Capri
Capri, Italy – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
“La Fontelina is the most celebrated beach club on the most fabled holiday island in the world. On that basis, it must be a special place and indeed it is. Nestling in the rocks and sea pools in front of the Faraglioni sea stacks, it casts an immediate visual spell on any visitor. If the protagonists in Game of Thrones had a favoured place to eat, it would be located here.
I had not been to La Fontelina before 2024 because I had never been to Capri, but on my first visual exposure to the venue, I recognised that it was aesthetically without equal.
Doing a photo shoot here requires many skills in addition to those employed when operating a camera. Most crucially, I needed to win the support of the owners Gaetano and Mario Gargiulo. Their generational success story meant that they needed neither a cash backhander nor some lame pictures for their Instagram account. Every day throughout the European summer they run and own one of the hottest tickets and they rightly focus on the constancy of excellence in their service rather than catering to film makers.
I met Gaetona first as a customer and then it became my sole purpose in life to win him over and let me shoot a DY typical tableaux at his most beautiful club. Capri is to Neapolitans what the Hamptons is to New Yorkers and I hoped I had one trick – my image of Diego Maradona from Mexico 1986 – up my sleeve. Maradona is adored in Naples for bringing the local club the league title in 1987 and I figured that a gift or two of my well-known image could help my cause. I was right – and yet again I owe Diego.
And so it was, early one morning this summer, I assembled a cast in La Fontelina. I knew the deck chair formations and the movement of the sun long before that day, as this was not a shoot to make mistakes on. I had sensed some empty space in front of the southerly stack and worked with local fisherman to sort that out, but I was also conscious of the need to fully showcase the famous parasols without blocking any of the leads. The scene was choreographed for those with familiarity and I was conscious of the need to elicit rich memories.
In my mind a photographic tableaux is all about the space between the people and the props and La Fontelina certainly gives you every chance. I like this photograph a great deal, but I care more that Gaetona and Mario want to hang it on their rustic wall at La Fontelina in time for next season. That is really all the matters to me, as it may mean I have a chance of getting a table.
What a place it is”- David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 49” x 103” in (124.5 cm x 261.6 cm)
- Framed Image: 64” x 118” in (162.6 cm x 299.7 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 78” in (93.98 cm x 180.3 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 93” in (132.1 cm 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.
The Last Days of Summer
Capri, Italy – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
“No island in the world elicits a greater sense of golden idleness and a freewheeling love of the pleasures of life than the Italian island of Capri. As far back as 500 BC, the Greeks saw it as a rocky paradise of hedonism and much more recently they were followed by the Marquis de Sade and Oscar Wilde. Even if only half the stories of the debauchery in Capri are true, it has been a good host island to those who believe that life is for living.
There is a unique beauty to the place and a refined simplicity that seduced Hollywood in the 1950s and Jacqueline Kennedy not long after. I sense that Capri does not have to try too hard, because it doesn’t really need to; everything is there and most of it always will be. There is security in the longevity of tenure.
The island’s greatest trick is to offer a sense of belonging to visitors. Our cousins from across the pond, who come every year in their thousands, call it “little America”. That’s quite a stretch, but no doubt there is a century long love affair between America and Capri.
The island’s iconic rock formation – The Faraglioni – is the geological pantheon of the island and I knew that at some stage this summer I would use its vertical grandeur as a backdrop in my European storytelling. Of course, these sea stacks are over photographed, and I needed a fresh foreground that played to the lore of the island. It takes time to determine the right location to shoot from as so many angles have become a little generic.
There is one land location near Marina Piccola where I could take an old Vespa and this was a shot I hadn’t seen before. Logistically it’s not that easy to get access with a bike. Just after sunrise, the rocks are kissed from behind by gentle sunlight and I knew that if I shot into the rising sun, I could engineer a rather dreamy canvas.
