The Golden Age of Oil
Marathon, Texas – 2023
This photograph, taken against the setting sun in West Texas, has such a broad range of colours that we decided it was best to print it that way. I am a believer in the reductive virtues of monochrome, but to calm down the orange glow in this image would be seen as an artistic error.
There is a great deal going on in this vignette and we are proud of its creation. The four hoofs emphatically off the ground, the dust created by the hoofs, the back lit gusher and the oil worker all coalesce with a fortunate ease. With so much going on, there was always the possibility of a tension point somewhere, but we got away with it. I think there is also a palpable sense of place, reinforced by the cactus plants. This is Texas.
We can all only imagine what drilling was like 10 years ago, but old imagery informs how tough the work was. This was an industry dominated by tough men conditioned to long shifts with little comfort. They played a material role in the history of America.
Move forward a century and there are many eco warriors who frown on the oil industry. Their hearts might be in the right place, but they should not and cannot airbrush history. The discovery of oil in America so long ago played an integral role in both World Wars and the evolution of the free world.
Texas would not be Texas were it not for oil and cowboys and that has been true for five generations. I think this photograph is a visual celebration of a unique way of life and one that locals can rightly be very proud of.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 60" x 56” in (152.4 cm x 142.2 cm)
- Framed Image: 75" x 71” in (190.5 cm x 180.34 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 40” x 37” in (101.6 cm x 93.98 cm)
- Framed Image: 55” x 52” (139.7 cm x 132.08 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.
Don’t Worry Darling
DON’T WORRY DARLING
Palm Springs, California – 2023
“The desert resort of Palm Springs – nestling in the Coachella Valley of California – is not just a town, it is seen by some as a metaphor for how to live life. Its mere name evokes imagery of “desert modern” architecture, Slim Aarons pool parties, retro styling and endless vapid leisure. Hollywood found a sister location in this resort and was drawn to its shared values of celebrity, health, new wealth, and sex.
Palm Springs is the antithesis of the industrial “rust belt” of America and became a haven for those wanting to escape from their past or to enjoy a better life because of their past. It is no surprise perhaps that much of the Chicago mob money from the 1970s found its way down to Palm Springs.
My idea was to take a single frame encapsulating this hot and colourful utopia. But there was no room to be earnest, I simply wanted to be long of parody, colour and symbolism. Too much wealth, leisure time and shopping can bring vacuous traits.
Like film makers before me, I homed in on 1950s styling as I sensed that this was the era that defined the
post war growth of the resort. I had the Ferrari and the police cars and from the first day of scouting in Palm Springs, we knew our street location and we knew our timing of roughly one hour after sunrise.
Our lead was the celebrated Alessandra Ambrosia – the super smart Brazilian model who can play any role ascribed to her. She “killed it” that morning and makes the image. Who knows who is being arrested in the background, but it doesn’t look like it’s particularly interfering with her morning.
This photograph is deliberately saturated in colour to evoke the gauzy, saccharine pleasures of the town. Is it really paradise or is it a parody of itself?”
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition of 20 + 3 AP:
- Framed: 56” x 84” in (142.2 cm x 213.4 cm)
- Framed: 71” x 99” in (180.3 cm x 251.5 cm)
STANDARD - Edition of 12 + 3 AP:
- Image Size: 60” x 56” in (152.4 cm x 142.2 cm)
- Framed Size: 75” x 71" in (190.5 cm x 180.3 cm)
STANDARD - Edition of 12 + 3 AP:
- Image Size: 40” x 37” in (101.6 cm x 93.98 cm)
- Framed Size: 55” x 52" in (139.7 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.
St. Moritz
St. Moritz, Switzerland – 2023
“I photographed luge and bobsleigh in the Calgary Olympics way back in 1988, so spending some time with the St Moritz Tobogganing Club, or the Cresta Club as it is more commonly known, was not all new territory. But my goal was very different this time around; this was an art project, not sports photography.
St Moritz is fabled for its glamour, its authenticity, its frivolity and its thrill chasing. It is a Peter Pan playground that remembers that life is for living. No part of the fabric of this community embraces these values more than the Cresta Run.
