverick characters. No wonder Westerns have a film genre to them selves – it is too rich a seam in the material to have to share a category with anything else. To go “West” was perhaps the greatest adventure story the world has ever known.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 20
- Image: 56” x 96”
- Framed: 71” x 111”
STANDARD - Edition Size: 20
- Image: 37” x 64”
- Framed: 52” x 79”
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
The Girl Who Cried Wolf
Montana, USA – 2020
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56" x 62" (143 cm x 158 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 73" (171 x 186 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 37" x 41" (94 cm x 105 cm)
- Framed: 48" x 75" (122 x 191 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
The Girl With The Lion Tattoo
Montana, USA – 2020
Our habit of being a little lazy and broad brushed when describing well known people is particularly exposed when the individual is so authentic and unique that lame platitudes tell us more about the commentator than the subject.
Cara Delevingne is one such subject. She is so much more than a famous and beautiful model. She is a highly relevant force of nature and carries the flag for so many causes close to her heart such as the environment; female empowerment and institutionalized racism – three issues that are also deeply personal to me.
Her foundation has every chance of making a difference given her status as a global icon and I am delighted to be collaborating with her on the fund-raising side. There is no one more playful to work with and no one owns a picture quite like Cara.
Our work together 10 days ago high up in the mountains of Montana hopefully sets the standard for things to come. Future projects are in the pipeline and I am hopeful I won’t let my fellow Brit and friend down.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56" x 62" (143 cm x 158 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 73" (171 x 186 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 37" x 41" (94 cm x 105 cm)
- Framed: 48" x 75" (122 x 191 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
The Girl On The Train
Montana, USA
This old railway carriage, was built in Mon – tana in 1902 and operated until 1968. It now lies abandoned in the ghost town of Nevada City and serves as a reminder of the busier days in the mountains. At today’s value, when mining came to an end in 1922, some $2.5bn of gold had been extracted from the region. The state of Montana played an integral part in Gold Rush history.
I first visited the train in 2015 and immedi – ately saw its potential for a staged shot. Half the window areas are open to the elements and in the winter the snow often overwhelms the decaying interior. In the following years we took a few pictures but, in many ways, these were a dress rehearsal for November 2020. We knew our light and our angles.
Taking the female icon Cara Delevingne to a unique site like this, so far from anywhere vaguely on the map, was an opportunity not to be wasted. This is not a job for the precious, the carriage is fragile and getting on board was not easy. But Cara, as I know from working with her previously, is not precious, she is game for anything that is creative and authentic.
The camera loves her and the styling – in an old buffalo skin coat – deliberately plays to a timeless story. She pings out of the train. Sometimes an artist creates something that can’t be copied and I think this is one such work. We would like to thank the Nevada City Outdoor Historic Museum for collaborating on this project.
Half of all profits of photograph sales from this assignment with Cara will go to The Cara Delevingne Foundation. David’s first collaboration with Cara in 2018 for TAG Heuer went on to raise £240,000 for The Cara Delevingne Foundation.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 20
- Image: 56” x 86”
- Framed: 71” x 101”
STANDARD - Edition Size: 20
- Image: 37” x 57”
- Framed: 52” x 72”
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
The Getaway
Montana, USA
This photograph, taken high in the mountains of Montana, offers strong clues as to why Cara Delevingne is a global superstar. She has the eyes and the face to steal most scenes and the intelligence to play a prescribed role. There is nothing I would change in her look in this vignette. It is a perfect combination of purpose and rather unhinged menace. She can do this as easily as some people flick a switch.
Chief John Spotted Tail of the Lakota tribe was an excellent foil for Cara and they work well together. He is revered locally and it was an honour to have him on set. He brings a further edge to an image encapsulating my read on the old Wild West: a place of guns; trouble in hard drinking saloons; occasional bad weather and maverick characters. No wonder Westerns have a film genre to them selves – it is too rich a seam in the material to have to share a category with anything else. To go “West” was perhaps the greatest adventure story the world has ever known.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 20
- Image: 56” x 96”
- Framed: 71” x 111”
STANDARD - Edition Size: 20
- Image: 37” x 64”
- Framed: 52” x 79”
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your masterpiece. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Asmus Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.