Midnight Express
Durango, Colorado – 2025
Archival Pigment Print
“Shooting a late 19th century steam engine at night, in a dimly lit Colorado depot, was a fresh challenge, but our default strategy is to be wary of comfort zones. We often fail in new ideas, but better that than never to try.
Camera capability in low light has evolved constantly since the beginning of my career but employing slow shutter speeds when filming moving subjects is still as bad a combination as it has always been. The maths has not changed and it remains a low percentage gig.
The bonus of shooting at night in a location like this is that the stark lighting not only adds drama, it allows for unwelcome distractions to be too dark for the eye to see. The rich blacks suit train stations and many of the great movie sets in such locations have been filmed at night, no more so than with Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca.
The cowboy and the iron horse were unlikely bedfellows in the push west and most of the time they enabled each other and collaborated. But in the loosely governed final frontier, there were no certainties and danger lurked at every stopping point. I wanted to evoke not only the sense of journey but also the implicit danger. To travel in this era was to engage with the random walk of luck.”
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56″ x 72″ in (142 x 183 cm)
- Framed Image: 71″ x 87″ in (180 x 221 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37″ x 48″ in (94 x 122 cm)
- Framed Image: 52″ x 63″ in (132 x 160 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 Robbers
Durango, Colorado – 2025
Archival Pigment Print
“We know this dramatic stretch of train track in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado as intimately as any stretch of railway in the world. I think I know it better than my train journey in the UK between London and our home in Devon. Over the years this familiarity has allowed us to fully commit to our craft.
Nothing is possible without the support of the owners of the steam train and the narrow-gauge railroad; the management and then the train drivers themselves. It is a team effort and each year the level of mutual trust has circled upwards and allowed us to push boundaries creatively. We choose to film here in the winter, as low temperatures help with the breadth of visuals.
When the pressured steam is trapped between the engine and the towering escarpment, it can only escape upwards and climb the cliff face. At 7000 ft in the winter, the steam will then fall back to earth as sleet or snow. There is then the possibility that at this most dramatic of settings, the train is just a bit part in a chaotic and otherworldly scene of ice, snow, steam and smoke. We have learnt how to momentarily create a little bit of hell high up in this formidable canyon and who better to bring into this narrative than a couple of uncompromising train robbers.
Our particular thanks to Al Harper, Jeff Johnson and Russell Heerdt of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.”
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 70″ x 56″ in (178 x 142 cm)
- Framed Image: 85″ x 71″ in (216 x 180 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 47″ x 37″ in (119 x 94 cm)
- Framed Image: 62″ x 52″ in (157 x 132 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.
Trainspotting
Durango, Colorado – 2025
Archival Pigment Print
“In 1860, a group of prospectors ventured into the San Juan Mountains seeking riches. They discovered gold and silver deposits along the Animas River, naming the area “Baker’s Park”. Despite news of the discovery spreading, the Civil War, and the fact that the land belonged to the Ute Indians, delayed miners from returning until the early 1870s.
But in 1874, Silverton’s town site was established, quickly becoming the hub of numerous mining camps. Alongside miners, the town attracted the attention of a Denver railroad company with the ambition to build a track up this formidable canyon.
Eight years later, the inaugural train from Durango, operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, arrived in Silverton. This extraordinary achievement was a testimony to the ability of 19th century engineers. By 1883, Silverton boasted a population of 2,000, featuring 400 buildings, including two banks, five laundries, 29 saloons, hotels, and the notorious red-light district, Blair Street.
The beauty and grandeur of the canyon up to Silverton makes the railroad one of the world’s great visual treats.
In this shot, we staged a robbery high up in the canyon. We know our angles and our lighting and we know the cowboys we can trust on top of that historic train.”
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56″ x 57″ in (142 x 145 cm)
- Framed Image: 71″ x 72″ in (180 x 183 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37″ x 38″ in (94 x 97 cm)
- Framed Image: 52″ x 53″ in (132 x 135 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.