I want to thank the SMTC Committee for agreeing to work with me and I hope the photographs I took that sunny morning in February 2023 will stand the test of time. It was certainly a great deal of fun. I don’t think many have had the access and opportunity I had that day.
The real star of the show was leading Norwegian model Frida Aasen, who dazzled in her red styling. Her look and posture were pivotal to the image working. After all, in taged photographs like this, there is no room for error. This is St Moritz and getting it 80% right is not good enough, it must be 100%. Frida is one of the easiest models I know to shoot – the camera loves her.
I don’t take myself too seriously and I certainly don’t want to be earnest. I want to have fun and tell stories. Little surprise that we enjoyed ourselves that day at this exclusive institution with its charming members. There is a humour and lightness of touch that is refreshing in today’s world.”
Available sizes
LARGE: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image size: 56" x 72" in (142.2 cm x 182.9 cm)
- Framed Image: 71" x 87" in (180.3 cm x 221 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.
Aspen - 1973
Aspen, Colorado – 2023
This is not just any ski resort; this is the unmistakable playground of Aspen – the most famous ski resort in the world and one where the slopes and the old silver mining town fuse as one. They look like they have co-existed seamlessly for centuries in much the same way as the golf course at St Andrews sits in harmony with the town that it made famous. The reality is, of course, that this photograph celebrates a far newer relationship than the marriage in Scotland, but both unions will continue in perpetuity, passed down from generation to generation. Aspen is a vortex of pleasure and misadventure few can escape from and this spectacular vista is part of its unique appeal.
Whatever lies ahead for Aspen, no generation will probably have more fun than the free loving hipsters of the 1970s who made the town a Bohemian hot spot. The once silver mining town, nestling at 9000 feet, became an unlikely Rock and Roll town drawing established and aspiring creatives from every corner of the United States. It may have been a growing haven for the Hollywood elite, but it welcomed talent and bad behaviour more than it did wealth. I have a sense that in the 1970s Aspen was as loosely governed as it was back in 1880 when it was a frontier mining town, that would be quite an achievement.
The model – Kate Bock – reminds me a little of Heather Graham in Austin Powers in this throwback shot, taken late one winter afternoon from Hunter Creek Road. She plays a confident hippy, flying solo with ease and was made for this kind of shot. Meanwhile, the yellow of the Porsche works well against the flat winter light. We knew this story was best told in colour.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 52” x 85” in (132.1 cm x 215.9 cm)
- Framed Image: 67” x 100” in (170.2 cm x 254 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 37” x 61” in (93.98 cm x 154.9 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 76” in (132.1 cm x 193 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.
I’m Not Fxxxing Leaving (Colour)
I’m Not Fxxxing Leaving (Colour)
Los Angeles, California – 2022
“Over the last three years, we have undertaken two different homages to Martin Scorsese’s wonderful black comedy – The Wolf of Wall Street and on both occasions worked with the real wolf, Jordan Belfort. Pleasingly they have been hugely popular pieces.
In 2022, we returned to a dealing room to film the most challenging of the ideas; the “I am Not Fxxxking Leaving” scene. The concept was clear in my head, but I was wrestling with the execution, as, in a still image, it is impossible to have both the speaker and the crowd facing the camera. The idea of the back of Jordan’s head being at the front of the frame had no appeal, meanwhile excluding him from the picture altogether would weaken the narrative.
But the crowd was simple to preconceive; an energy charged orgy of 1994 brokers celebrating the defiance of their leader. I wanted explicit references to the excesses of the era and the film and this demanded a testosterone jammed dealing floor hosting flying dollars, ticker tape, rubber dolls, call girls and marching bands. I always think that it is counter intuitive to downplay parody. We even managed to sneak in a Steve Madden shoe box.
The trick with Jordan was to have him on a big TV screen facing the same way as everyone else, this way the full story could be told without valuable inches being occupied by the back of Belfort’s head. The ticker on CNBC reminds us how much the DOW has risen since those crazy days of Stratton Oakmont.
I want to thank Josh and Matt Altman and their team from The Altman Brothers for fully embracing their roles as extras. They brought exactly the energy that was needed that morning. Everyone had to play their role to perfection, otherwise the vibe was lost.”
