The Last Supper in Texas
Texas, USA 2021
This was a challenging set, but great fun. We did all we could to be true to the concept. Indeed, after the shoot was wrapped at dusk, we enjoyed a contemporary Texan feast on site with barbequed steak, ample refreshment and live country music. The chosen location was a private ranch not many miles north of Big Bend National Park on the Mexican border.
In my mind this was always going to be a West Texas shoot. My intent was that every one of my frontier characters had to be strong and play their role with authority. I was less concerned with mirroring the exact positioning in Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece than I was with the personal safety of the talent as the steer was a massive animal and we had no real option but to work around him and his comfort zone.
There was no picture without the Longhorn, but it was not easy to encourage him into the centre of the set during the ideal light – which was about an hour before sunset. Roxanna Redfoot from Dallas always plays her role to perfection, no matter the circumstances, and this shoot was another case in point. She cuts the perfect contrast to all around her. The cowboys didn’t need to dress up; they are what they are down on the Rio Grande.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
Standard
- Image size: 31" x 67"
- Framed with a 3" mat: 42" x 78"
- Framed with a 5" mat: 46" x 82"
Large
- Image size: 46" x 100"
- Framed with a 3" mat: 57" x 111"
- Framed with a 5" mat: 61" x 115"
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.
Road Trip
Utah, USA 2018
I have always been drawn to the John Ford scenery of Northern Arizona and Utah, the highlight of which has to be Monument Valley. I am clearly not alone in considering the view south from turnoff 13 on the way to Mexican Hat to be one of the most visually intoxicating sights in the US. It was, of course, used in Forrest Gump and then provided the front cover to Ridley Scott’s Thelma and Louise. The US have taken ownership of the term “road trip” as explained succinctly by this stretch of tarmac. It’s truly an iconic and timeless vista that shouts “The Wild West”.
Gladiator is probably Ridley Scott finest movie and I have watched it over and over again. Meanwhile, Thelma and Louise is rightly one of the most lauded road trip movies of all time. About a month ago, I picked up the DVD box and had a moment of inspiration. Their use of the convertible car and the head on angle offered a totally different perspective on Monument Valley.
Taking my pre-conception through to reality last Wednesday morning was no small task. I want to thank Brawler Productions in LA for collaborating with me and helping secure exclusive use of the road at the key time, around 7.40 am. It’s a busy road and the Utah State Police were fantastic. @JosieCanseco played her role brilliantly – it was not easy to look that glamorous and in charge with a wolf sitting In Thelma’s seat. It is no surprise that Victoria’s Secret has booked her for its latest show in NYC.
We arrived on site two days before the shoot as we wanted to be in control of everything within our control. I can’t remember ever pondering more over camera settings and lenses. I knew I would have a generous amount of light to play with at 7.40 and we had to use it well. The big variable was the wolf’s behaviour – the light gets too harsh from about 8am and therefore there was only a small window to get the job wrapped. It was tight, but we did it. All in all, it was a great team effort in a fairly remote part of the American West.
We showed this picture for the first time in Dallas last night and the reaction was huge. It is a very special image and I think we nailed it. Thank you, Josie, you were fabulous.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56" x 79" (143 x 201 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 90" (171 cm x 229 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 37" x 52" (94 x 133)
- Framed: 48" x 63" (122 x 160 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.
How the West Was Won
Nevada, 2019
The Harley-Davidson is a heavy- weight brand – like Coke and McDonalds, it was integral to the flourishing of the American Dream. The brand is emblematic of the post 1945 roll out of the US highway network that offered the American population the freedom to travel for travel’s sake. As Robert Louis Stevenson said: “I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.”
My preconception was that if we were to use Harley-Davidsons for our “Road Trip” series in America, we needed a visual template that was “bad ass” from every perspective. We could not do this is in a half-hearted way – there was a responsibility to kill it.
All the bikers clearly had to be dudes and my preference was for the bikes themselves to be from the late 1930s through to the 1970s. I wanted choppers that aficionados would recognise and celebrate as I was determined that seasoned bikers could love the image as much as my followers. My hunch was that this might be the first and only time that these two demographics would meet. There was a required level of authenticity and attention to detail, but nothing insurmountable. My production team – Brawler – is first class at looking after that and indeed sourced the famous 1936 Knucklehead Chopper and a 1946 Harley Davidson sidecar.
The location was key. We had to find somewhere that complemented the bikes and romanticised the freedom of travel that the Harley-Davidson brand evokes. This instructed to- wards depth in the image, as the longer the road, the more emphatically it conveyed the sense of a journey. My intuition was also that this was a shot that needed to be in California, or at least in John Ford’s American West, as the topography and sense of place reinforces the brand.
The creative prompts were movies like Easy Rider – the classic 1969 Dennis Hopper lm starring Peter Fonda. America is the home of big scenery and we needed big scenery. Our internet trawling finally led us towards the Valley of Fire in Nevada – a remote park one hour’s drive north east of Las Vegas. It had depth and the moon like rock structures either side of the road continually drag the eye back to that road. If any vista could be described as “bad ass”, this was it.
And so it was that the crew assembled in the modest “Breaking Bad” village of Overton, Nevada last Tuesday night – the bikers from California, my usual five wolves from Montana and of course the delightful Bryana Holly – who agreed to come and work with us on this assignment. I think she might have been used to slightly nicer accommodation, but it was a joy to work with her.
Photography can o en be about maths as much as it is about inspiration and my deliberations on site the previous day were all about the need to compress distance, but also offer decent depth of field. The lens choice – my old reliable 85mm was key – nothing else in the camera boxes worked.
