Westworld
Montana, USA
Westerns tend to have an unapologetically masculine skew to their castings. The Wild West was certainly characterised by hard drinking tough men who coupled entrepreneurship with resolve and a lack of ethics. Hollywood would lead you to believe that it was a male dominated adventure almost to the point of parody. On screen few women elbowed their way into this testosterone-laden landscape
and horses were often given more attention.
However, women must have gone West too, otherwise birth rates would have slowed a bit. These women must have been gritty as it was a journey for only the very stoic. In a genre that revels in the lone male protagonist, we wanted to use a still photograph to celebrate the women of the Wild West. They were not just window dressing.
The romanticist within me was not going to be prompted by grotesque characters like Jennifer Jason Leigh’s Daisy Domergue in Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight. The prostitute role – so well played by Diane Lane in the brilliant Lonesome Dove – is also well worn. We wanted a softer, more palatable narrative, albeit one with a sense of the woman emphatically holding her own.
I homed in on the idea of a “tough as nails” saloon owner, with more class, intelligence and glamour than any of her unworthy patrons. We had the saloon in Nevada City – it is such a good facade – we just needed the woman and the styling.
We decided on the supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio and she was indeed perfect for this role. Her styling team did a great job and the whole frame works. I think she thoroughly enjoyed herself that morning.
I am sure there were women like this in the Wild West in 1850. Let’s hope so. As a collective they should be celebrated and remembered and theirs was one hell of a story.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition of 12
- Image: 56” x 86”
- Framed: 71” x 101”
STANDARD - Edition of 12
- Image: 37” x 57”
- Framed: 52” x 72”
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.
My Baby Takes The Morning Train
Montana, USA
In 1863, Bill Fairweather and his party discovered gold in southwestern Montana. They were on their way to Yellowstone County from Bannack but were waylaid by a band of Crows. Whilst hiding from the Indians in a gulch they found gold. They named the gulch after the alder trees lining the gulch. Alder
was one of the great gold producers of all time. The site of the largest placer gold strike in world history. It produced $10,000,000.00 during the first year.
Given this background, I thought it would be appropriate to bring a modern-day Indian Chief into the abandoned mining train in Nevada City.
Alessandra Ambrosio is not just a famed super-model, she is a wave of fun and good energy. Working with her and her team is an absolute joy. It must have seemed a long way from her home country of Brazil in that carriage, but she is so effective in whatever role I outline for her.
We found a Montana paper from the height of the gold rush and thought it would lend to the story if Chief John Spotted Tail was reading it. This was a commuter train like no other.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56” x 71”
- Framed: 71” x 86”
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 37” x 47”
- Framed: 52” x 62”
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.
Tennessee Whiskey
Montana, USA 2020
“Whiskey and the cold go together for me, as does travelling around Montana and playing country music. This photograph’s title gives us the opportunity to celebrate all of the above. The ice bar was a specialist effort and over the two days I think the team did a grand job. There is a palpable sense of cold in this most remote bar two hours north east of Billings. The day we shot it was snowing heavily outside which I think made everyone’s job easier. It was not as if we were in a studio in Burbank with 90-degree temperatures outside.It was technically a challenging image as I needed the Tamaskan dog, the saloon girl, Josie Canseco, and the mountain man to be sharp or near sharp and this required a very slow shutter speed. This is a bar that should exist somewhere. If anyone finds it please make sure to let us know.” – David Yarrow
AVAILABLE SIZES:
- Standard Framed size: 48 x 66 inches
- Large Framed size: 67 x 94 inches
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.