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition of Edition size: 12 + 3 AP:
- Image Size: 47” x 102" in (119.38 cm x 259.08 cm)
- Framed Size: 62” x 117” in (157.48 x 297.18 cm)
STANDARD - Edition of 12 + 3 AP:
- Image Size: 35” x 77" in (88.9 cm x 195.58 cm)
- Framed Size: 50” x 92" in (127 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.
Homeland (Colour)
Lochcarron, Scotland 2020
More often than not, a sense of place is an integral ingredient of a strong contextual photograph. If we can manage that in South Sudan and South Georgia, it should be possible in my home country of Scotland. Whenever I work up here, I am slightly on edge as I feel a little bit more pressure to deliver.
This is probably the best photograph I have taken in Scotland (if we exclude the football images of Celtic and Rangers in the 1980s) because it scores highly on both subject and context. If one or other is mediocre there is no image, but in this case, the 14 pointer stag is magnificent and the rest is Scotland as Scots know it and as it is assumed to be by others. Grand, slightly mournful, but at all times unique.
I don’t have an issue magnifying nature. The romanticist movement glorified aesthetics and I am of that persuasion. Why dumb things down? Scotland can be bleak and gloomy, but therein lies its beauty.
I could not have achieved this frame, high up in the coastal hills of North West Scotland, without considerable local help and I would like to thank Colin Murdoch for his support and counsel. Our team call him “The deer whisperer” and I think that is about right. He is the most cheerful man I know at 5 am in the morning. I think this a deeply emotional image and all the better for it.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE
- Image Size: 56” x 78" in (142.24 cm x 198.12 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 93” in (180.34 cm x 236.22 cm)
STANDARD
- Image Size: 37” x 51” in (93.98 cm x 129.54 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 66” in (132.08 cm x 167.64 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.
And the Party Never Ends
Monument Valley, Utah, USA- 2022
Such is the grandeur and scale of Monument Valley that at almost every corner there is something of a sensory overload. The amphitheater, for all its majesty, also has a sense of incompleteness, as if God the creator got a little bored of building the city and moved on to other projects. The result is an architectural canvas unlike any other in the world.
I knew one angle where I could compress distance and fill one of the gaps in this city of monoliths with foreground detail. We had an old VW camper van on set and somehow or other we managed to drive it to the predetermined horizon not far from where John Wayne was filmed in The Searchers. There was a distinct slope on this patch of ground and I warmed to the impact it had on the frame.
It was then up to the girls. I fancy they had enjoyed a few tequilas on the road up from the wonderfully named Mexican Hat and there were no inhibitions. They didn’t need to act; they were already very much in the prescribed hippy vibe.
When we woke up that day, I had no idea that we would end the shoot with an image like this. I love it because it is uplifting and fun. It speaks to me as a portrait of Americana – the land of carefree road trips.
The road goes on forever and the party never ends.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 56” x 80” in (142.24 cm x 203.2 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 95” in (180.34 cm x 241.3 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 37” x 53” in (93.98 cm x 134.62 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 68” in (132.08 cm x 172.72 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.
Summer of '75 (Colour)
Los Angeles, California – 2022
Spielberg once said “a good idea almost always starts off as a bad idea, that’s why it takes so long”.
I am drawn to filming road stories as the road can direct the viewer and the implicit journey is an allegory of the journey of life; we are all on our own road trip.
Sunset Boulevard does not split landscapes with the majesty and grandeur of the deserts of the South West, but it is up there for me as one of the most exciting stretches of road in America. It is the heart of movie land and the massive billboards on the strip in West Hollywood leave the driver in no doubt that they are in the entertainment capital of the world.
My favourite filming location on the boulevard is looking west on the border of West Hollywood and Hollywood. In part because I can give a nod to one of the most famous hotels in the world without killing the compositional balance and in part because the famous vertical billboard, so often used by Marlboro in the old days, is in the heart of the image.
It is a special part of Americana and I am surprised that American icons have not been filmed more often in this location. I guess one reason is that it’s a very busy road and shutting it down for filming is not easy.
