The Last Days of Summer (B&W)
Capri, Italy – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
“No island in the world elicits a greater sense of golden idleness and a freewheeling love of the pleasures of life than the Italian island of Capri. As far back as 500 BC, the Greeks saw it as a rocky paradise of hedonism and much more recently they were followed by the Marquis de Sade and Oscar Wilde. Even if only half the stories of the debauchery in Capri are true, it has been a good host island to those who believe that life is for living.
There is a unique beauty to the place and a refined simplicity that seduced Hollywood in the 1950s and Jacqueline Kennedy not long after. I sense that Capri does not have to try too hard, because it doesn’t really need to; everything is there and most of it always will be. There is security in the longevity of tenure.
The island’s greatest trick is to offer a sense of belonging to visitors. Our cousins from across the pond, who come every year in their thousands, call it “little America”. That’s quite a stretch, but no doubt there is a century long love affair between America and Capri.
The island’s iconic rock formation – The Faraglioni – is the geological pantheon of the island and I knew that at some stage this summer I would use its vertical grandeur as a backdrop in my European storytelling. Of course, these sea stacks are over photographed, and I needed a fresh foreground that played to the lore of the island. It takes time to determine the right location to shoot from as so many angles have become a little generic.
There is one land location near Marina Piccola where I could take an old Vespa and this was a shot I hadn’t seen before. Logistically it’s not that easy to get access with a bike. Just after sunrise, the rocks are kissed from behind by gentle sunlight and I knew that if I shot into the rising sun, I could engineer a rather dreamy canvas.
The girls played their roles exactly as directed: I wanted both sexual confidence and a sense that their behaviour was not always coming from the highest moral drawer. That would be fitting for an island blessed by an intoxicating sense of fun and freedom.” – David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 103” in (142.2 cm x 261.6 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 118” in (180.3 cm x 299.7 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 71” in (93.98 cm x 180.3 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 86” in (132.1 cm x 218.4 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.
Diego
Atrani, Italy – 2024
Archival Pigment Prin
“In retrospect, I owe Diego Maradona a great deal; without him, I would not have had the provenance of a career starting all the way back to that extraordinary World Cup in Mexico in 1986 which he owned, both metaphorically and literally. I got lucky on the day of the final and the photograph of him, arms aloft with the trophy, remains one of the most important of my life.
But Neapolitans had gotten even luckier when their debt-ridden club bought Diego Maradona from Barcelona in the summer of 1984. It was an enormous financial gamble for a club teetering on insolvency and history now looks back fondly on the courage of the owner Corrado Ferlaino.
It is impossible to overstate the importance of Maradona to the city – no sportsman has ever offered such level of redemption and hope to an otherwise disadvantaged community and when Maradona’s Napoli won the Italian title in 1987, his legacy was secure. To this day, many Neapolitans have two paintings above their bed – Jesus Christ and Maradona. It was an intoxicating love affair between man and city masterfully articulated in the Asif Kapadia 2019 documentary “Maradona”, which briefly features my photograph from 1986.
For a generation now, the giant murals of Maradona, dotted around Naples and the neighbouring towns, have become tourist destinations in themselves. They are part of the aesthetic fabric of this most magical and raw part of Europe. Diego was so much more than just a sportsman; he was a modern-day saviour in this godfearing and deeply spiritual place.
My idea was to use a Maradona mural as a background layer in a celebration of life in the wider Naples area. The styling and props were necessarily skewed towards the time when Maradona still played for Napoli, and I sensed the need for a busy street narrative. I wanted to evoke a very definite sense of place. There is nowhere quite like it in the world.” – David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 98” in (142.2 cm x 248.9 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 113” in (180.3 cm x 287 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 65” in (93.98 cm x 165.1 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 80” in (132.1 cm x 203.2 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 Amalfi Coast
Atrani, Italy – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
“It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone”. – John Steinbeck, 1953.
Steinbeck nailed it, but on his travels, he often did, and his observations are timeless. What was true in 1953 remains true 70 years later. The Amalfi Coast is the great creator’s aesthetic masterclass and, in this most spiritual of places, there can be no accommodation for those failing to give thanks for their brief tenancy. We are blessed to be here and this coveted corner of Italy reinforces the compass that always points to the celebration of life.
I wanted to take a picture not only to evoke a sense of joy but one rich in Italian narrative. There needed to be some visual chaos but at the centre of it I wanted to convey an easy admiration for the best things in life. There is nothing to be ashamed of in enjoying the beautiful things: whether it be cuisine; fashion or people and Italians seem to be more comfortable with this default position than most.