Fargo
Montana, USA 2020
“A huge film from the wonderfully authentic Coen brothers and until I took this image, there was no photograph in my portfolio with sufficient symbolism to deserve the title. Out of respect to the movie, the title “Fargo” cannot be ascribed on a casual basis to any picture taken in the frozen north. It had better be punchy. But in Eastern Montana in a winter storm, we had two components here – a long straight road splitting the frozen prairies and also the possibility that I could make a narrative of sudden joy and happiness. On the day before the shoot, I wandered around the fairly run down outpost of Forsyth, Eastern Montana, trying to find another layer to the story. When I went to buy a drink, I found that I had run out of dollars so I nipped across the street to the ATM. As my dollars came out, I had one of my rare moments of inspiration – Fargo and its zany theatrical storytelling – we should use dollars flying around in the wind. The car passengers just stumbled across a frozen cash treasure trove – as seemingly happens regularly in this part of the world. Only one frame out of many worked, but that is all you need. The smile on the Tamaskan’s face is a bonus, but the connectivity between the two seemingly fortuitous travellers makes the image. If the parallel with the film holds true, they have taken on more than they could imagine in their worst nightmare.” – David Yarrow
AVAILABLE SIZES:
- Standard Framed size: 48 x 67 inches
- Large Framed size: 67 x 95 inches
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.
Aces and Eights
Montana, USA 2020
“We are always looking for wild west saloon bars with a difference and this does result in a few lost days on tour. It’s an occupational hazard of being on the road in the company we keep. But we do say that we are exhaustive in our research. We tend to look for one transcending feature in a bar and on this occasion, in the legendary cowboy town of Miles City in eastern Montana, we found a 100-year 18ft tall oak Brunswick back bar. It would not have looked out of place in the smartest dining clubs of the early days of Wall Street. The owner of the Montana bar was more than open to a film crew coming to his bar on a wintry Sunday, but given Covid restrictions we had to think smart in the execution. There are many parts to this vignette. All are needed as I really wanted the room to be full of characters without losing the detail of the bar, after all, that was the reason we were there. The composition therefore needed to be very precise and all the talent had to listen acutely to directions – which in a couple of cases was a big ask.
But we got there in the end I think. Everyone did a grand job, including the four-legged poker player with the killer hand. I think we did justice to the bar, which mattered to me.” – David Yarrow
AVAILABLE SIZES:
- Standard Framed size: 48 x 66 inches
- Large Framed size: 67 x 95 inches
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.
Hostiles
Montana, USA
We have all, at one time or another, entered a bar and immediately felt out of place. At the most extreme level this can evoke a sense of trespassing. This was very much the narrative behind this photograph. To be greeted by an overtly territorial crew with menace and attitude.
But for the story to work, two things had to coalesce as one – the characters and the interior. I like playing with the cold, it adds a visceral layer to the story and in this case, it hints at an outpost on the final frontier. Surely the further off the beaten track we travel, the greater the chance of being the outsider.
This is a frame that exhausts every inch available in the camera and that was my intent. There were so many characters I wanted to include, but I was also reluctant to lose the mood of the frozen saloon. The icicles on the frosty bison with the snow laden television playing True Grit were key assets that needed to be seen to amplify the sense of cold.
Our key asset was, of course, Cin – dy Crawford and she had to have sovereignty of the joint. She can play a badass very well and that was her ascribed role.
It is not easy for everything to come together in such a tight setting as one tension spot can ruin the whole pas – tiche. It’s akin to camels and the eye of the needle. The wolf ’s paw on this occasion came very close to Cindy’s shot glass, but we got away with it.
The wolf is actually a domestic dog breed called Tamaskan – he is not 100% wolf, but that mattered little, as he merely added to the sense of trespass. The only reason to linger in this bar would appear to be the landlady. Maybe she could be won mover? Who knows, but she certainly owns the image.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition of 20
- Image: 56” x 96”
- Framed: 71” x 111”
STANDARD - Edition of 20
- Image: 37” x 63”
- Framed: 52” x 78”
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.
On The Road Again
Montana, USA
Once we found the caterpillar road that dissects this picture, I knew that we had the canvas on which to continue our road series that started in 2018. The area is so remote that we doubt it has been used as a film location before, certainly not with an American icon as the lead player. The only traffic was the occasional oil worker or perhaps someone that was totally lost.
