Black Magic (B&W)
Black Magic
Archival Pigment Print
“My recent photograph “The Black Panther Club” elicited a material reaction and I knew immediately after I saw the picture that I needed to go back the following evening and see if I could put something else in the can. A fisherman surely does the same and the emotions are not that different. These were big days in the field – the days we dream of. We have many dull days with no opportunity to create and it is in those barren moments that we must remember the very good times. Whilst it is accepted that luck equals out over time, we will do all we can to disrupt that equation.
We invest considerable time in this part of Transvaal and we sometimes return disappointed with the new content. This was time to double up and attack especially since the weather was settled and the light decline in the evening would be the same as the previous night. There was a limited window of perfect light, but I was confident on the logistics and my partnership with Kevin Richardson. The process relies entirely on his talents. Symmetry matters in these shots as well as facial expression and a head on perspective. It is far from easy and that’s why we haven’t seen much of this kind of work before. This was our only shot that worked that night and it all happened very quickly. I only took a dozen pictures; all within a two second period.
I like the panther’s posture and the angle of his back. They are predators first and foremost. I have seen all the big cats in my career, but this cat is a finely oiled machine. The cinematic format is perfect for this photograph – after all, Black Panthers elicit heavy Hollywood vibes. It is an animal that has rightly created many metaphors.”
-David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 49″ x 103″ in (124.5 x 261.6 cm)
- Framed Image: 64″ x 118″ in (162.6 x 299.7 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37″ x 78″ in (94 x 198.1 cm)
- Framed Image: 52″ x 93 in (132.1 x 236.2 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.
Backcountry (Colour)
Backcountry
Archival Pigment Print
“In my experience, Alaskan bear photography leans heavily on two variables: logistical rigour and luck. If there is a third component, it is probably patience and an ability to kill time. I don’t really think camerawork, above a basic level, has much to do with it; it is more about making sure the camera is in front of interesting stuff when it matters and that is a function of logistical prowess and luck.
I sense that over the years our experience has helped push luck in our direction. As my friend Gary Player the golfer once commented “the more I practice the luckier I seem to get”. The guidance we have from 15 years of metadata of bear encounters on this river is never far from my mind. It is an iterative process and we have most certainly learnt on the job. In the early days, I really had no idea what I was doing and my work with bears was bland and generic.
This part of Alaska is proper backcountry and a world removed from the staged shoots I do around the world. There are few comforts other than familiarity, but that is the biggest luxury of all. I think I have spent more time over the years on this small patch of river gravel than I have in any smart hotel room in the world.
I don’t like to photograph bears when the light is bright. Somehow they become less menacing, and the sense of awe can be lost. It rains a great deal in Alaska, but there are also many sunny days during the salmon runs and on those days bear photography can become challenging not long after breakfast. It is a long way to come to work in suboptimal light, so we tend to push things logistically.
The day I took this photograph we were in the air in our float plane just after 5.30am and no one was anywhere near us when we trekked the tundra 30 minutes later. That is the way to do it – be alone and in place early in the backcountry and then wait for decent daylight and the magic to unfold. I was back home and in a welcome hot shower by 10 am. I think I am too old now to believe that there is any better way to start the day.”
-David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 70″ x 56″ in (177.8 x 142.2 cm)
- Framed Image: 85″ x 71″ in (215.9 x 180.3 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 46″ x 37″ in (116.8 x 94 cm)
- Framed Image: 61″ x 52 in (154.9 x 132.1 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.
Backcountry
Backcountry
Archival Pigment Print
“In my experience, Alaskan bear photography leans heavily on two variables: logistical rigour and luck. If there is a third component, it is probably patience and an ability to kill time. I don’t really think camerawork, above a basic level, has much to do with it; it is more about making sure the camera is in front of interesting stuff when it matters and that is a function of logistical prowess and luck.