I chose Atrani for this photograph partly because it is timeless and partly because the stairs off the main square lead the eye and the windows frame the subject. It is a wonderful canvas from which to work and it is no surprise that big Hollywood projects such as Ripley and The Equaliser 3 have recently been filmed in this small gem of a town.
Brooks Nader is a star and I often work with her. She is not only striking, but she emotionally engages in every role I ask her to play. She is also great fun to be with. This was not her hardest role, she just had to be herself.” – David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 64” in (142.2 cm x 162.6 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 79” in (180.3 cm x 200.7 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 42” in (93.98 cm x 106.7 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 57” in (132.1 cm x 144.8 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.
Rear View Mirror (Colour)
Lake Tahoe, California – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
“I am a student of the Alfred Hitchcock brand of storytelling and there may be something rather Hitchcockian about this narrative. The beautiful girl, driving an equally beautiful car, through the most extreme of winter passes, with a wolf perched high above analysing the situation. All the assets in play seem to complement each other, but only one party is perhaps alive to all the facts – the wolf.
Tall snow berms like the ones in the photograph are not easy to find these days and our research led us to Lake Tahoe in late April. The Sierra Nevada Mountain range still gets hefty 3-foot snowfalls in March; perhaps as much as any ski area in the world and this is where we focused our efforts.
Meanwhile, the 1953 250MM Ferrari, is a precious car and we needed to be very sure there was easy access to this location. So I guess we were being greedy as we wanted deep accumulations of snow, along with fresh snow on a newly ploughed road and then, somehow or other, the means to get the Ferrari in position on the bend in the road. We have little appetite for doing banal things that come easy.
When we arrived, the height of the berms offered an opportunity to use the black wolf we sometimes bring on set. It was not a preconceived idea and we remind ourselves that it is good occasionally simply to adapt to circumstance as you find them.
As always, we thank Brooks Nader for being such a laugh to work with on set – as well as being on point in her role playing.” – David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 60” in (142.2 cm x 152.4 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 75” in (180.3 cm x 190.5 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 40” in (93.98 cm x 101.6 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 55” in (132.1 cm x 139.7 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.
Rear View Mirror (B&W)
Lake Tahoe, California – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
“I am a student of the Alfred Hitchcock brand of storytelling and there may be something rather Hitchcockian about this narrative. The beautiful girl, driving an equally beautiful car, through the most extreme of winter passes, with a wolf perched high above analysing the situation. All the assets in play seem to complement each other, but only one party is perhaps alive to all the facts – the wolf.
Tall snow berms like the ones in the photograph are not easy to find these days and our research led us to Lake Tahoe in late April. The Sierra Nevada Mountain range still gets hefty 3-foot snowfalls in March; perhaps as much as any ski area in the world and this is where we focused our efforts.
Meanwhile, the 1953 250MM Ferrari, is a precious car and we needed to be very sure there was easy access to this location. So I guess we were being greedy as we wanted deep accumulations of snow, along with fresh snow on a newly ploughed road and then, somehow or other, the means to get the Ferrari in position on the bend in the road. We have little appetite for doing banal things that come easy.
When we arrived, the height of the berms offered an opportunity to use the black wolf we sometimes bring on set. It was not a preconceived idea and we remind ourselves that it is good occasionally simply to adapt to circumstance as you find them.
As always, we thank Brooks Nader for being such a laugh to work with on set – as well as being on point in her role playing.” – David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 60” in (142.2 cm x 152.4 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 75” in (180.3 cm x 190.5 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 40” in (93.98 cm x 101.6 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 55” in (132.1 cm x 139.7 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.
Ferrari II (Colour)
Amboy, California – 2023
Archival Pigment Print
In the 1950s, the Californian Dream made Route 66 the most famous road in the world. “The Mother Road”, as John Steinbeck described it in The Grapes of Wrath, became the route of flight for the American Middle Class; a trend accelerated by the rapidly evolving Californian economy and the opening of Disneyland in 1955.
The stretch of road heading east near Amboy in the baking Californian desert showcases the Route 66 journey as it once was. The sense of scale offers the filmmaker a valuable tool kit and I have been drawn to this outpost for many years. It is a commitment of time to get there, but one that many road trippers make because of the iconic Roy’s Motel and Cafe which serves as the one identifiable landmark in a barren desert.
Amboy is a known known and I worried how I could break new ground because like all spectacular vistas in the US, it has been well photographed. The challenge is not in getting there, but in transcending when one does.
I called upon a Hong Kong friend who is a passionate investor in vintage cars and owns one of the most lauded and valuable collections in the world. I explained the shoot concept and he graciously offered up one his most coveted treasures – the 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Vignale Spider. It was one of only 12 built in the world and when one comes up at auction, they sell for more than a London townhouse. His team was kind enough to transport this fabled Ferrari 1,000 miles across the country, but at least when they arrived, they understood the opportunity. It was going to be a trip well made.
