It's Closing Time
Montana, USA – 2015
“This staged image, taken in Nevada City, a ghost town high up in the mountains of Montana, is a favourite of mine. I wanted as much of the facade of the bar in the image but I also wanted to be as close to the mountain lion as possible. The best solution was to work with a wide-angle lens about 10 feet from the bar entrance and to hope that we could entice the lion out of the bar and straight towards me.
The set up was great fun and we were blessed with exclusivity and full cooperation from the local Montana Government. The strength of this picture is as much to do with access as it is about photography – without local permits and support, I could not possibly bring a mountain lion into a treasured historical building.
When I look at this picture, I do smile when I think that whilst there is just a lion and a few lit candles in front of the camera, there were at least 15 people behind and to either side of me. It was a far busier set than it looks – good images like this require time and a team effort.”
-David Yarrow
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 56” x 87” in (142 cm x 221 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 102” in (180 cm x 259 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image Size: 37” x 57” in (94 cm x 145 cm)
- Framed Image: 52” x 72” in (132 cm x 183 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.
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.
Let's Catch The Last Train Home
Montana, USA 2018
No one is remembered for playing it safe. On the surface, the idea of placing a couple of exceptional women in front of an abandoned train in a ghost town high up in the mountains of Montana, and styling them in a way that exposes their curves as well as their personalities, is a risky concept in 2018. There is every chance that this work could be seen as gratuitous objectification and not art. It will irk many but equally, their coats were positioned very carefully.
But I will go with it and when I saw the print for the first time in large scale, I knew there was something and others have reinforced this belief. It just works and the more I review the intricacy of the train’s facade, I do think that there is a little magic – the icicles, the expression of the mountain lion, the textural beauty of the wood. The girls both rock and that was not easy for them – it was 15 degrees below zero that morning.
But what I am trying to say? Nothing – nothing at all – I am just playing with visual double takes and remembering that the wild west was exactly that. Let’s just catch the last train home.
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE: Edition of 12
- Image: 79" x 56" (201 cm x 143 cm)
- Framed: 90" x 67" (229 cm x 171 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12
- Image: 52" x 37" (132 cm x 94 cm)
- Framed: 63" x 48" (160 cm x 122 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.
Souffle Rising
Available size options with and without framing are below;
- Large: 92 x 71 inches framed
- Standard: 52 x 66 inches framed
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 Wild West II
Montana, USA 2015
There are many times in this digital age, that a photographer on checking what he or she has on the LCD screen at the back of the camera body, succumbs to an adrenaline rush. Indeed there should be times like this, otherwise perhaps the photographer is not investing enough passion in their art. The joy of photography surely comes as much with the retrospection as it does with the preparation. The bit between is too short – a picture takes 1000/1 second – that is not enough time for accompanying emotion. When I saw this shot and its sharp focus on the back of my Nikon D4s, I gasped.
This staged image was great fun to put together. The gold rush saloon was very much as it was left – next to the brothel and in a fenced off “final frontier” street. We spent the afternoon opening up the bar, lighting candles and waiting for the light to go down so as to bring out those candles. The facade was as good as it could possibly be and then all that was needed was for the captive mountain lion to cooperate. These extraordinarily beautiful animals have enormous energy and when he was released from deep inside the saloon, he leapt magnificently out of the doorway. Luckily this was exactly what I was told to anticipate and I was ready. We nailed it as a team.
Before its general release , I showed this image to a number of people and the only negative comment I was given was that it was simply too good to be true. The mountain lion is positioned perfectly for the interior candles and the light snow flakes, as well as floating so majestically in the air. I can understand why some might then think that I computer engineered this image and simply pasted the lion into the doorway. That would ruin my career.
As I drove to the Montana airport with my cameras packed away, I knew what I had to do – I had to also release the images in the sequence either side of the shot. There is no way I could make this sequence up. Pixar maybe could , but there is no animation here – it is very real. I have this shot in my home – I think it is very special.
Available size options with and without framing are below;
- Large: 92 x 71 inches framed
- Standard: 52 x 66 inches framed
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 Landlord
Nevada City, Montana – 2015
This staged image, taken in Nevada City, a ghost town high up in the mountains of Montana, is a favourite of mine. I wanted as much of the facade of the bar in the image but I also wanted to be as close to the mountain lion as possible. The best solution was to work with a wide-angle lens about 10 feet from the bar entrance and to hope that we could entice the lion out of the bar and straight towards me.
The set up was great fun and we were blessed with exclusivity and full cooperation from the local Montana Government. The strength of this picture is as much to do with access as it is about photography – without local permits and support, I could not possibly bring a mountain lion into a treasured historical building.
When I look at this picture, I do smile when I think that whilst there is just a lion and a few lit candles in front of the camera, there were at least 15 people behind and to either side of me. It was a far busier set than it looks – good images like this require time and a team effort.
Available size options with and without framing are below;
- Large: 92 x 71 inches framed
- Standard: 52 x 66 inches framed
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.