Stop That Train
Bryson City, North Carolina – 2024
Archival Pigment Print
“Train robbers hold a firm place in the mythological lore of the American West. Attacks on trains were a common occurrence when the rule of law was either difficult to implement or simply non-existent. Thin governance was an accepted danger on the Final Frontier.
What is perhaps surprising is that history has looked fondly on the bandits, as if their means of living was laudable and even romantic. Our affection for the underdog knows no bounds and Hollywood played to this emotion by often characterising the bandits as lovable and misunderstood rogues. The narrative was often that the bad guys were the train owners for having the wealth in the first place; maybe they had disposable moral fibre as well. It was a dog-eat-dog world.
No more was this better articulated than in the classic 1969 Western buddy film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. The film – which was loosely based on fact – cemented both actors at the top of the Hollywood A-list, not just because of their acting, but because the public found affection for their characters and their affable, wise cracking roles. It was as if they played the good guys.
This photograph was a great team effort and we want to thank the Smokey Mountain Railroad for their partnership in the project.”
– David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 52.5″ x 102″ in (133 x 259 cm)
- Framed Image: 67.5″ x 117″ in (171 x 297 cm)
Standard: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 37″ x 72″ in (94 x 183 cm)
- Framed Image: 52″ x 87″ in (132 x 221 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 Outlaws
Telluride, Colorado – 2023
Archival Pigment Print
“This photograph has a palpable sense of place, and the heavy overnight snowfall lends a mood to the story. We know this train track and the dramatic cutting well, and film scholars will also be familiar with the location from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
My idea was to have a wide enough frame to include outlaws on the slopes which grandly saddle the train track below. However, this was no easy ride for the cowboys as the heavy snow also covers big boulders and rocks that are impossible to detect until it is too late. There in lay the riddle of this photograph, in that the more virginal the snow, the stronger the likely visual, but also the harder the execution. It always tends to be that way, and we would prefer tough execution and good conditions than the other way around.
The Iron horse played an integral role in the mythological lore of the Wild West, and in this instance, I wanted my camera to dive into the pages of a Western storybook. This was an untamed and loosely governed wilderness occupied by tough men with merciless traits. That was my story – the beauty of frontier landscapes was often coupled with trouble and danger.
I would like to thank all those who helped that cold morning in Colorado, especially Al Harper and his team in Durango. Without the full partnership of the train company, this idea would have been fanciful at best. As it was, everyone did their job, and we left town with a special image.” – David Yarrow
Available sizes
Large: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image Size: 56” x 88” in (142.2 cm x 223.5 cm)
- Framed Image: 71” x 103” in (180.3 cm x 261.6 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.
Parts Unknown II
Durango, Colorado – 2023
When we shoot in the winter, weather plays a large part in our planning, but given the speed at which weather can change, it does not pay to be too prescriptive too far out from shooting days. But we continually check weather patterns and within 36 hours of a shoot, we tend to home in on a certain plan.
There are, I guess, four or five weather possibilities in the winter: melting snow and sunny, which is horrid; cold and sunny, which is better but restricts filming time; a snowstorm, which is exciting, but can impair detail or, ideally, the end of a big snow fall.
In the Rockies, I guess there are about a dozen days a year when a big storm passes through and clears, leaving behind a winter wonderland and kind gentle light. This is the film maker’s big opportunity, provided the props are in place and access is still possible. It is always challenging, but these are the days we wait for. They don’t come that often.
We know the Durango to Silverton steam train well and have built up a strong friendship with the owner Al Harper and his wonderful team of engineers in Durango. I sensed there was an opportunity at this jaw dropping location made famous by its appearance some 50 years ago in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. We were in town and waiting as the storm system pushed through. It had lasted 36 hours and left 18 inches of new snow in the San Juan Forest that the old steam train cuts through.
We had to operate fast, as the light was picking up all the time and both teams worked quickly to get everyone in position early in the day. The Native American and the horse had the toughest job – that was no easy brief that day.