The design of the Ferrari was perfect as its low windscreen allowed my lens direct access into the faces of the girl (the wonderful Daniela Braga) and the wolf. They could then hold centre stage and let all the other constituent parts play off each other.
The goal of this shoot was to play on the metaphor that is Route 66. It encapsulates the American Dream, as it was the road of freedom and ambition. Go West, work hard, stay focused and enjoy the very best of lives.
We styled to the mid 1950s and I told Daniela to exude a sense of positivity. She should look, as Nat King Cole suggested, that she was “Getting her Kicks on Route 66”.
Hard not to in that Ferrari.
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 59” in (142.2 cm x 149.9 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 74” in (180.3 cm x 188 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 39” in (93.98 cm x 99.06 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 54” in (132.1 cm x 137.2 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.
1953 (Colour)
Lake Tahoe, California – 2024
“Ferrari was a great opportunity, but it demanded scouting for a location that was its aesthetic equal. The more grand the ambitions with a ‘tableaux’, the more vulnerable each of the constituent parts are to a sense of dragging the end photograph lower. Location scouting is an integral part of our working year, as storytelling rarely blossoms in a contextual vacuum.
The idea of using tall snow berms to frame the Ferrari and then offering a period James Bond type narrative, was not a new addition to our conceptual idea factory. It had been knocking around the edges for some time, but we simply did not know exactly where to find narrow roads shouldered by walls of snow 10 foot high. Weather patterns do not give the filmmaker the luxury of forward planning in something so specific and we need to plan well in advance.
What we did know is that these visuals tend to occur towards the end of the ski season at high altitude in both Europe and America. It is uneconomic to snowplough small private roads with further winter storms around the corner, but equally, as soon the spring thaw accelerates, the snow berms on ploughed roads lose their height and grandeur.
There was some precision required on timing and my intuition suggested that this was a shot for the third week of April, whether the location was in the Alps, the Rockies or the Sierra Nevada Mountain range.
We knew we would be filming in America after Easter and our research concluded that the ski area that tends to have the most amount of spring snow in the US is the Sierras. Historically the mountains above Lake Tahoe get dumped on in March and the snow above 7000 ft can still be very deep in mid-April. To shoot in California rather than Colorado was a big call, but we felt it gave us the best chance and the best access. The snow season runs late in Lake Tahoe.
Our team based themselves out of the old railroad town of Truckee, California and with the help of some properly informed mountain men, we found our precise location and went to work. When I arrived on set, it was one of the few times in the last few years when I have been visually arrested by what was in front of me. This was an exceptional setting and an entirely secret one too. Our timing and our planning was on the money.
I would like to thank Brooks Nader for being such an excellent 1950s girl and Chip Connor for lending me his prized 250 MM, Ferrari. Meanwhile, locals Stefan Moore and Troy Caldwell were rock stars making the berms high and safe. Every constituent part of this image was first class and in reality, I had the easy job.” – David Yarrow
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37" x 58” in (93.98 cm x 147.3 cm)
- Framed Image: 71" x 102” in (180.34 cm x 259.1 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 58” in (93.98 cm x 147.3 cm)
- Framed Image: 52" x 73” in (132.1 cm x 185.4 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.
1953
Lake Tahoe, California – 2024
“Ferrari was a great opportunity, but it demanded scouting for a location that was its aesthetic equal. The more grand the ambitions with a ‘tableaux’, the more vulnerable each of the constituent parts are to a sense of dragging the end photograph lower. Location scouting is an integral part of our working year, as storytelling rarely blossoms in a contextual vacuum.
The idea of using tall snow berms to frame the Ferrari and then offering a period James Bond type narrative, was not a new addition to our conceptual idea factory. It had been knocking around the edges for some time, but we simply did not know exactly where to find narrow roads shouldered by walls of snow 10 foot high. Weather patterns do not give the filmmaker the luxury of forward planning in something so specific and we need to plan well in advance.
What we did know is that these visuals tend to occur towards the end of the ski season at high altitude in both Europe and America. It is uneconomic to snowplough small private roads with further winter storms around the corner, but equally, as soon the spring thaw accelerates, the snow berms on ploughed roads lose their height and grandeur.
There was some precision required on timing and my intuition suggested that this was a shot for the third week of April, whether the location was in the Alps, the Rockies or the Sierra Nevada Mountain range.
We knew we would be filming in America after Easter and our research concluded that the ski area that tends to have the most amount of spring snow in the US is the Sierras. Historically the mountains above Lake Tahoe get dumped on in March and the snow above 7000 ft can still be very deep in mid-April. To shoot in California rather than Colorado was a big call, but we felt it gave us the best chance and the best access. The snow season runs late in Lake Tahoe.