I sense that over the years our experience has helped push luck in our direction. As my friend Gary Player the golfer once commented “the more I practice the luckier I seem to get”. The guidance we have from 15 years of metadata of bear encounters on this river is never far from my mind. It is an iterative process and we have most certainly learnt on the job. In the early days, I really had no idea what I was doing and my work with bears was bland and generic.
This part of Alaska is proper backcountry and a world removed from the staged shoots I do around the world. There are few comforts other than familiarity, but that is the biggest luxury of all. I think I have spent more time over the years on this small patch of river gravel than I have in any smart hotel room in the world.
I don’t like to photograph bears when the light is bright. Somehow they become less menacing, and the sense of awe can be lost. It rains a great deal in Alaska, but there are also many sunny days during the salmon runs and on those days bear photography can become challenging not long after breakfast. It is a long way to come to work in suboptimal light, so we tend to push things logistically.
The day I took this photograph we were in the air in our float plane just after 5.30am and no one was anywhere near us when we trekked the tundra 30 minutes later. That is the way to do it – be alone and in place early in the backcountry and then wait for decent daylight and the magic to unfold. I was back home and in a welcome hot shower by 10 am. I think I am too old now to believe that there is any better way to start the day.”
-David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 70″ x 56″ in (177.8 x 142.2 cm)
- Framed Image: 85″ x 71″ in (215.9 x 180.3 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 46″ x 37″ in (116.8 x 94 cm)
- Framed Image: 61″ x 52 in (154.9 x 132.1 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 Winter Season
Jackson Hole, Wyoming – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
“The onset of winter divides opinion: for some it is a time of increased cost of living and a daily life with less optionality; for others it is eagerly anticipated as a time of celebration, festivities and the possibility of winter sports. Winter rewards some and punishes others.
But there is perhaps unity in the idea that this time of year can showcase the world at its visual best. For filmmakers, snow offers an extra character for free and that is something we have always embraced. It is a time to be in the field and not huddled by the fireplace watching movies.
This image of a large bull moose in the sage flats in Teton National Park has an emphatic sense of winter and that was my goal. It had snowed about six inches the night before and the photograph, taken around 07.30am, is elevated by the fresh snow cover and the sign of an early winter storm lifting. There is no better time to photograph than at the end of a snowfall; the flat light enhances the ethereal splendour of what the storm has left behind.
We have learnt a great deal about moose behaviour and we know each situation is different. They can be extremely dangerous animals and should not be approached. This photograph was taken after three days monitoring the behaviour of this specific bull. “ – David Yarrow
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 77” in (142.2 cm x 195.6 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 92” in (180.3 cm x 233.7 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 51” in (93.98 cm x 129.5 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 66” (132.1 cm x 167.6 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 Big Moose
Jackson Hole, Wyoming – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
“The grandeur of the Tetons has been celebrated by artists for 150 years. It was an integral part of Thomas Moran’s life and, of course, the mountain range played a material role in the photographic journey of Ansel Adams. His legacy still holds a tight grip on a Jackson Hole community hosting hundreds of capable photographers every week.
As an artist, it is a place in which to enjoy the visual overload rather than attempt to break new ground; that would be a fine trick. I have long been an admirer of the photographer Tommy Mangelsen whose body of work is a love letter to this pocket of America. For many years we have shared the same New York Publisher – Rizzoli – and he sets a high bar with his body of authentic images in the Tetons and beyond.
I have a good friend in Jackson, who, for many years, has made a living by ploughing snow on private roads in the winter months. It is his business to know every road in the community and in the days before my arrival he scouted the land either side of these single-track roads for big bull moose. They are not that hard to find in the area near Kelly – especially in late November and December – but I needed to be in situ very early in the day.
It was never going to be easy to get a Cigar Shot as there needs to be a sense of place in any picture taken here. Not to include the Tetons in the frame would be akin to filming in Zermatt and not including the Matterhorn. They are on a par as backdrops.
