Summit (Colour)
Arizona, USA – 2022
The modern and enlightened narrative on post-Civil War meetings between cowboys and native Americans homes in on communication as opposed to conflict. Of course, the truth was somewhere between the two and the Comanche in particular were not renowned for holding summits with those travelling west.
The work of Charlie Russell, the celebrated American painter of the wild west, has certainly influenced me as he understood how the grandeur of the American West added an extra character for free into his frontier storytelling. He also was sympathetic to the depiction of Native Americans and his work more often embodied a sense of peace not aggression. Given the amount of time he spent living with The Blackfeet Nation in Montana in the late 1880s, this is instructive.
There could be no more jaw dropping backdrop for this meeting than Monument Valley; it is the beating heart of the South West. But to take this photograph was a big logistical exercise and we wonder whether we may have broken new ground here. The route up the escarpment to the south is just too steep for most horsemen. I can’t find anything quite like it and that is always a good moment.
It was a cold morning at that altitude, even in October and the light snow cover adds an additional layer to the story. It is very much my kind of photograph.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 56” x 88” in (142.2 cm x 223.5 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 103” in (180.3 cm x 261.6 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image size: 37” x 58” in (93.98 cm x 147.3 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 73” in (132.1 cm x 185.4 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.
Summit (B&W)
Arizona, USA – 2022
The modern and enlightened narrative on post-Civil War meetings between cowboys and native Americans homes in on communication as opposed to conflict. Of course, the truth was somewhere between the two and the Comanche in particular were not renowned for holding summits with those travelling west.
The work of Charlie Russell, the celebrated American painter of the wild west, has certainly influenced me as he understood how the grandeur of the American West added an extra character for free into his frontier storytelling. He also was sympathetic to the depiction of Native Americans and his work more often embodied a sense of peace not aggression. Given the amount of time he spent living with The Blackfeet Nation in Montana in the late 1880s, this is instructive.
There could be no more jaw dropping backdrop for this meeting than Monument Valley; it is the beating heart of the South West. But to take this photograph was a big logistical exercise and we wonder whether we may have broken new ground here. The route up the escarpment to the south is just too steep for most horsemen. I can’t find anything quite like it and that is always a good moment.
It was a cold morning at that altitude, even in October and the light snow cover adds an additional layer to the story. It is very much my kind of photograph.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 56” x 88” in (142.2 x 223.5 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 103” in (180.3 x 261.6 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 37” x 58” in (93.98 x 147.3 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 73” in (132.1 x 185.4 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.
Well, I’m A-Standin' on a Corner in Winslow, Arizona
Winslow, Arizona – 2022
“Well, I’m a-standin’ on a corner In Winslow, Arizona
Such a fine sight to see
It’s a girl, my Lord,
In a flat-bed Ford
Slowin’ down to take a look at me
These famous lyrics from The Eagles 1972 smash hit “Take It Easy” are sung every day of every year in bars throughout America. Winslow should not be on any map, never mind in someone’s head, but then the Eagles came along and secured this unremarkable town’s fame.
For some months I had laboured over how best to tell this story. Google has changed all our lives, but I still think there is no replacement for a site vis- it. And so, with no crew or cameras, I found myself on a corner in Winslow, Arizona and just looked and looked.
The commemorative statues and the facade with the flatbed Ford offered a good backdrop to which I could add many more men standing in that corner. The sense of place could be a blurred merger of the facade and then my extras. The facade is so good; I particularly liked the couple making out through the upstairs window.
The truth is that the sassy girl in the car was just a little too good for the adoring men of Winslow. It was a fine sight to see, but that was where the story ended. Everyone was standing that day – including the girl and her unlikely passenger.
Take it easy.”
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image size: 56” x 94" in (142.24 cm x 238.76 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 109” in (180.34 cm x 276.86 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image size: 37” x 62" (93.98 cm x 157.48 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 77" (132.08 cm x 195.58 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.
Route 66
Arizona, USA – 2022
“Route 66 – The Mother Road – will al- ways be a symbol of America’s post war freedom and geographical mo- bility. It evokes imagery of roadside motels, diners and 1950s Cadillacs. America is the home of the road trip and Route 66 is its poster child.
Much of the road that ran from Santa Monica through California, Arizona, New Mexico and then north to Chicago has either disappeared or been supplanted by interstate highways, but good sections of it do remain, as do the towns that grew up servicing the needs of those on the road.
In the autumn of 2022, I scouted for shooting locations in California and Arizona that would emphatically offer a Route 66 vibe and I found it to be a challenge. So many of the motels and diners along the route are either abandoned or worse still have become rather kitsch tourist at- tractions. To find a set that was both authentic and operational seemed mutually exclusive.