The girls played their roles exactly as directed: I wanted both sexual confidence and a sense that their behaviour was not always coming from the highest moral drawer. That would be fitting for an island blessed by an intoxicating sense of fun and freedom.” – David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 103” in (142.2 cm x 261.6 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 118” in (180.3 cm x 299.7 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 71” in (93.98 cm x 180.3 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 86” in (132.1 cm x 218.4 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 Last Days of Summer (B&W)
Capri, Italy – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
“No island in the world elicits a greater sense of golden idleness and a freewheeling love of the pleasures of life than the Italian island of Capri. As far back as 500 BC, the Greeks saw it as a rocky paradise of hedonism and much more recently they were followed by the Marquis de Sade and Oscar Wilde. Even if only half the stories of the debauchery in Capri are true, it has been a good host island to those who believe that life is for living.
There is a unique beauty to the place and a refined simplicity that seduced Hollywood in the 1950s and Jacqueline Kennedy not long after. I sense that Capri does not have to try too hard, because it doesn’t really need to; everything is there and most of it always will be. There is security in the longevity of tenure.
The island’s greatest trick is to offer a sense of belonging to visitors. Our cousins from across the pond, who come every year in their thousands, call it “little America”. That’s quite a stretch, but no doubt there is a century long love affair between America and Capri.
The island’s iconic rock formation – The Faraglioni – is the geological pantheon of the island and I knew that at some stage this summer I would use its vertical grandeur as a backdrop in my European storytelling. Of course, these sea stacks are over photographed, and I needed a fresh foreground that played to the lore of the island. It takes time to determine the right location to shoot from as so many angles have become a little generic.
There is one land location near Marina Piccola where I could take an old Vespa and this was a shot I hadn’t seen before. Logistically it’s not that easy to get access with a bike. Just after sunrise, the rocks are kissed from behind by gentle sunlight and I knew that if I shot into the rising sun, I could engineer a rather dreamy canvas.
The girls played their roles exactly as directed: I wanted both sexual confidence and a sense that their behaviour was not always coming from the highest moral drawer. That would be fitting for an island blessed by an intoxicating sense of fun and freedom.” – David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 103” in (142.2 cm x 261.6 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 118” in (180.3 cm x 299.7 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 71” in (93.98 cm x 180.3 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 86” in (132.1 cm x 218.4 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.
Octopussy (Colour)
Capri, Italy – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 76” in (142.2 cm x 193 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 91” in (180.3 cm x 231.1 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” in (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.
Octopussy
Capri, Italy – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 76” in (142.2 cm x 193 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 91” in (180.3 cm x 231.1 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” in (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.
Positano (Colour)
Amalfi Coast, Italy – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 93” in (142.2 cm x 236.2 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 108” in (180.3 cm x 274.3 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 62” in (93.98 cm x 157.5 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 77” in (132.1 cm x 195.6 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.
Positano
Amalfi Coast, Italy – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 93” in (142.2 cm x 236.2 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 108” in (180.3 cm x 274.3 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 62” in (93.98 cm x 157.5 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 77” in (132.1 cm x 195.6 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.
Diego
Atrani, Italy – 2024
Archival Pigment Prin
“In retrospect, I owe Diego Maradona a great deal; without him, I would not have had the provenance of a career starting all the way back to that extraordinary World Cup in Mexico in 1986 which he owned, both metaphorically and literally. I got lucky on the day of the final and the photograph of him, arms aloft with the trophy, remains one of the most important of my life.
But Neapolitans had gotten even luckier when their debt-ridden club bought Diego Maradona from Barcelona in the summer of 1984. It was an enormous financial gamble for a club teetering on insolvency and history now looks back fondly on the courage of the owner Corrado Ferlaino.
It is impossible to overstate the importance of Maradona to the city – no sportsman has ever offered such level of redemption and hope to an otherwise disadvantaged community and when Maradona’s Napoli won the Italian title in 1987, his legacy was secure. To this day, many Neapolitans have two paintings above their bed – Jesus Christ and Maradona. It was an intoxicating love affair between man and city masterfully articulated in the Asif Kapadia 2019 documentary “Maradona”, which briefly features my photograph from 1986.
For a generation now, the giant murals of Maradona, dotted around Naples and the neighbouring towns, have become tourist destinations in themselves. They are part of the aesthetic fabric of this most magical and raw part of Europe. Diego was so much more than just a sportsman; he was a modern-day saviour in this godfearing and deeply spiritual place.