When I look at this photograph, I feel some sense of pride, it is a hell of a shot. But not pride in myself, pride in all the people that made it happen. A real team effort.
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: 46" x 37" in (116.8 cm x 93.98 cm)
- Framed Image: 61" x 52" in (154.9 cm x 190.5 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.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Amboy, California – 2023
“I think visiting a potential film location for the first time is akin to a first date or a first experience at an acclaimed restaurant. It is all so unfamiliar and there is no guide as to where to start. The sensory overload can be intimidating and it takes time to distill and be oneself. Most second dates are better than the first and those who like a restaurant on their first visit will tend to enjoy it even more on the second and so it goes on. If this wasn’t the case, the brain is not the organ we give it credit for being. We are all incremental learners and we enjoy and leverage familiarity.
The first time I visited this railway track in the hot Californian desert, I knew it had visual potential, especially if I shot late in the afternoon and directly against the light, but I needed a month or so to let the cocktail of what I could do marinate in my own mind.
My predilection is to avoid the static or the mundane and planes, trains and cars in a still can look frozen. A plane defies gravity so that helps in a single image, but I knew the car and the train could not join it. I don’t envy Formula 1 photographers; it’s such a difficult sport to take stills of. My visual leaning was to have a sense of movement elsewhere and that’s where the idea of dust being kicked up from railway workers offered a solution. The light would be my partner.
Once the premise is there, it is about scalpel sharp precision in the detail. Let’s not have any car – let’s have a vintage 1953 Ferrari and let’s not have any girl holding the image together, let’s have Cindy Crawford – perhaps America’s most loved and celebrated model.
The styling in this shot was excellent and I thank Nicole Allowitz for being so good at her craft. This photograph is as much a testament to her as it is to me. The railway workers are so on point, as, of course, is Cindy. She is a given.
It is possible that some of my work over the last 10 years – particularly with wildlife – has been imitated and filmmakers have every right to do so. I celebrate a good picture like everyone else and there are some very able cameramen out there. But I don’t think this photograph is going to be imitated in a hurry and this gives me a little smile.”
AVAILABLE SIZES:
LARGE - Edition of 20:
- Framed: 56” x 69” in (142.2 cm x 175.3 cm)
- Framed: 71” x 84” in (180.3 cm x 213.4 cm)
LARGE - Edition of 20 + 3 AP:
- Image Size: 56” x 68” in (142.2 cm x 172.7 cm)
- Framed Size: 71” x 83" in (180.3 cm x 210.8 cm)
STANDARD - Edition of 20 + 3 AP:
- Image Size: 37” x 45” in (93.98 cm x 114.3 cm)
- Framed Size: 52” x 60" in (132.1 cm x 152.4 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.
Cara and the Robbers
Durango, Colorado – 2023
Photographing a famous person next to something visually outstanding represents a riddle as there must be a debate as to which subject to deprioritize.
The best images tend to favor, both subjects equally – an example perhaps being Diana Spencer – the then Princess of Wales – against the backdrop of the Taj Mahal. She is dwarfed by the magnificence of what is behind her but is central and pivotal to the story.
Cara Delevingne cannot be taken up to a remote forest, fresh in new snow and then asked to play a secondary role. She has too powerful a look to be relegated to the role of a contextual extra, but equally, the Durango Steam train in winter is one of the great props a storytelling photographer can have. In scouting the journey the day after an intense snowstorm, I found a spot that I thought could offer a balance; I would just need Cara to be strong and sure footed on the banks of a river in a huge amount of fresh snow.
There is a confident swagger to her and my best narrative was that she could be celebrating a robbery before it had even occurred – hence the cigar in her mouth. She can smoke a cigar like the best gambler in Vegas.
It was a cold afternoon that day. This was no studio and as always, it was an honor to work with Cara, she is one of the very best in the business. It’s not a bad backdrop either.
