Buffalo Joe's
Big Timber, Montana – 2023
“This is one hell of a saloon. Nicolas Cage recently held court here in a scene from the 2023 movie The Old Way. I was visually drawn to the two-tiered structure and the staircase connecting one to the other and I knew it could offer another layer in which to tell a story of life in a wild west bar.
I don’t think I am saying anything original when I say that focus is the key word in the vernacular of photography. Focus should deliberately include or it should deliberately exclude . When working in minimal light conditions like this old saloon, the starting premise is to know that 90% of the frame will be out of focus and to be excited rather than worried about it. It is an advantage not a disadvantage.
I think this photograph is made by the very limited depth of field not hampered by it. The cowboys in the back are pivotal to the story, but they can have anonymity as they are contextual. Meanwhile the girls and the wolf must be sharp as they lead the story. That was the hard bit, as the wolf has a spring in his step.
The two saloon girls were directed to have a look of menace and that’s exactly what they gave me. It’s difficult to play that look and keep your femininity and hats off to Brooks Nader and Holly Graves. All 20 people in the saloon did great and that’s what makes the frame sweat.”
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 56” x 85” in (142.2 cm x 215.9 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 100” in (180.3 cm x 254 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 37” x 56” in (93.98 cm x 142.2 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 71” (132.1 cm x 180.3 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.
Deadwood
Big Timber, Montana – 2023
“As we continue our journey across the length and breadth of America, there is one place that we keep returning to with a frequency that hints at a very strong bond. That place is Montana. For film makers it offers so many canvases on which to tell stories; from majestic “Big Sky” scenery to marooned saloons where the walls talk of the olden days.
Over the years we have established deep friendships in the state with locals who can help either as extras or in logistics. I feel we have the full tool kit here and it shows in our work.
I am not alone in feeling a visceral sense of belonging when I step outside Bozeman airport. As the great American writer John Steinbeck wrote of Montana:
“For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love, and it’s difficult to analyse love when you’re in it.”
This photograph, taken with American model Brooks Nader, makes me smile. It’s The Crazy Mountains in the background and as all those who know Brooks will testify, she operates just outside sanity. But she is smart, adorable and the camera loves her.”
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 48” x 102” in (121.9 cm x 259.1 cm)
- Framed Image: 63” x 117” in (160 cm x 297.2 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 37” x 79” in (93.98 cm x 200.7 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 94” (132.1 cm x 238.8 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.
Montana Baby
Big Timber, Montana – 2023
“As we continue our journey across the length and breadth of America, there is one place that we keep returning to with a frequency that hints at a very strong bond. That place is Montana. For film makers it offers so many canvases on which to tell stories; from majestic “Big Sky” scenery to marooned saloons where the walls talk of the olden days.
Over the years we have established deep friendships in the state with locals who can help either as extras or in logistics. I feel we have the full tool kit here and it shows in our work.
I am not alone in feeling a visceral sense of belonging when I step outside Bozeman airport. As the great American writer John Steinbeck wrote of Montana:
“For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love, and it’s difficult to analyse love when you’re in it.”
This photograph, taken with American model Brooks Nader, makes me smile. It’s The Crazy Mountains in the background and as all those who know Brooks will testify, she operates just outside sanity. But she is smart, adorable and the camera loves her.”
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- 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
- Image Size: 37” x 65” in (93.98 cm x 165.1 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 80” (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.
Shangri La
Big Sky, Montana – 2023
“There is no ski resort story like Big Sky, Montana. The growth in the whole community is staggering and it is now established as one of the premier ski towns in the world. The proximity of the legendary Yellowstone Club brings elite professional sports stars, Hollywood and seemingly most of the leading business figures of the day. Big Sky is the home of the over achiever and sometimes it makes the Davos economic summit look second tier.
As we continue our ski series in America and Europe, we thought it was time to shoot here and play to the glamour that its huge ski area and its clubs and hotels attract. It is America’s new Shangri La.
It is an oddity of America that so many of the nation’s great ski resorts are in frontier mining towns such as Aspen, Telluride in Colorado or in cowboy country like Big Sky in Montana.
I thought that cowboy hats would combine well with the vintage styling that day and both girls – Holly Graves and Jenna Grimes – did a fantastic job in extremely cold conditions up by the Montage Hotel in Spanish Peaks. We were fortunate that it had snowed the night before which lent some abstract shapes to the background.
The wolf (Tamaskan) seemed an appropriate addition to the set. After all, Yellowstone National Park is on Big Sky’s doorstep, and he is a metaphor for many a man who would have enjoyed that ski trip.”