The idea of shooting here needed work and refinement. We needed a lead, we needed to close the road down and then we needed a creative idea around which to wrap everything. My choice of lead was easy; Cindy Crawford is made for this shot. The closure of the road restricted our window to a Sunday morning between sunrise and 8 am, which meant a 4.30 am wake up. But Cindy is the most punctual, professional and willing of all the stars with whom we work.
The creative processing was the key. I decided that we could go back in time to an era when Hollywood was free rolling, liberal and fun and all the props would emphatically play to that moment in time. It was the love and peace summer of 1975.
Cindy’s team of stylist Nicole Allowitz; hair stylist Pete Savic and make up star Sam Visser are one hell of a crew and she looked absolutely fantastic. My job is easy with her on board and as always, we had a blast. I wanted a mid 70s vibe and Cindy’s team and my production team delivered.
I am pleased that one of the greatest films of all time – Jaws – takes care of the Marlboro billboard. As its iconic director said “good ideas take time”.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 20 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 70” in (142.24 cm x 177.8 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 85” in (180.34 cm x 215.9 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 20 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 46” in (93.98 cm x 116.84 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 61" in (132.08 cm x 154.94 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.
80 Degrees North
Svalbard, Norway – 2022
Like one of my best known photographs – 78 Degrees North – this image was taken in Svalbard, but a few years later and 200 miles further north. There are many challenges when filming in this archipelago, but they tend to be compensated by the odd split second of magic happening in front of the camera lens. There are many slow days for the filmmaker up here, either because there are no polar bear encounters or, if there are, they don’t happen in a situation which works for the camera. The polar bear can be well below the camera for instance which doesn’t work for me or can be a long way away. That is always the issue with filming from boats.
I am not sure whether I travel to Svalbard as an artist or as a gambler rolling the dice, but if I had to pick one of the two, I would say I go as a gambler. It would be a little delusional to think that I have much influence over the final results. I just record what is in front of me and that is all down to luck – either you are dealt a good hand or not.
There are, of course, a few variables under your control like the choice of lens and, to an extent, the angle of view. I don’t like long lenses as they tend to remove a sense of place, but in Svalbard, the use of shorter lenses is vulnerable to the distance between the camera and the polar bear. There will be many encounters when some degree of magnification is required.
This photograph was taken on a 300mm lens, but there is enough contextuality to add narrative to the portrait. This is a female bear in the habitat that defines her – blue ice, snow, and sea and better still, she is on the move at a higher level than my camera.
Here is the beauty of Svalbard. It can just occasionally offer up a moment in time to capture the essence of life at the edge. We know that we have to earn these moments.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 51” x 101” in (129.54 cm x 256.54 cm)
- Framed Image: 66” x 116” in (167.64 cm x 294.64 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 34” x 67” in (86.36 cm x 170.18 cm)
- Framed Image: 49” x 82” in (124.46 cm x 208.28 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 Road Goes on Forever
Monument Valley, Utah – 2022
Monument Valley is the very essence of the South West of America; a colossal theatre of dreams and a canvas for movies without equal. It is the beating heart of the Wild West, a landscape of such timeless grandeur that we are forced to recognize that our time on this extraordinary planet is short and our footprint minimal. Its scale provokes a sensory overload never diluted by familiarity.
John Ford and John Wayne went back time and time again because the landscape does much of the storytelling work for a director. It serves to elevate those who perform on the stage as the context is almost always one of heroic isolation.
We got lucky with the light at the famous Forrest Gump Point last Monday morning. There was a window of about five minutes and the girls were so professional despite the chilling wind. Pictures like this make the job so rewarding and always remind me what a team effort it is. In particular, a big shout out to Nicole Allowitz; her styling is always so on point and was critical for the intended vibe on one of the most famous stretches of road in the world.
The title of the image is a borrow from Robert Earl Keen – the genius singer songwriter from Texas whom we sing along to whilst on the road in America.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 20 + 3 AP
- Image size: 56” x 67" in (142.24 cm x 170.18 cm)
- Framed Image Size: 71” x 82” in (180.34 cm x 208.28 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 20 + 3 AP
- Image size: 37” x 44" in (93.98 cm x 111.76 cm)
- Framed Image Size: 52” x 59" in (132.08 cm x 149.86 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.