Encroachment
Nevada City, Montana – 2017
I probably owe a great deal to the photographer Jim Brandenburg. I have never had the privilege of meeting him, but his iconic picture of half a wolf’s head jutting out from behind a tree is widely ascribed as a key moment in the history of wildlife photography. This was the day when transcending wildlife photography started to be regarded as art.
I am a fine art photographer, not a wildlife photographer, and so I sit somewhere in the middle of this debate. I don’t use long lenses unless I absolutely have to – polar bears and tigers being two cases in which they are helpful. Telephoto lenses compress the image and with it the chance of capturing something deeply evocative.
I do find many wildlife photographs very dull. It is not enough to see an animal and then photograph it – that is akin to google mapping and it is not art. Many wildlife photographers fall into the trap of believing that documentation is enough and it is not.
This image is deliberately reductive and there is no lofty ambition. But therein lies its strength. It is a paradox that white is such a strong colour and it is probably at its best in abstract imagery with no depth of focus. There was about an inch of focus here and it was well used.
Available Sizes (Framed Size)
- Large: 71” x 78” (180 cm x 198 cm)
- Standard: 52” x 57” (132 cm x 145 cm)
Available Editions
- Large: Edition of 12
- Standard: Edition of 12
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.
Something's Brewing
Virginia City, Montana 2019
This staged picture, in the virtual ghost town of Virginia City, has a compositional balance that I like; the wolf, the wolf’s shadow and the cowboys are all in the right place – which is fortunate given that the wolf was running towards me.
I have never used this old brewery building before in my storytelling because I worried that the facade was too high to fit in an image if there was also to be a cast immediately in front of it. There were two possible solutions – to move the story further away from the building, which would risk disassociation, or to get close to the building and try and capture the wolf with a true wide-angle lens, not easy at all and could risk ending with a lousy series of far lit loose shots. The whole building would be in for sure, but to work with a 28mm lens and a wolf is not to play the percentages.
We had no real choice but to go for the second option and roll the dice. We got lucky, but as someone once said “Luck is the residue of design”. A sharp shot on a 28 mm lens is pin pin sharp.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56" x 67" (143 cm x 171 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 82" (171 cm x 209 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 37" x 47" (94 cm x 120 cm)
- Framed: 48" x 58" (122 cm x 148 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.
There Will Be Blood
Montana, USA – 2020
I have always wanted to name a photograph after this powerful Oscar winning movie – but the picture had to be strong and the content “bang on” appropriate.
The history of oil in so many ways mirrors the history of the world in the last 140 years and in America this holds very true, albeit the move west was fueled by so many other mineral resources as well as oil.
“Go West, young man, go West” is celebrated counsel from 1851 that was followed by millions and gave rise to final frontier towns, across swathes of Western America. The few communities that remain intact offer great potential as filming backdrop.
The key to this photograph was to remember that tight framing leads the eye and that the wolf had to be close to me – otherwise the image would fall flat. There was no room for dead space, but also there could be few errors in the positioning of the 15 people.
We shot this many times, but just one frame came off. It was not warm, and one was all we needed.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56" x 84" (143 x 214 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 95" (171 cm x 242 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 37" x 56" (94 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.
The Wolves Of Wall Street
Los Angeles, USA 2019
The concept of this photograph has been bouncing around in my head for over a year. We prepared for many months as it was clear to me that if we were to pay homage to The Wolf of Wall Street, we had to do it well. There was no point in doing it in a casual way – after all, Martin Scorsese is one of my heroes and his framing is so exceptional that we had to be at the top of our game not to materially underachieve in any recreation. It was the biggest production of my career.
The location of the abandoned office in Simi Valley outside Los Angeles was ideal for most of the cast – including Jordan Belfort – the real Wolf of Wall Street, but not so ideal for the wolves, as there was no working air conditioning inside. This meant importing huge AC units to keep the animals cool. The green room on the side of the dealing floor was transformed into a giant fridge for the day.
The final image is one of the most satisfying of my career. I wanted as many references to the film as possible – Cameron Dallas eating the goldfish, Jordan with his pen, the marching band, the dollar notes and the glitter. Both models – Kate Bock and Daniela Braga – smashed it in their roles, not easy with so much going on and a wolf charging down the table. Both Kate and Dany are at the top of their game and pivotal to this photograph.
Someone once said that the best pictures can be looked at for a very long time. On that level, this image wins. However, the key for me was to find out what the world’s most celebrated actor thought of this one snap shot in time. Without his approval, this photograph would lose some of its relevance. I was proud when he told me that it captured the very essence of Belfort.
We did it and I feel that we left nothing in the bucket in the conception and the execution. It is as good as I can do.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
MEDIUM (Signed by DiCaprio & Scorsese) - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 45" x 83" (115 cm x 211 cm)
- Framed: 56" x 94" (143 cm x 239 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 37" x 68" (94 cm x 173 cm)
- Framed: 48" x 79" (122 cm x 201 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 Richest Hill in the World
Montana, USA 2018
I have wrestled with how I could convey the drama of a wolf encounter for some time. The problem, in my mind, was that I wanted the tension of proximity to be coupled with a palpable sense that the drama was yet to be played out – it could go either way. I wondered how Hitchcock would work this – it was not good enough to have distance between the two subjects as focus would then be an issue. The wolf and human needed to be equidistant from the camera to make them both sharp.
Then one day in Montana three years ago, high up in the mountains, I saw an abandoned farm truck not far from the main road. It had probably been there for over 60 years and was now just a rusty shell. It clearly offered potential to play out this concept but ideally I needed fresh snow on the bonnet and roof. The more virginal the snow cover the better.