The next big event north of here is the Canadian border and that’s some 300 miles away. It is not a place to run out of gas. Cindy makes the picture for sure. The styling is perfect and there is such a good energy, cowgirl chic in her manner. This was the intent in the preconception – the two companions were enjoying the freedom of the vastness of the American West. The sense of place is palpable. This is the America that so many know and love, with its long roads running to the horizon with either side exuding a simple sense of calm and solitude. No other country in the world offers road trips as visually rewarding as America and they are integral to the fabric of the American dream.
The snowfall the previous night added another layer to the narrative both on the road itself and on the prairies. We were lucky that the snow stopped and the light picked up. It adds warmth to an image already glowing with positivity and joy. Willie Nelson was surely singing “On the Road Again” on the car radio with the volume turned up to the maximum level. On the road again, Goin’ places that I’ve never been, Seein’ things that I may never see again, And I can’t wait to get on the road again, On the road again, Like a band of gypsies, we go down the highway, We’re the best of friends, Insisting that the world keep turning our way.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 20
- Image: 56” x 79”
- Framed: 71” x 94”
STANDARD - Edition Size: 20
- Image: 37” x 52”
- Framed: 52” x 67”
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.
Unforgiven
Montana, USA
When Cindy Crawford made her iconic Pepsi advert in 1992 for the Superbowl and then repeated it again in 2018, there were a few other constants as well as the model herself – most notably Peter Savic, one of the most celebrated hair stylists in the world. His client roster reads like the ultimate A list in Hollywood. Looking at his CV it would be quicker to mention who he hasn’t worked with.
I had never had the fortune to work with Peter before but my brief time with him in Eastern Montana gave an insight into his genius. I gave him a rather clumsy articulation of the narrative I was looking for in this outdoor shot in freezing temperatures near Ingomar, a tiny hamlet with a population of just 15. We were about as far removed from controlled studio conditions in Hollywood as you could conceive. I think I simply said that Cindy would be carrying a shotgun and with it a look of intent. Twenty minutes later Cindy bounced out of the car with an extravagant Raquel Welch 1960s big hair look that was spot on for what I had in mind.
After that my job was easy – to shoot as quickly as possible so that our lead would not get too cold. The trick is simply to have no doubt in one’s mind of the composition and believe firmly in the narrative embodied in the preconception. It’s a bit like a golf shot (not that I would know), you make up your mind and go for it. My storyline was that Cindy and her troop were the deliverers of frontier justice – whatever way that may come. I guess there is a slight nod to Tarantino in the vignette.
It worked and this was certainly a team effort.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 20
- Image: 50” x 101”
- Framed: 65” x 116”
STANDARD - Edition Size: 20
- Image: 32” x 65”
- Framed: 47” x 80”
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.
Enough Is Enough
Montana, USA
Sometimes a simple narrative can work better than one with many different layers. There is nothing I would change in this photograph. It just works so well. Cindy, who was styled with reference to Julie Christie in Doctor Zhivago, looks sensational and the symmetry of the abandoned decaying building is almost too good to be true. Meanwhile, the snowfall is just right; heavy enough to be impactful, without it being a full on blizzard which would have impaired the aesthetic detail. There was enough light that cold morning in North East Montana to allow for a generous depth of field.
The cowboy, who looks like he is losing his glamorous wife for good, hails from Indiana and I have used him as an extra in the past. He wears his weathered Jeff Bridges look with comfort and his positioning against the window was well conceived. Storming out of the house is a marital storyline that many will be more familiar with than would readily care to admit. However, this rift, like the house, looks irreparable.
I love this image, as indeed does Cindy. I can see it adorning the walls of many a mountain lodge in the years to come. What a stroke of luck to dis – cover that building and we will keep its location secret. Even if someone finds it, I think they may well struggle to assemble the other component parts.
As with the first project in 2019, half of all profits of photograph sales from this assignment with Cindy will go to the University of Wiscon – sin’s Paediatric Cancer Care Unit in Madison. The first series raised over $600,000 and only a very few prints are now available at high prices.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 20
- Image: 56” x 83”
- Framed: 71” x 98”
STANDARD - Edition Size: 20
- Image: 37” x 55”
- Framed: 52” x 70”
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.
