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.
Empire of the Summer Moon
New York, USA 2020
“For those looking for a good book to read in these times when good books have assumed a bigger role in our daily lives, I strongly recommend Empire of the Summer Moon, The New York Times’ bestseller about the war between the Comanche and the white settlers for control of the American West. The book was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize – so I am not saying anything groundbreaking in my recommendation.
The Comanche was the most powerful tribe in American History. They adapted to the horse earlier and more completely than any other plains’ tribe and they were without doubt the prototype horse tribe in North America. The white man’s 40-year war with the Comanche in the mid 19th century was the tribe’s final chapter in its 250-year crusade to fight off settlers. But their legacy lives on and the lethal inland empire dominated by the tribe is an integral part of American history.
My idea for this part of the series was to work with a Comanche descendant from their homeland in Texas and New Mexico and place him or her against today’s Manhattan Skyline. A horse was not going to work in this storyline, as we thought the Hudson River would offer the best platform on which to play a layered narrative.
With the help of a friend in Colorado, we found the right Comanche for the job in Santa Fe and he was excited to collaborate on the project. He helped source the canoe and brought his warrior clothes. Again, we would stress that their pride in their heritage manifests itself in fully embracing projects that give their tribe exposure. We were looking to create art as opposed to saying anything profound. By photographing an ancestor of America’s most powerful tribe in front of modern America’s most powerful city – the lost world meeting the new world – we are simply celebrating the breadth of American history.
Joaquin Gonzalez did the Comanche proud. He managed the canoe on those waters magnificently and he looked every inch the warrior that we asked him to be.”- David Yarrow
EMPIRE showcases the span of American history, particularly through its evolution. New York City is a product of capability, development, and cultural diversity over a span of several decades, and the juxtaposition of this city against a descendant of a great and powerful Native American tribe demonstrates that there is more than one manifestation of American “greatness”. Humanity suggests that there is no overarching way to measure human beings and our accomplishments, and that in and of itself is greatness at work.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 87” in (142.24 cm x 220.98 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 102” in (180.34 cm x 259.08 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 58” in (93.98 cm x 147.32 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 73” in (132.08 cm x 185.42 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.
Chief
Wyoming, USA 2020
“There is wide recognition now that Christopher Columbus did not discover America in 1492 and the events in Minneapolis have accelerated the debate on the possibility of institutionalised racism in the teaching of American history. This is not a discussion we want to fully engage in – as we are ill equipped to add value, but I do want to celebrate some of the tribal elders I have had the fortune to encounter in the last month. Their pride, manners, grace and humility have been humbling. We have made new friends in the North.
For this project we worked with Chief John Spotted Tail, the great-great-grandson of the fabled Lakota chief Spotted Tail. We spent two days with him in Northern Wyoming and he was so excited to wear the headpiece that only the most senior Native American chiefs like him can wear. His attire was emphatically his decision not ours. Their heritage is integral to their souls.” -David Yarrow
David Yarrow is dedicated to capturing nature in its most raw and fragile forms, bending time by immersing the viewer directly into the moment that he has photographed. With CHIEF, there is a bit of an exception, as the omnipotence and majesty of the landscape are equally mirrored in both Chief John Spotted Tail and his horse. CHIEF lends itself to Humanity through its integration of humanity and nature, recollecting the symbiotic relationship that we have with our planet. Without one’s prosperity, the other simply cannot exist.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 56” x 81” in (142.24 cm x 205.74 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 96” in (180.34 cm x 243.84 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 37” x 54” in (93.98 cm x 137.16 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 69” in (132.08 cm x 175.26 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.
Ice Age
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 2019
After three days in Yellowstone Park this week, I was suffering from the flu. It is a stunningly raw and beautiful park in the winter but it can also be extremely cold. The steam from the thermal activity freezes on whatever it can – including the big bisons that gravitate there to keep warm. I have waited for a very cold day like yesterday in Yellowstone for a long time, but looking at me this morning I have certainly paid the price.
This kind of photography may test one’s appetite to work in extreme conditions, but it also tests our maths. I have never taken a photograph of anything on an aperture of F18 before, but I did yesterday as I wanted as much depth of focus as possible. My inclination was to be greedy and to try and have the bison’s nose in focus and also her eyes. So I sacrificed shutter speed and resolution and hoped for the best. It was impossible to check too much in the field, but when we returned home, I found one gem. I hope she is feeling better than me today. She will be – they are as tough as hell.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE
- Image: 56" x 68" (143 cm x 173 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 79" (171 cm x 201 cm)
STANDARD
- Image: 37" x 45" (94 cm x 115 cm)
- Framed: 48" x 56" (122 cm x 143 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.
American Idol II
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 2017
This powerful image of a large bull bison was captured near Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. It is as good as I can do and probably my most impactful animal portrait for some time. The bison is an emblematic North American animal that roamed the continent millions of years before man. When fully grown, it is a massive beast that deserves our respect and recognition.