To have the Tetons as a canvas requires a high cloud or no cloud and I have always tended to prefer flat light rather than shooting with a harsh sun behind me. But there is a small window after sunrise when the sun finally hits the flats, but not in a garish way. I guess there is about 15 minutes of softness when the camera has every opportunity to capture textural detail and employ meaningful depth of field.
In those 15 minutes, we just got lucky with this one fraction of a second and I thank my friend Westy for all his homework, his eyesight and his understanding of moose behaviour.” – David Yarrow
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 66” in (142.2 cm x 167.6 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 81” in (180.3 cm x 205.7 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 44” in (93.98 cm x 111.8 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 59” (132.1 cm x 149.9 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.
Black Panther Tales
Dinokeng, South Africa – 2018
Archival Pigment Print
“The movie Black Panther broke many box-office records on its opening weekend ($207 million), and the character is now a new cult superhero. I wanted to take a picture of a panther that did both the animal and the superhero justice.
My preconception was that the key feature had to be the eyes, and I also needed a ground-up perspective. That does tend to be my usual approach, but it meant remote controls, predictive analysis, and considerable distance between my camera and me.
I was in a heavy metal cage to take this image and lying on a bed of mud. My camera was already filthy and in the seconds after this photograph was taken, it was covered in splash water. This all happened before 6.30 am and I was home and in a hot shower before breakfast.
It is all about going the extra mile and doing all one can to be below the eyes of the cat and be in place before the sun gets too high. The rest is down to luck and a small bit of experience working in sports photography. I say that as black panthers move quicker than any athlete I have filmed.” – DAVID YARROW
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 73” in (142.2 cm x 185.4 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 88” in (180.3 cm x 223.5 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 48” in (93.98 cm x 121.9 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 63” in (132.1 cm x 160 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.
78 Degrees North (Colour)
Svalbard, Norway – 2017
Archival Pigment Print
“I should start by saying I have generally been disappointed by my own work with polar bears in Svalbard. This is a giant’s kingdom, and my images from previous trips have been too marginal to do either the giants or their kingdom justice. Luck evens itself out, but nature can seem cruel in its distribution of content, and in this barren archipelago, I don’t recall many favors until June 2017.
There is no doubt in my mind that this photograph of a big male polar bear lends weight to the contention that wildlife photography does not have to be reportage—it can be art. The photograph is elevated rather than weakened by the negative space and the bear’s anonymity. Since 2011, I have spent more than 30 days shooting in Svalbard, and this is my favorite image of a polar bear in this part of the Arctic. Indeed, the more I look at it, the prouder I am. As my fellow Scottish photographer and friend the great Harry Benson once said, “Great images can never be repeated.” Others will decide if this is a great image, but it certainly won’t be repeated.
The distinctive pads on the sole of his foot immediately grab the eye. The central pad, which resembles the Nike “swoosh,” is the epicenter of a photograph that owes its differentiating content entirely to this right foot. The image is made complete by its own lack of completeness; the storytelling is started by the camera and finished by the viewer. We are asked to finish the story, not just read it, and the spartan economy of the narrative helps along the way. Less is more in the Arctic. Its beauty is in its simplicity and the enormity of the white detail. It conveys a true sense of place.” – David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 87” in (142.2 cm x 221 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 102” in (180.3 cm x 259.1 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 57” in (93.98 cm x 144.8 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 72” in (132.1 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.
Lonesome Dove
West Texas, Texas – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
“The quiet comfort of being alone on the move, with the sense of security offered by a saddle, were seemingly attractive to cattle drivers heading north from Texas in the second half of the 19th century. Ostensibly, it was a lonely and poorly paid job, conducted in tough conditions, and while the cowtowns at the end of the road offered every vice, the original cowboy’s life delivered little consistent joy. The life imbalances are easier to consume in a modern Taylor Sheridan production than they were when lived out for real.
Louis L’Amour- the doyen of contemporary Western novels – believed that the self-image of the first cowboys was influenced by the “code of the cavalier” that emerged in 19th century writers such as Sir Walter Scott. The commitment to duty, and the sense of pride that became integral to the lore of the frontier cowboys, came from somewhere and L’Amour suggests that it came from stories and folklore passed down the ages.