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 56” x 95” in (142.2 cm x 241.3 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 110” in (180.3 cm x 279.4 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 37” x 63” in (93.98 cm x 160 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 78” (132.1 cm x 198.1 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 Girl with the Golden Gun
Paradise Valley, Montana – 2023
“Mae West was the star of many a giddy western. The Hollywood legend, known for her breezy sex appeal and her lighthearted bawdy double entendres, gave us so many great quotes, two favourites being “is that a pistol in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?” and of course “between two evils, I generally like to pick the one I never tried before”.
Brooks Nader is a modern-day Mae West and she was perfect for our wild west shoot in Montana. Playful, intelligent and sassy, Brooks is such a joy to work with and the camera loves her. My direct was to style her as a dolled up saloon girl with authority and attitude, as well as carrying her usual level of sexual provocation. As directs go, that was probably one of the easier ones Brooks has been given.
The idea for this shoot was to play with both the interior and exterior of the saloon because that would widen my narrative and give a fuller sense of place. As interior design photographers know, this is never an easy task, as the light differential is material.”
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- 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
- Image Size: 37” x 49” in (93.98 cm x 124.5 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 64” (132.1 cm x 162.6 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.
Watergate
Virginia City, Montana – 2023
“We know this bar well and know that in the middle of the day there is enough window light to work with. In our experience that is most unusual for an inside shoot, especially when we need to freeze a moving animal. That is why we keep returning to the Pioneer Bar high in the mountain of Montana, it is quite simply the best saloon bar we know in the whole of the US.
We mix things up in our storytelling at the Pioneer and some ideas work and some don’t. This one is, however, gold dust. My fellow Brit Charlie March did a grand job as the rakish cowboy at the bar; he holds court in a manner that suggests he is there everyday and doesn’t really care too much about what is going on in the outside world. As long as he could have a smoke and a whisky, Nixon could do whatever he wanted. Watergate was not going to impinge on his day.
Life also goes on as normal elsewhere in the bar, the barman pours a beer whilst cowboys fight. My story was that this is a town cut off from current affairs and all the better for it. The wonderful reality is the fact that Virginia City is exactly like that. They really don’t care what happens in Washington so long as it doesn’t affect them. The folk up here probably couldn’t spell woke and they certainly don’t know what it means.”
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 55” x 101” in (139.7 cm x 256.5 cm)
- Framed Image: 70” x 116” in (177.8 cm x 294.6 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 37” x 68” in (93.98 cm x 172.7 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 83” (132.1 cm x 210.8 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 Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
Monument Ranch, NV USA – 2022
“This is a special image for me; in part because it is such a low percentage capture and in part because its dynamism extols the wild nature of mustang horses. The premise was always to have a group of Mustangs running wild towards me in the winter snow, but I knew the chances of truly pulling it off were very low.
The project was undertaken at the Mustang Monument Ranch near Wells in Northern Nevada; a vast acreage and a labour of love by its owner – the wonderful force of nature that is – Madeleine Pickens. No one has done more to raise awareness of the plight of the Mustangs in today’s America than Madeleine and no one has done more to offer safe sanctuary. This was always a collaboration with her and I hope sales from this image will eat into the financial burden she bears each year to protect an animal core to Americana.
There are over 1,000 mustangs in her care in Nevada and I observed that they do often behave in a skittish and sheepish way, running in big collectives in one direction for no particular reason. The odds of this happening directly towards my camera in decent light were small and our game plan was always to use feeding time as an opportunity to improve those odds.
I had my chance late one afternoon in January 2023, but almost all of my images in that five minutes of chaos were cluttered and messy, as is often the case with untamed horses. Images of single mustangs were easier but were never going to cut it as the essence of the place is the collective. It is an extraordinary spectacle when they move as one.
But luckily, and it was luck, one split second offered the chance to embody everything I could have wished for and just a little bit more. Not an easy capture and a test of quick thinking in the field. I can almost hear the pounding of the hoofs when I look at it.
After some deliberation on what to call this big picture, I went for the Rolling Stones, for reasons that don’t really need to be explained.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition of 20 + 3 AP:
- Image size: 46” x 102” in (116.8 cm x 259.1 cm)
- Image size framed: 61” x 117” in (154.9 cm x 297.2 cm)
STANDARD - Edition of 20 + 3 AP:
- Image size: 34” x 77” in (86.36 cm x 195.6 cm)
- Image size framed: 49” x 92” in (124.5 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.