Available sizes
LARGE: Edition of 20 + 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 20 + 3 AP
- Image size: 37" x 47" in (93.98 cm x 119.4 cm)
- Framed Image: 52" x 62" in (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.
Parts Unknown
Durango, Colorado – 2023
When we shoot in the winter, weather plays a large part in our planning, but given the speed at which weather can change, it does not pay to be too prescriptive too far out from shooting days. But we continually check weather patterns and within 36 hours of a shoot, we tend to home in on a certain plan.
There are, I guess, four or five weather possibilities in the winter: melting snow and sunny, which is horrid; cold and sunny, which is better but restricts filming time; a snowstorm, which is exciting, but can impair detail or, ideally, the end of a big snow fall.
In the Rockies, I guess there are about a dozen days a year when a big storm passes through and clears, leaving behind a winter wonderland and kind gentle light. This is the film maker’s big opportunity, provided the props are in place and access is still possible. It is always challenging, but these are the days we wait for. They don’t come that often.
We know the Durango to Silverton steam train well and have built up a strong friendship with the owner Al Harper and his wonderful team of engineers in Durango. I sensed there was an opportunity at this jaw dropping location made famous by its appearance some 50 years ago in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. We were in town and waiting as the storm system pushed through. It had lasted 36 hours and left 18 inches of new snow in the San Juan Forest that the old steam train cuts through.
We had to operate fast, as the light was picking up all the time and both teams worked quickly to get everyone in position early in the day. The Native American and the horse had the toughest job – that was no easy brief that day.
When I look at this photograph, I feel some sense of pride, it is a hell of a shot. But not pride in myself, pride in all the people that made it happen. A real team effort.
Available sizes
LARGE: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image size: 69" x 56" in (175.3 cm x 142.2 cm)
- Framed Image: 84" x 71" in (213.4 cm x 180.3 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image size: 46" x 37" in (116.8 cm x 93.98 cm)
- Framed Image: 61" x 52" in (154.9 cm x 190.5 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.
Red Dead
Durango, Colorado – 2023
In the mountains of America, my experience is that the really cold conditions tend to be on cloudless days first thing in the morning, particularly at sunrise when the temperature briefly dips. Operating when it is frigid is a real examination, not just of one’s hunger to get the shot but one’s fluency with the camera. Hand warmers are such a wonderful invention.
This morning, up on the Durango & Silverton narrow gauge railroad, was one such occasion. The storm had cleared and was replaced
by a cloudless sky and frigid temperatures. At sunrise we were down to around -15°F or -26°C and these conditions offered so much potential for the filmmaker as everything froze – from human beards and human breath to horse breath.
I am always nervous of boring people and anything in a picture that defies gravity tends to work for me as it adds energy and dynamism. The props I had that morning gave every chance to fully embrace this modus operandi – especially if my camera was pointed directly either side of the rising sun.
My cowboy – who is a dead ringer for Rip from the Yellowstone Series – is a charming Texan called Cole Nallion rather than Cole Hauser who plays Rip Wheeler. Cole worked as a cowboy extra and handler in another Taylor Sheridan series – 1883 – and it is easy to see why he and Sam Elliott got along.
This one split second image caught my notice straight away as there is an anonymity to his face. We don’t need to see his eyes, because this is not a story about him per se, it is a story about the loosely governed wild west, where cowboys like him often made a living from doing shady things. He is playing to a genre before he is playing himself.
The photograph has a Red Dead Redemption feel to it and the bigger it is printed the more powerful the emotion it elicits. It’s a bad ass moment.
Available sizes
LARGE: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image size: 63" x 56" in (160 cm x 142.2 cm)
- Framed Image: 78" x 71" in (198.1 cm x 180.3 cm)
STANDARD: Edition of 12 + 3 AP
- Image size: 42" x 37" in (106.7 cm x 93.98 cm)
- Framed Image: 57" x 52" in (144.8 cm x 190.5 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.