Our team based themselves out of the old railroad town of Truckee, California and with the help of some properly informed mountain men, we found our precise location and went to work. When I arrived on set, it was one of the few times in the last few years when I have been visually arrested by what was in front of me. This was an exceptional setting and an entirely secret one too. Our timing and our planning was on the money.
I would like to thank Brooks Nader for being such an excellent 1950s girl and Chip Connor for lending me his prized 250 MM, Ferrari. Meanwhile, locals Stefan Moore and Troy Caldwell were rock stars making the berms high and safe. Every constituent part of this image was first class and in reality, I had the easy job.” – David Yarrow
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37" x 58” in (93.98 cm x 147.3 cm)
- Framed Image: 71" x 102” in (180.34 cm x 259.1 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 58” in (93.98 cm x 147.3 cm)
- Framed Image: 52" x 73” in (132.1 cm x 185.4 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 Lodge at Vail
Vail, Colorado – 2024
“The Lodge at Vail was the first proper hotel to operate in a resort that arrived at the Colorado ski party exceptionally late. The first stones of Vail were laid in 1962 making it the new kid on the block versus other Colorado ski towns such as Aspen, Breckenridge, or Steamboat Springs, which existed as 19th century mining towns prior to the establishment of their ski resorts.
To begin with, the hotel was a “white elephant”, losing $100,000 every year until the faux Bavarian town matured into something of substance. But to borrow from Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams, “If you build it, he will come” and sure enough they came. The Lodge at Vail became the epicentre of a town that enjoyed growing popularity because of its abundant skiing and ease of travel.
The facade of the hotel has not changed much for several decades and I thought I could use that as a backdrop, in much the same way we did at Badrutt’s Palace in St Moritz, Switzerland in 2023. That photograph – which lent on the glamour of the 1970s in the resort – was hugely popular. There was an element of James Bond to it coupled with intense femininity.
The formula worked and so this became the prompt for my shot outside the Lodge. After all, Vail became a place to be seen fairly quickly and by the mid 70s it was in vogue. Bohemian glamour was as prevalent in Colorado as it was in the Swiss Alps, maybe even more so.
Who better, therefore, than Alessandra Ambrosio – the Brazilian supermodel – to play the lead in this narrative. She has such presence and authority and is a joy to work with.
We would also like to thank Austin Akers for the use of the beautiful 1956 Mercedes Benz 300 SL Gullwing”. – David Yarrow
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56" x 71” in (142.2 cm x 180.3 cm)
- Framed Image: 71" x 86” in (180.3 cm x 218.4 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 47” in (93.98 cm x 119.4 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 62” (132.1 cm x 157.5 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.
Code Red
Minturn, Colorado – 2024
“The railroad and mining community of Minturn – which dates to the 1880s – allows for some raw grit to saddle up to the shiny neighbouring resort town of Vail. The contrast between the two places is astonishingly stark, given that they are only three miles apart. Whilst Vail was styled by architects and designers on Alpine Bavaria, Minturn was styled by grizzly prospectors looking only as far as the next day.
Vail was built 80 years after Minturn and when the contractors finished a day’s shift, they would head west to the Minturn Saloon. It was the place to go and 60 years on, despite some remodeling and ownership changes, it remains exactly that. All those who know Vail, know the Minturn Saloon. Rather like the Woody Creek Tavern in Aspen, it has fostered a strong patronage over the years and when the doors open at 3pm, the bar fills at a speed to suggest that this is a special and loved destination. As always it is the people that make the places and this bar attracts a rich variety of clientele.
Part of the saloon’s appeal was that it was directly accessible by skis, by car, by foot and by horse and it therefore became something of a vortex at the end of the day. By the 1970s, the Minturn not only attracted cowboys, builders and miners, but the new bohemian hipster crowd from over the hill.
I am always drawn to the visual contrasts afforded to a filmmaker when a wild frontier destination is fused with glamour. This was the premise for this story. I saw a chance to play with the cold winter light that day and the result works pleasingly well in colour.
Alessandra Ambrosio is one of the leading models in the world and it was a pleasure to work with her. She certainly killed her look and showed why she is at the top of her game. We would also like to thank Austin Akers for the use of the beautiful 1956 Mercedes Benz 300 SL Gullwing.” – David Yarrow
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56" x 70” in (142.2 cm x 177.8 cm)
- Framed Image: 71" x 85” in (180.3 cm x 215.9 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37” x 47” in (93.98 cm x 119.4 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 62” (132.1 cm x 157.5 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.