Crazy Horse
Montana, USA 2018
In June 1876, the Battle of Little Bighorn – commonly known as Custer’s Last Stand – was played out not far from the location of this remote saloon in Montana. For Americans of all ethnicities with a thirst for history, Big Horn has become something of a pilgrimage and for those with a thirst for alcohol, the saloon is the only place to get a beer within a 70 mile radius.
The US 7th Cavalry suffered big losses in the two-day battle – over 300 men – and the bravery of General Custer has become the stuff of legends. But so too the Crow Indians – who celebrate the occasion every year on its 25th June anniversary. The names of the Lakota Sioux Chiefs are now so familiar – Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Lame White Man and Two Moon. Arguably no battle in the history of the world has been of greater inspiration for naming pubs and nightclubs than The Battle of Little Big Horn.
The Crow Indians remain revered and as a result of some networking, I had the opportunity to meet with the current Crow Chief – a direct descendent of those that fought alongside Custer 140 years ago. Bulltail was an older man of great dignity and whilst he spoke some English, it was clear that Crow was his language of choice – as well it should be.
He agreed to be photographed by me and I had a preconception of what we could do. My idea was simply to cram the view finder with as many characters as possible and use the limited depth of field to prioritise the pivotal players in the scene. Preferably there would be some sense of movement – and the responsibility for that would lie with the wolf. Everything else was secondary to the wolf being sharp and I knew I could rely on the model – she always nails it.
This photograph is very much made in Montana and has been received well by many of my friends in the state. Equally, however, I think it should appeal to all those that find a visceral pull towards The Wild West.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56" x 99" (143 cm x 252 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 110" (171 cm x 280 cm)
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your artwork. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
Coyote Ugly
Big Timber, Montana 2019
Any town with a name like Big Timber immediately grabs my attention. It just sounds like a place with an interesting past. As it is, this modest community of 1500 to the west of Livingston in Montana, is a little run down and sleepy. It is nestled between the Crazies mountain range to the north and Yellowstone to the south and most people simply pass it by.
However, in trawling the internet, we discovered a saloon bar in the high street with neon signage on the facade that caught my interest. We visited the location and there was certainly potential, but clearly the shot would have to take place at night.
There was then an immediate problem, as we discovered that the bar was the central congregation point for all the mountain men – not just from Big Timber, but from far and wide. To bring a wolf and a Victoria’s Secret model to the entrance and shoot when the bar was open, was simple asking for trouble.
The only viable option was immediately obvious – to shoot at 5 am, when hopefully most of the clientele had had enough, though in Montana, one can never be sure. Normal drinking hours don’t apply in this state.
As it was, we were okay and the bar owner agreed to keep the neon lights on for us. e next issue was simply that when we were in position, it was around -20 degrees – fine for the wolf, but a little chilly for California’s Josie Canseco.
She is, however, a trooper and we got the job done. My narrative was simply that the couple had hooked up inside the bar and were rushing home. e wolf certainly looks like he has a smile on his face – who can blame him.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56" x 61" (143 cm x 155 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 72" (171 cm x 183 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 37" x 41" (94 cm x 105 cm)
- Framed: 48" x 52" (122 cm x 132 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.
Cindy's Shotgun Wedding
Nevada City, Montana, 2019
You don’t get a second chance to work with Cindy Crawford, so there was obviously a little pressure. I took her to a place I know well – the ghost town of Nevada City, Montana as I hoped familiarity with the light and the angles would help me. I needed as many variables under my control as possible on an ambitious story line. The one thing we could not manage or predict was the weather and last week it was cold.
If Cindy was outside her comfort zone with the temperatures so low and a big wolf as a companion, she did not flinch. She is professional, stoic and game and it was an honour to work with a true American idol. She sets a high bar on so many levels.
It was a big effort for her to fly from LA to hang out with me and my team whom she had never met before and then work in freezing temperatures with some big wolves. She never complained and took no fee at all. Quite amazing.
Proceeds from the sales of this image – Cindy’s Shotgun Wedding – will go towards her notable charity work – focused on raising money for children with cancer. She nailed the image and I think everyone will agree she looks fantastic.
I am very fortunate that she trusted me to do this and I am humbled by her professionalism and grace.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 20
- Image: 56" x 88" (143 cm x 224 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 99" (171 cm x 252 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 20
- Image: 37" x 58" (94 cm x 148 cm)
- Framed: 48" x 69" (122 cm x 176 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.
Chicago
Chicago, Illinois 2019
This is is a big photograph of a big street in a big city. La Salle in Chicago, looking towards the Chicago Board of Trade building, is an iconic American urban view. Sam Mendes used it in the mobster classic – The Road to Perdition – and it has been glorified in many Batman iterations.
Chicago is urban beauty at its best and the presence of such a big building at the end of a street offers opportunities that Manhattan simply does not give. The eye is grabbed and then led deep into the vortex of Gotham.