My idea was to use a Maradona mural as a background layer in a celebration of life in the wider Naples area. The styling and props were necessarily skewed towards the time when Maradona still played for Napoli, and I sensed the need for a busy street narrative. I wanted to evoke a very definite sense of place. There is nowhere quite like it in the world.” – David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 98” in (142.2 cm x 248.9 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 113” in (180.3 cm x 287 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 65” in (93.98 cm x 165.1 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 80” in (132.1 cm x 203.2 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.
The Beach Boys
Atrani, Italy – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
“The beach at Atrani on the Amalfi Coast may lack the pristine white grandeur of the beaches of Pampelonne in St Tropez, and it comes without illicit tales of Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim or the international jet set, but it is no poor cousin, as it boasts of as timeless and historic a backdrop as any beach in the world. It is picture postcard Italy at its celestial best.
Telling a story with a backdrop as visually arresting as this has its challenges; it is easy to fall into the trap of being gratuitous. I was not the first photographer to stand here and I won’t be the last. In the same way that it is creatively timid to simply plonk a cowboy in front of the Grand Canyon, I knew it would be artistically lame to take an individual portrait in front of that famous stretch of the Amalfi Coast.
I found some inspiration from Mario Testino’s work in Copacabana Beach in Rio some 26 years ago and I am never ashamed of being a sponge. As Ansel Adams instructed us, “photography is often about the pictures of others”, but we just need to execute in our own way.
The beach boys I used that day were all Neapolitans and I told them to enjoy themselves with Brooks Nader – a leading Sports Illustrated swimsuit model and a girl with absurd energy levels. This was not their hardest day at the office, but equally, they had to be as natural and as free as the seas to their left.
Photographing a group is never easy; most images don’t stack up as one person can tend to kill an image. But there is a unity of joy in this image and everyone is bang on. It could have been taken 50 years ago and that was very much my intent.” – David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 63” in (142.2 cm x 160 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 78” in (180.3 cm x 198.1 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 42” in (93.98 cm x 106.7 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 57” in (132.1 cm x 144.8 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 Fisherman's Wife
Fiordo Di Furore, Italy – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
“Antonio, my friend and fixer in Positano, is rightly proud of his 80-year-old father, Vito, who has been an octopus and lobster fisherman on the Amalfi Coast all his working life. That is a tour of duty that currently spans 62 years and there is no sign of an imminent denouement. He has leveraged his familiarity with the Tyrrhenian Sea to maximum effect and leads a full and happy life.
Like so many skilled Neapolitan traders, he has no elevated sense of worth, simply regarding himself as the current incumbent of a family practice passed down from generation to generation. There is a palpable sense of custodianship and duty that humbled us all.
It is not easy to navigate a fishing boat into the visually arresting and tight Fiordo di Furore, but I knew I wanted to film Vito working his craft in there because the backdrop is ridiculously good. It is one of the great sights in the whole of Italy, but that is a known known, and by 9.30 am it is too crowded with tourists and beachgoers to film. It is an early morning gig for anyone in my profession or a winter job.
When we arrived at the ocean entrance at around 8.10 am, I had the famous Sports Illustrated swimsuit model – Brooks Nader – in our boat as we were transferring her by sea between sets (that is the only way on the Amalfi Coast). As our two boats united in the narrow fjord entrance, I could see Vito’s excitement at my company and meanwhile Brooks is far from shy. Spontaneously, we transferred her into his boat and both boats fought with currents and waves for the right angle for the camera. It was not easy for anyone, least of all Brooks with that lobster.
For a glimpse of a second, it came together, and we had our playful parody. When the cameras were laid down and calm was restored, I asked Vito – “What can we tell people? Who is the woman in your boat? What is the story?”
“It’s my wife, of course”, he replied with the deadpan face of an Amalfi fisherman who has seen most things in his 80 years.”” – David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 57” x 56” in (144.8 cm x 142.2 cm)
- Framed Image: 72” x 71” in (182.9 cm x 180.3 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 38” x 37” in (96.52 cm x 93.98 cm)
- Framed Image: 53” x 52” in (134.6 cm 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.