The result is a blowout image and I think everyone involved should give themselves a pat on the back (and that is a big number of people). I look forward to Harley-Davidson’s reaction. It really is a monster of a photograph – far better than I had hoped for. I looked at it in LA for at least an hour on Friday.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56" x 76" (143 cm x 193 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 105" (171 cm x 267 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 artwork. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
Friday Night at the Pioneer
Virginia City, Montana – 2020
“It’s not often that famous supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio ostensibly plays an extra with a wolf getting the lead role, but for this photograph to work, that is exactly what I asked her to do. Of course she is integral to the photograph and played her role of the saloon girl with her usual excellence. She is intelligent, fun and easy to direct.
This bar, high in the hills of Montana, is well known to me and the light; depth of field and angles are all familiar territory. I am in my comfort zone, but the wolf is not easy to get right. So many things are totally beyond my control. The wolf’s eyes are vital – they simply have to be sharp and that tests me and my camera to the full.
This image works and of course it is not dissimilar to The Wolf of Main Street which precipitated this series all those years ago. That photograph achieved a record price at Sotheby’s – a day I will always remember.”
-David Yarrow
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56" x 76" (143 x 193 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 87" (171 cm x 221 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 37" x 50" (94 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 artwork. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
The Winner Stays
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 artwork. Domestic delivery and installation may also be available via Hilton Contemporary’s private art shuttle. Please inquire.
Drive
Montana, USA
This photograph, taken high in the mountains of Montana, offers strong clues as to why Cara Delevingne is a global superstar. She has the eyes and the face to steal most scenes and the intelligence to play a prescribed role. There is nothing I would change in her look in this vignette. It is a perfect combination of purpose and rather unhinged menace. She can do this as easily as some people flick a switch.
Chief John Spotted Tail of the Lakota tribe was an excellent foil for Cara and they work well together. He is revered locally and it was an honour to have him on set. He brings a further edge to an image encapsulating my read on the old Wild West: a place of guns; trouble in hard drinking saloons; occasional bad weather and maverick characters. No wonder Westerns have a film genre to them selves – it is too rich a seam in the material to have to share a category with anything else. To go “West” was perhaps the greatest adventure story the world has ever known.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 20
- Image: 56” x 96”
- Framed: 71” x 111”
STANDARD - Edition Size: 20
- Image: 37” x 64”
- Framed: 52” x 79”
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.
Blazing Saddles
Canyonlands, Utah, USA – 2021
This photograph was a spontaneous behind the scenes shot taken early one winter morning high up in Canyonlands National Park, Utah. The cowboys we had on set were simply keeping warm, not playing to the camera. When I looked at my camera files later, I realised that we had something very strong and our galleries were very keen for the work to be released and shown to the public in America and Europe. This was never our intent, and it is the first time this situation has arisen in ten years.
The grandeur of the American West is well known and well photographed. In our minds, stunning landscapes should complement the shot, not be the shot. Layered narratives have become core to my style, we like to make a frame sweat. This image is certainly a validation of that approach.
99% of my released work is printed in monochrome, but this print works better in colour. I looked back at some of the other work we have released in colour and they all have one thing in common; my shots with tigers, orangutans and now this image all have the colour orange in them. Orange is not a normal colour in my work, but when it features, a colour print is often preferable. A black and white print simply doesn’t cope well with orange.
On this occasion, the orange flames from the fire are such a core component of the story that to print this in monochrome would dumb down the narrative. I am all for the reductive qualities of monochrome, but we always want to tell the best possible story.
There is a lot going on in this image and we know it emotionally connects with those in Americadrawn to the lore of the West.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
Standard
- Image size: 37" x 58"
- Framed with a 3" mat: 48" x 69"
- Framed with a 5" mat: 52" x 73"
Large
- Image size: 56" x 88"
- Framed with a 3" mat: 67" x 99"
- Framed with a 5" mat: 71" x 103”
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.
Vantage Point
Silverton, Colorado, USA – 2021
In post Civil War America, some saw the railroad as a symbol of modernity and national progress. For others, however, the Transcontinental Railroad undermined the sovereignty of Native nations and threatened to destroy Indigenous communities and their cultures as the railroad expanded into territories inhabited solely by Native Americans.
As part of my photographic anthology on the wild west, it was always my intent to bring native Indians and a railroad together into an image, but I had no wish to objectify either party. A photograph for instance of a hostile railroad attack by a party of Indians could be labelled as stereotyping or indeed being blind to the provocation of what was effectively an invasion by American settlers, prospectors and capitalists. We entered this project to tell stories, not make overtly political points.
After several scouting trips, I found an ideal location 10,000 feet above sea level on the track near Silverton, Colorado. The train owners told us that this section of the track had never been shot before and that sense of ground breaking always gives me a warm glow.
The high cliff face offered a sense of a vantage point and the opportunity for the camera to tell a more passive observation story (albeit with a little attitude).
The narrative seems entirely realistic as most of the time the natives would observe the Iron Horses from a safe distance with a mixture of fear; anger but also, I would imagine a hint of bewilderment. The driver of the steam train did a fabulous job with the flume – it was a magical sight to see.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
Standard
- Image size: 37" x 50"
- Framed with a 3" mat: 48" x 61"
- Framed with a 5" mat: 52" x 65"
Large
- Image size: 56" x 74"
- Framed with a 3" mat: 67" x 85"
- Framed with a 5" mat: 71" x 89”
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.
The Snow Patrol
AVAILABLE SIZES:
Standard
- Image size: 37" x 59"
- Framed with a 3" mat: 48" x 70"
- Framed with a 5" mat: 52" x 74"
Large
- Image size: 56" x 90"
- Framed with a 3" mat: 67" x 101"
- Framed with a 5" mat: 71" x 105"
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.