I wanted a story that was cinematic and visceral and my founding principal was that we had to shoot at night. We could then wet the road to enhance reflections and deliver mood and use smoke machines to give the scene a gangster throwback feel. I spent a few hours in daylight on several intersections of La Salle pondering my lens selection and the right position. is aspect of the job was under my control and I had to get it right.
There was a riddle in that the Chicago Police Department was wonderful, but understandably would only close down the street after midnight, by which time the Board of Trade has switched off the flood lights on its iconic building. This was a problem and we had to move one of these variables in our favour. With some charm and a few dollars, the Board of Trade agreed to help us and the lights went back on until 4am.
I deliberately played with verticals in the composition because I felt that the retro Northern Trust sign was a useful vertical twin to the Board of Trade. There was a consistent play on height – so why not supplement this with a tall gangster and then most implausibly a tall wolf?
Great photographs can be looked at for a long time. I will leave others to decide if this is a great image, but I do know that it can be looked at for a very long time.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56" x 79" (143 cm x 201 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 90" (171 cm x 229 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 37" x 52" (94 cm x 132 cm)
- Framed: 48" x 63" (122 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.
Chateau Marmont
Los Angeles, USA 2019
It was always my intent to shoot somewhere on Sunset Boulevard as part of our American Road trip series. It is such an iconic stretch of road that has played host to Hollywood stars and their cars for generations. The stretch heading west from Chateau Marmont to the Sunset Plaza is a rich feast for filmmakers, framed on either side with enormous billboards. Sunset Boulevard takes people on their own American dream – it is difficult not to feel energised when driving on it.
But it is far from easy to photograph here – it is a busy highway and the only time it can be closed down for filming tends to be early on a Sunday morning. Furthermore, to be able to use wolves in the car – integral to the theme of the series – West Hollywood was out of bounds as they do not allow the use of exotic animals in outdoor filming. Hollywood, however, does and the boundary line is right by Chateau Marmont.
To an extent, this made our choice of location relatively straightforward. Including the Chateau billboards or the Chateau itself would locate the image emphatically. The Castle On Sunset, as it is now affectionately known, is notorious – conjuring up imagery of sex, drugs and general bad behaviour. This is not a place that lends itself to reserved or quiet weekends. I saw a narrative that played to this reputation – and this demanded a frame that was both suggestive and sexy.
Alessandra Ambrosio is synonymous with the Victoria’s Secret brand. The Brazilian model has been pivotal to their shows and campaigns for years and I was delighted that she agreed to work with me. As always, I want to thank my dear friend Ed Razek – who helped make this possible. Alessandra is a stunning woman and very suited to the 1970’s look we styled her in.
The wolves were not easy to work with and we only had a limited opportunity between sunrise and 10 am when our permit expired. It was a morning of thinking fast and reacting to circumstances as we found them.
The end result is hopefully playful and sexy. What wolf wouldn’t want to arrive with Alessandra at the Chateau?
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56" x 87" (143 cm x 221 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 98" (171 cm x 249 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 37" x 58" (94 cm x 148 cm)
- Framed: 48" x 69" (122 cm x 176 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.
Castle on Sunset
Los Angeles, CA 2019
It was always my intent to shoot somewhere on Sunset Boulevard as part of our American Road trip series. It is such an iconic stretch of road that has played host to Hollywood stars and their cars for generations. The stretch heading west from Chateau Marmont to the Sunset Plaza is a rich feast for filmmakers, framed on either side with enormous billboards. Sunset Boulevard takes people on their own American dream – it is difficult not to feel energised when driving on it.
But it is far from easy to photograph here – it is a busy highway and the only time it can be closed down for filming tends to be early on a Sunday morning. Furthermore, to be able to use wolves in the car – integral to the theme of the series – West Hollywood was out of bounds as they do not allow the use of exotic animals in outdoor filming. Hollywood, however, does and the boundary line is right by Chateau Marmont.
To an extent, this made our choice of location relatively straightforward. Including the Chateau billboards or the Chateau itself would locate the image emphatically. The Castle On Sunset, as it is now affectionately known, is notorious – conjuring up imagery of sex, drugs and general bad behaviour. This is not a place that lends itself to reserved or quiet weekends. I saw a narrative that played to this reputation – and this demanded a frame that was both suggestive and sexy.
The wolves were not easy to work with and we only had a limited opportunity between sunrise and 10 am when our permit expired. It was a morning of thinking fast and reacting to circumstances as we found them.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56" x 81" (143 x 206 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 92" (171 cm x 234 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 37" x 54" (94 x 138 cm)
- Framed: 48" x 65" (122 cm x 165 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.
Bonnie and Clyde
Butte, Montana, USA – 2020
I had the great fortune to meet Warren Beatty in LA and was totally in awe. Since then I have always wanted to find a picture that I could cheekily name after one of his big films. After this day in Butte, Montana, I had my chance.
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were an American criminal couple who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression. They were known for their bank robberies, although they preferred to rob small stores or rural gas stations. Their exploits captured the attention of the American press and its readership during what is occasionally referred to as the “public enemy era” between 1931 and 1934. They are believed to have murdered at least nine police officers and four civilians. They were killed in May 1934 during a police ambush.