This year I had my fresh snow and in Roxanna Redfoot, I had the perfect girl to cast in the role of the prey. The doors would not budge and she had to climb in through the broken window – but that was not a big deal for Roxanna even in tough temperatures. She is a rock star and I have no doubt that Hitchcock would have cast her at every opportunity.
It’s one of those images in which simply everything works.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56" x 78" (143 x 198 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 89" (171 x 226 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 37" x 52" (94 x 132 cm)
- 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.
The "Mile High" Club
Montana, USA – 2020
This is a club that now has too many members, but if there was an annual meeting, I doubt that many attendees would create as much interest as these two. I think the image has a Hitchcockian mood and we are left a little in suspense.
As soon as I saw that headframe, I felt a visceral urge to incorporate it and of course use the name. It was all too good to be true,
No one else can now do this – we got there first. As always Kate Bock smashes it – she never gets a role play or an attitude wrong.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56" x 85" (143 x 216 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 96" (171 x 244 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 37" x 56" (94 x 143 cm)
- Framed: 48" x 67" (122 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.
The Last Chance Saloon
Virginia City, Montana 2019
To return to the Pioneer Bar in Virginia City, Montana is to return to my comfort zone and I feel an obligation to arrive with creative courage. We must push boundaries and not be lame in our conceptual processing. We have a free run here in the winter, when only 60 people live here and the Mayor only recently gave me the symbolic key to the city.
The group shots that I have photographed around the window end of the long bar have been well received and are difficult to top, especially as the last one included Cindy Crawford.
My premise this time was to markedly up the number of people in the picture (the most we had used before was six). This puts pressure on both the construction and the casting, as one lame character can become a tension point and ruin the whole image. We have all experienced the difficulty of group pictures on Christmas Day or Thanksgiving.
I think Ellen DeGeneres’ Oscar selfie works so well, not just because of the number of people in the image, but because every character is an additive. It is my favourite selfie.
We assembled a strong cast – the models Kate Bock from Cleveland and Olivia Culpo from Charlotte, native American families from Northern Montana and then, of course, my favourite local mountain men. The hair and makeup/styling team, led by Nikki Parisi out of LA, was outstanding. My direction was 150 years ago Wild West – appropriate as in the 1860s, over 15,000 lived in Virginia City and The Pioneer Bar would have been very busy.
All 11 characters played their roles well that day, but perhaps the picture is stolen by a lovely 85-year-old lady called Mary from Butte, Montana. We nearly called the picture “There’s Something About Mary” but perhaps her hair was not quite right.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56" x 97" (143 x 247 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 108" (171 cm x 275 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 37" x 64" (94 x 163 cm)
- Framed: 48" x 75" (122 x 191 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 King And Us
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 74" x 56" (188 x 143 cm)
- Framed: 85" x 67" (216 cm x 170 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 49" x 37" (125 x 94 cm)
- Framed: 60" x 48" (153 cm 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.
Sweet Home Chicago
Chicago, Illinois 2017
Chicago is a magnificent city. It is the home of modern architecture and has one of the most beautiful skylines in the world. The people of Chicago are sophisticated and globally minded. Yet, when you pass someone on the street, you will be greeted with a welcoming smile. Our city rests on the shores of one of the greatest lakes in the world with a magnificent river that runs through it. From its architecture to its geographic location, Chicago is ranked as one of the top cities in the world. Ask anyone who visits our city.
Last November, legendary photographer David Yarrow made the journey from London to Chicago with a vision of photographing a wolf in our city. After hours of shooting into the night, David and his team brilliantly captured this magnificent animal in the foreground of our city’s most prominent architecture along the Riverwalk off of Wacker Drive.
We would like to give special thanks to the City of Chicago, the Chicago Film Office and the Chicago Police Foundation for their support with permits, location and for making this possible.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56" x 83" (143 cm x 211 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 94" (171 cm x 239 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 37" x 55" (94 cm x 140 cm)
- Framed: 48" x 66" (122 cm x 168 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.
Roll The Dice
Butte, Montana, USA – 2020
The Silver Dollar Saloon in Butte has everything I would look for in a photo shoot bar – deep and thin, interesting wall decoration and good neon lighting. Furthermore, there are precious few signs of modernity anywhere in the premises.
Craps has been the dominant casino game in Las Vegas since the World War Two and I have always wanted to incorporate a table into one of my sets. As soon as I scouted the bar, I saw the potential – we just had to find an old Craps table somewhere in Butte. This was not hard as 100,000 people once lived here and the winter evenings were long.
Craps as a game lends itself to still photography more than roulette and poker because the players can crowd around the end of the table as one player throws the dice vaguely in the direction of the cameraman. It worked in the promo stills for Oceans 11 – so it may as well work in the Silver Dollar too. The key is that everyone at the end of the table must – for focusing purposes – be the same distance from the camera. There is no depth of field inside and a two inches disparity will mean that the focus on the transgressor is out.
Kate Bock is made for the Sharon Stone look from the film Casino and Daniella Braga does not take a bad picture. The girls had worked well with Jordan Belfort – The Wolf of Wall Street – in our retake of that iconic film last year and so I invited him to Montana for part two.
The frame just works – Elvis, the dice, the stare of the wolf and of course Kate. There is nothing I would change at all and that’s not common.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 56" x 70" (143 x 178 cm)
- Framed: 67" x 81" (171 x 206 cm)
STANDARD - Edition Size: 12
- Image: 37" x 46" (94 x 117 cm)
- Framed: 48" x 57" (122 x 145 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.