When I was researching bison earlier this year, I quickly understood two things – firstly that some rogue bulls carry a serious threat if their space is invaded and secondly that the adult face is both prehistoric and enormous. The bison is all about the face and I sensed that any picture that didn’t recognize this, would miss my goals. My instincts were that the image also needed a sense of “Yellowstone in the winter” and this, combined with the need for proximity, all pointed to a ground level, remote control approach.
To work with ground level radio controlled cameras and a prime wide angle is very much my signature style, but it is easier with elephants in Amboseli, than bison in Yellowstone. This is not an easy location – our guide suggested that 95% of Yellowstone is out of bounds in winter. It is the most geothermal active park in the world, throw avalanches, wolves and bears into the mix and we have a primordial soup of creation.
I failed about 10 times with my camera positioning and I tweaked my lens/camera combination constantly. It was most frustrating and I was generally grumpy. But on the third day at about 2 pm, it all came together. The trees and the sky are most helpful additives – but what a face and what a back structure. I haven’t seen this sort of image of a big bison before.
I would like to thank Tom Murphy, one of America’s most acclaimed nature photographers, for assisting me on this assignment. We were both frustrated by the milder weather at the start of the week, but his knowledge and fireside tales of the area kept the spirits up. A good 20 years ago in the depth of a very cold winter, Tom – equipped with just a light tent – took a back country ski trip across the 100 km span of Yellowstone – a remarkable feat that truly humbles anything I have ever achieved and a trip that will soon be commemorated by a long awaited documentary film.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE
- Image: 56" x 68" (143 cm x 173 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 79" (171 cm x 201 cm)
STANDARD
- Image: 37" x 39" (94 cm x 99 cm)
- Framed: 48" x 50" (122 cm x 127 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.
Winter's Coming
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA – 2020
These were probably the worst weather conditions I have photographed under for many years, but it was those very conditions that define this image. If it was the same bison, in the same field at midday in the summer, there would be nothing special at all. I am reminded that we always have to fight to get what we want. Big bull bisons in the snow as a starting concept is appealing as they are primeval beasts that survived an ice age and portraits work best when their faces look like monsters from Game of Thrones.
When working in heavy snowfall, there is a need to be as close to the subject as possible so as to reduce the number of snowflakes hitting the line of path between the camera and the subject. Too much and the whole thing becomes a little too abstract.
It is not permitted to be within 25 metres of a bison in Yellowstone and this rule is often enforced in a charmless and dictatorial way. There is actually a prison at the north entrance in Yellowstone and visitors are left in little doubt that transgressions within the park could lead to the transgressor serving time.
That morning in early January 2020, I did not have a measuring tape with me, but I guess I was as close as I could be and maybe a little more. But I was on my own – clearly no one else was daft enough to be out there in that storm just after sunrise. I think the amount of snow detail between the camera and the bison adds to the mood of the image. Winter was very clearly coming.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE
- Image: 56" x 56" (143 x 143 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 67" (171 x 171 cm)
STANDARD
- Image: 37" x 37" (94 x 94 cm)
- Framed: 48" x 48" (122 x 122 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.
Silent Witness
AVAILABLE SIZES:
- Large: 67 x 87 inches
- Standard: 48 x 61 inches
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.
Smoky The Mountain Lion
Montana, USA – 2018
Many consider that the definitive work on photography in the 20th century was perhaps written by the late Susan Sontag. It is a bold claim as there is a great deal of competition for that accolade, but her essay was translated into 32 different languages, so I guess it is up there.
I finally read it on a plane this summer and was fairly spellbound. To shorten one little paragraph: “Photography is as widely practised an amusement as sex or dancing – which means that, like every mass art form, photography is not practiced by most people as art. It is mainly a social rite of family life and a way of certifying an experience.” Susan wrote before animal photography became mainstream – whether it be conducted in the back garden with the family dog or with zebra on the plains of the Serengeti. Either way the paragraph largely holds true.
This image of a mountain lion was taken under controlled conditions in the hills of Montana and therefore it is not certifying an experience – it is creating an experience. I have not taken this photograph – I have made this photograph.
It is not an authentic wildlife photograph and makes no claims to be so. I started with a preconception of what I wanted to achieve – an intimate portrait of an aggressive cougar and worked backwards from there. Ideally, I wanted a degree of facial detail that would normallyonly be attained in a studio with a tame mountain lion. The hills in North East Montana are a long way from any studio, but the mountain lion largely responded to his carer and that offered the opportunity.
Immersive photography or cinematography offers a better chance to emotionally engage the viewer. The greater the proximity between the subject and camera, the greater the chance of finding the soul of the subject – whether it be a cat or a human. The shorter the lens, the greater the chance of emotion and drama and the lower the light, the better the canvas on which to paint.
There were a number of factors at play – but the goal was simple – to convey the soul of Smokey – the mountain lion.
Available sizes:
- Large: 67 x 106 inches
- Standard: 48 x 73 inches
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.