Bonnie and Clyde – the 1967 American biographical crime film starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the title characters – was a landmark film and won two Oscars.
It is considered one of the first films of the New Hollywood as it broke many cinematic taboos and for some members of the counterculture, the film was considered to be a “rallying cry”. Its success prompted other filmmakers to be more open in presenting sex and violence in their films.
Warren Beatty, who produced the movie, always wanted to make the film in black and white, but Warner Bros rejected the idea. It still made the studio 40 times its investment. My little ode to Warren is very much in black and white. The wolf does him proud and Kate Bock makes for an excellent modern-day Faye Dunaway. Meanwhile, Butte remains how it was left in the 1930s.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56" x 76" (143 cm x 193 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 87" (171 cm x 221 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 37" x 50" (94 cm x 127 cm)
- Framed: 48" x 61" (122 cm x 155 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.
American Hustle
Montana, 2019
It was by pure chance that we found this treasure trove of a saloon bar off a remote country road in Western Montana. Time appeared to have stood still for over 100 years and as an authentic “Final Frontier” canvas on which to tell a story, I have never seen a better room in which to work. There was not one hint of modernity and the wooden and leather finish to the pool table was absolutely remarkable. The attention to detail throughout the bar was exceptional – the Bucking Horse is a labour of love for its owner – a true mountain man called John Crane.
48 hours before Cindy’s arrival, we spent a morning in the bar exploring every angle. The window light was okay, but the ambient light was marginal and it was clear we only had one angle to work with as I could not shoot towards the two windows. Luckily, with my maximum wide-angle lens, we could, from the chosen position, include enough of the bar to do it justice and also major on the pool table – which was the standout feature of the saloon.
The next question was what to do? This is an outstanding location and we needed to do it justice. We knew that the pool table would be critical and if we were to bring a wolf into the mix, he would need to be involved in the game.
On the day of the shoot, Cindy killed it – she was such a presence and that was exactly what I asked for. She owns the bar with her sovereign and authoritative look. I wanted to create a final frontier vignette that had a menacing overlay – no out of towner is coming into this territorial bolthole, playing pool and leaving with the cash. It is Wild West American hustle.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 20
- Image: 56" x 76" (143 cm x 193 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 95" (171 cm x 242 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 20
- Image: 37" x 56" (94 cm x 143 cm)
- Framed: 48" x 67" (122 cm x 171 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.
A Street Car Named Desire
Montana, USA 2018
I have wrestled with how I could convey the drama of a wolf encounter for some time. The problem, in my mind, was that I wanted the tension of proximity to be coupled with a palpable sense that the drama was yet to be played out – it could go either way. I wondered how Hitchcock would work this – it was not good enough to have distance between the two subjects as focus would then be an issue. The wolf and human needed to be equidistant from the camera to make them both sharp.
Then one day in Montana three years ago, high up in the mountains, I saw an abandoned farm truck not far from the main road. It had probably been there for over 60 years and was now just a rusty shell. It clearly offered potential to play out this concept but ideally I needed fresh snow on the bonnet and roof. The more virginal the snow cover the better.
This year I had my fresh snow and in Roxanna Redfoot, I had the perfect girl to cast in the role of the prey. The doors would not budge and she had to climb in through the broken window – but that was not a big deal for Roxanna even in tough temperatures. She is a rock star and I have no doubt that Hitchcock would have cast her at every opportunity.
It’s one of those images in which simply everything works.
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.
True Grit
It is integral to my style of animal portraiture to obsess on the lead characteristics of the subject and then look to magnify those characteristics. I always want a Champions League model, not a Third Division player. When I photograph African elephants, for instance, I work in Kenya which boasts the biggest, most magnificent elephants in the world. I would never go to Botswana to photograph an elephant – they are smaller than their East African cousins. With cowboys, I am drawn to the great state of Texas – where the most authentic, uncompromising, working cowboys in the world live their lives. The flat and arid, big sky topography of West Texas offers a distinctive canvas that not just locates an image, it also lends a stage on which to take a dynamic portrait. Texan cowboys are the real deal and the vastness of west Texas is their workplace.
On set on the Rio Grande, which divides America from Mexico, I met a working cowboy called Ryan Marshall. Mannered and tough, he boasted not only extraordinary horsemanship skills, but a bountiful and ageless moustache and beard. I knew that I had to take his portrait in full partnership with his magnificent horse, Frisco, and we had already scouted the perfect location and had been granted access to it the following day. The deal was done. The photograph wins because of its vitality and power, but also because of Ryan’s anonymity. I am an eyes person, but on this occasion, we don’t need them. This is west Texas and all the ‘True Grit’ that goes with it.
Available size options with and without framing are below;
- Large: 67 x 113 inches framed
- Standard: 48 x 78 inches framed
We ship worldwide and use a multitude of providers to safely deliver your artwork. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.