If he was right, novels such as Ivanhoe have played a material role in the evolution of Americana. The early cowboys were rough, wanderlust characters often possessing no moral compass, but they had a code of honour that history now looks fondly on and this has propelled the cowboy image from a shiftless, unkempt character to the noble good guy and most enduring symbol of the United States.
That extraordinary shift in perception is here to stay and that works for me. To spend time with proper cowboys – as we often do in West Texas – is to immerse oneself in a culture with duty, manners and commitment at its heart. Over and above that, to watch a cattle drive live, in its birthplace, is one of the great spectacles I know.” – DAVID YARROW
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 100” in (93.98 cm x 254 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 115” in (132.1 cm x 292.1 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 28” x 75” in (71.12 cm x 190.5 cm)
- Framed Image: 43” x 90” in (109.2 cm x 228.6 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.
Cattle Drive
West Texas, Texas – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
“This photograph smells of West Texas and that was the intent. I think there normally needs to be a sense of place and a mood for the story within a still to stack up. It’s so dusty in this ranch just 25 miles from the Mexican border and the dust adds a character for free, provided the photographer is prepared to shoot towards the sun in the last hour of sunlight.
But there are logistical issues: firstly, the herd are coming right at my ladder and secondly, the wind direction needs to be right. If the wind is moving in roughly the same direction as the cattle and there is speed to that wind, then not only am I not going to get a picture, I would also be in danger as the cattle would not see me until it was too late.
So there is some amount of maths involved and I think that this is as close as I can responsibly get, even if the wind is blowing left to right. This is not something to try without the help of good horsemen and the cowboys in Texas are the best equipped in the world to be a photographer’s accomplice.
It is a special place down here and we recognise it. I often refer to some of John Steinbeck’s quotes and I will unapologetically do so once again, as he nails it every time:
“For all its enormous range of space, climate, and physical appearance, and for all the internal squabbles, contentions, and strivings, Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America. Rich, poor, Panhandle, Gulf, city, country, Texas is the obsession, the proper study, and the passionate possession of all Texans.” – DAVID YARROW
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 52” x 103” in (132.1 cm x 261.6 cm)
- Framed Image: 67” x 118” in (170.2 cm x 299.7 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 39” x 77” in (99.06 cm x 195.6 cm)
- Framed Image: 54” x 92” in (137.2 cm x 233.7 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.
O Captain! My Captain!
Dinokeng, South Africa – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
“The creative premise behind this photograph evolved in the full knowledge that there would be a very low percentage success rate. Sometimes I don’t even press the shutter and then the times that I do shoot, there is normally something that kills the image. But that is part of the deal: we are gambling. It’s a bit like a Hail Mary pass in American Football, so many fortunate things must align for there to be a good outcome.
The biggest issue, assuming the lion jumps over the water (which is not a given), is precise focus. I used to use remote controls in this set up, but the camera is only so smart and I prefer to be operating the camera. So now I work from a strategically positioned heavy cage with a wide-angle lens and hope that the lion jumps towards me. When any moving object is this close to the lens, the greater the need for a very fast shutter speed.
This photograph makes up for my countless failures. It is a credit to Kevin Richardson’s skills at his sanctuary in South Africa – he is not known as The Lion Whisperer for no reason. We have worked together for over 14 years now and the monies raised from our partnership have gone a long way to securing the long-term future of his lauded sanctuary. Kevin knows more about lions and lion behaviour than anyone and I totally recognize that he brings more to the party than I do. To watch him at work is quite extraordinary and it is an honour to be given such access.”- David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 62” in (142.2 cm x 157.5 cm)
- Framed Image: 77” x 71” in (180.3 cm x 195.6 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 41” x 37” in (93.98 cm x 104.1 cm)
- Framed Image: 56” x 52” in (132.1 cm x 142.2 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.