But then I stumbled across the town of Holbrook – 100 miles east of Flag- staff in Arizona. There are some real gems in this small town and none more so than the Wigwam Motel that saddles up right next to Route 66.
We went to see the owner – a charming man called Clifton Lewis – and he agreed to allow us to film in the courtyard outside the reception. It was ideal for what we were looking for.
The Wigwam Motel is still operation- al and was fully occupied the night of the shoot, so some of us stayed in a properly rundown motel around the corner. My room rate was $56 which I felt was perhaps $50 too expensive. But it was all so worth it. Holbrook is as good a canvas on which to tell a Route 66 story as I know; to drive through sections of the old town is to go back 60 years.
I chose Josie Canseco as the lead on this project as I knew she could wear a glamorous 1950s vibe very well. I was right and this photograph is as good as I could have imagined when I started exploring the creative concept.
Have you slept in a Wigwam lately?”
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image size: 56” x 74" (142.24 cm x 187.96 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 89” (180.34 cm x 226.06 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image size: 37” x 49" (93.98 cm x 124.46 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 64” (132.08 cm x 162.56 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.
Raising Arizona
Monument Valley, Arizona – 2022
“When filming in Monument Valley in the spring of 2022, I asked our Navajo Guide whether there was a possibility to shoot from the rock structures to the south that stand high above the amphitheater of mesas and monoliths. It struck me that this position of height could offer an extraordinary back drop of what is the beating heart of Southwest America.
He said it was possible, but that we would need permits and we would also need to camp up the mountains if we wanted to shoot in low light – the 15-mile journey by powerful 4-wheel drive from Kayenta is a challenge and can take up to 3 hours. There are no roads and the vehicles must face terrain that makes most off-road Land Rover car adverts look lame.
My plan was to film cowboys at the top of the escarpment and offer a layered photograph featuring one of America’s great vistas. I have seen many pictures of Monument Valley, but never this composition. That excited me, after all, originality in a place as well documented as this, is critical. John Ford got here long before me.
We chose the most experienced West Texan cowboys we knew and they traveled west to Arizona with their lead horses. But we then encountered a massive and unexpected problem – the cowboys – who are as tough as old boots, felt the ride up the cliff face was too challenging for their horses. That offers some context as to why the end photograph here is authentic; it is a problem to get horses up to the top.
Our unlikely solution was to ask the Navajo locals to ride their mustang horses up the mountain. After-all, it’s their land and only they know the safest route to the top. Some dollars changed hands and they agreed to collaborate. The Texan cowboys meanwhile hitched a lift in the 4-wheel drive and were teased by me for not being up to the challenge.
We all camped up the top that night – 4 of my team, 3 cowboys and 5 wonderful Navajo fixers. The Navajo made a fire and cooked us a steak dinner under the stars; it made for a very special memory.”
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 46” x 103" in (116.84 cm x 261.62 cm)
- Framed Image: 61” x 118” in (154.94 cm x 299.72 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 34” x 77" in (86.36 cm x 195.58 cm)
- Framed Image: 49” x 92" in (124.46 cm x 233.68 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.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
USA – 2021
The majesty and grandeur of the American South West is without equal and has been a canvas for artists for over 100 years. Early Hollywood directors, such as John Ford, were known for framing their characters against the vast, harsh, and rugged natural terrain. Arguably the location scouting industry was born in the South West of America.
Monument Valley in Arizona, where we have often filmed, is probably the flagship location. But 100 miles east of there, in New Mexico, lies Shiprock – a unique towering, bird-like volcanic rock formation that can be seen for miles in all directions. It rises vertically nearly 1,600 feet above the high-desert plain of the Navajo and in my view is as impactful as any location in America.
The first question though was how could we best make use of search a sight. We had to have a complementary narrative and we also had to play the light to our advantage. On a clear day at Shiprock, as we have learnt from experience, the light becomes suboptimal as little as 15 minutes after sunrise; it is just too strong and Shiprock itself lights up like a bonfire. The best plan is to shoot almost exactly at sunrise, allowing enough light for the characters in the narrative to have detail and not so much direct light on the rock itself. It is a fine line to get right, but I think we finally achieved it.
This image smells of the great push West and the crew did a fabulous job. It is always satisfying to warp a shoot long before most people are out of bed.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
Standard
- Image size: 37" x 56"
- Framed with a 3" mat: 48" x 67"
- Framed with a 5" mat: 52" x 71"
Large
- Image size: 56" x 84"
- Framed with a 3" mat: 67" x 95"
- Framed with a 5" mat: 71" x 99”
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.