BLACKFEET NATION
Blackfeet Nation
Montana, USA – 2022
In the 17th century, the Blackfeet settled in the region that is now Montana. Previously, they resided in the woodlands north and west of the Great Lakes, but pressure from British traders pushed them west. They eventually acquired firearms and horses and became a formidable example of the classic Plains Indian culture.
Ravaged by smallpox and constantly struggling with the challenges of extreme winters, low bison numbers and relative isolation, the Blackfeet had great fortitude and are often now referred to as the “Real People” of Montana.
The Blackfeet’s tribal headquarters are in the town of Browning in the extreme North West corner of the state. The celebrated Glacier National Park may sit to the west and with it comes smart resorts like Whitefish, but Browning has little refinement – it is a grim and remote frontier town that is avoided by most travelers. It’s all a bit sketchy up there – especially in the winter.
However, within 20 minutes of Browning, the Blackfeet enjoy some of the most majestic scenery in America, and it was this that drew me to the location. It was always going to be a winter shoot, as the snow added in another character for free.
So in January 2023, we made the road trip north from Bozeman – it’s a long way, and the sense of adventure intensifies towards the Canadian border. This is a remote and isolated corner of America, and relative to other reservations in the US, I sense that filmmakers have had a light footprint around Browning.
The tribal elder, Dutch Lunak and his horse Rain Man make for a powerful combination. The Blackfeet take the greatest joy in celebrating their heritage, and Dutch wears his look well. I wanted a face that conveyed dignity, wisdom and sovereignty, and I think he gave me all three.
On the way home from Browning, Dutch took us to his favourite saloon in the village of Dupuyer (census population 86). Buffalo Joe’s is a gem of an establishment, and quite soon, this picture will be on the wall.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition of 12:
- Image Size: 71” x 96” in (180.3 cm x 243.8 cm)
STANDARD - Edition of 12:
- Image Size: 52” x 69” in (132.1 cm x 175.3 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.
Last Supper in Chicago
The Last Supper in Chicago
Chicago, IL USA – 2022
Exclusive Limited Edition Series
(Seth Jones, Max Domi, Chris Chelios, Jonathan Toews, Corey Crawford, Roxanne Redfoot, Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane, Denis Savard, Michal Roszival, Duncan Keith, Adam Burish, Ben Eager)
In celebration of the life and career of three-time Stanley Cup champion, Hall of Fame inductee and five-time NHL All -Star Marián Hossa.
World renowned photographer David Yarrow has created a series of photographs of Marián Hossa with his three-time Stanley Cup teammates, NHL “Hall of Fame” legends and current Blackhawk stars – three generations of champions in this homage to greatness-of heroes and a city that is beloved throughout the world.
Artist Statement:
Tomorrow evening, at the United Center in Chicago, legendary Slovakian hockey player – Marián Hossa – will have his shirt retired in front of 24,000 adoring and thankful Blackhawks fans.
Less than 48 hours ago, Marián was joined by two other Chicago “Hall of Famers”, Chris Chelios and Denis Savard and nine other Blackhawks stars to collaborate with me on an idea that had been marinating in my mind for some time.
My concept was to merge in unity, two of Chicago’s most precious possessions, its architecture and its beloved Blackhawks. This is a proud city and ‘Chicagoites’ hold these assets close to their hearts.
My creative leaning was to play around with the idea of a Last Supper, after all, Chicago is also renowned for its food and a play on the masterpiece legitimized a reason for the player positions. I also wanted to build a sense of the cold into the narrative but this didn’t need much effort as it was freezing on the river on Thursday night.
I had never previously met any of these sportsmen but was most impressed by their charm and enthusiasm for the project which will raise funds for disadvantaged former players. I know some of these guys are very famous but they wear their fame with the lightest of touch. The photograph will be unveiled tomorrow in Chicago and will be available for purchase through our excellent gallery representative in the city, Hilton | Asmus Contemporary.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition of 20:
- Framed: 56” x 69” in (142.2 cm x 175.3 cm)
- Framed: 71” x 84” in (180.3 cm x 213.4 cm)
STANDARD - Edition of 20:
- Framed: 37” x 45” in (93.98 cm x 114.3 cm)
- Framed: 52” x 70" in (132.1 cm x 177.8 cm)
CHARITY - Edition of 50:
- Framed: 30” x 36” in (76.2 cm x 91.44 cm)
- Framed: 45” x 51" in (106.7 cm x 129.5 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.
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.