Visual Perspectives

“Most tight portraits of lions, including mine, disappoint either because the camera is above the lion’s eye or the distance between camera and subject is further than one would like—or perhaps the lighting conditions compromise the textural detail,” Yarrow explains. “In most cases, it is all three of these issues, and this is no surprise as lions do not live in studios and are also extremely dangerous. The opportunity to take this portrait of the most handsome lion in Kevin Richardson’s sanctuary in South Africa came about because of the cave we had built for our Daniel project. There was just one source of light from the opening behind my cage, and by the time the light reached Yame’s face, it was even and kind. This allowed me to glorify the detail in a lion’s face in a way that I have never previously been able to do.”

THE KING’S SPEECH

South Africa, 2022

This concept is nothing new to Scottish photographer David Yarrow. As an eighteen-year-old with a camera and a love of sports, the last thing on his mind was that his creative journey would one day lead him to become one of the most successful commercial photographers in the world. His compelling, often black-and-white images have graced thousands of walls, galleries, magazine covers, and advertising campaigns. Still, starting out, he says photography was “a way to attend as many sporting events as possible and even to be paid to be there. The crowds, the news, the passion. I loved sport as a teenager, and the camera gave me the excuse to justify the addiction.”

Although he studied business and accounting at university, photography—and the travel experiences and stories he accumulated while shooting events—was waiting in the wings for Yarrow to reach the point that would launch his fine-art career.

“All my training was in the field,” Yarrow says. It wasn’t about the money. “I think in the early days— very early days—I enjoyed being at the events as much as filming them. It took time for the seeds to turn into shoots.”

In 2011, an unexpected plot twist entered Yarrow’s story while he was photographing sharks in South Africa. He had been at it for nine days without any great shots and was nearly ready to give up. “After twenty-eight unsuccessful hours lying face down on a boat deck in False Bay near Cape Town, I captured an image: Jaws.”

“In many ways, it was a picture that changed my whole approach to the monetization of photography,” Yarrow recalls. “The reality was that my publishing fees from the sale of the image to magazines and newspapers did not cover the expenses I incurred in taking it. That seemed quite instructive. Then a lawyer from Houston nicknamed ‘Jaws’ called me up asking for a print for his office. He wanted to buy the print for several thousands of dollars, and that prompted deep consideration. I had my epiphany; the future for me lay in the fine-art market.”

Yarrow says even with this plan set in motion by the aquatic beast and the shark from Houston, it took him another four years to hone his business model as a fine-art photographer. Now fifty-seven, the celebrated storyteller says he really only started making money from photography in his late forties.

His work, he says, is a celebration of storytelling and authenticity. “We are all storytellers—from Taylor Swift all the way down. A photograph can tell a story, but for it to do so in a compelling way, the frame will need to sweat. I use layers to tell a story, just as painters have done for generations. It is never easy to capture everything in 1/250 of a second, but we are getting better at it.”

As it turns out, that fraction of a second can say more than most people would ever imagine. It can spark imaginations, take viewers back in time, inspire songs and stories, and evoke feelings they might never have felt. It can start conversations and share missions. It can also just look damn cool, as evidenced by Yarrow’s work. His subjects are varied, from sports stars to wild animals and supermodels, including Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Alessandra Ambrosio, and David Gandy, to name a few.

Visual Perspectives

ROUTE 66 Holbrook, Arizona, 2022

“It’s all about trust,” he says of working with such big names. “If you are working with extraordinary people whose time is an opportunity cost, you can’t let them down. You must make sure their days working with you are happy, good, and memorable. If you can combine the removal of stress with art creation, there’s more chance of them coming back to work with you. It is important to remember that when you strip away fame, we are all the same. Fame is just an amplifier. Someone like Cindy Crawford is a wonderful woman; fame has just made her even more special. She is the most successful model of all time for good reason.”

Crawford, who has starred in several of Yarrow’s shoots and become a personal friend, shares his passion for giving back to worthy causes. Their collaborations in 2018 and 2021 collectively raised over six million dollars for the American Family Children’s Hospital. Yarrow is also involved with several environmental conservation organizations, including Tusk Trust, Wild Ark, Kevin Richardson Foundation, the African Community and Conservation Foundation, and more. His work has raised over twelve million dollars for efforts to protect wildlife around the world and for pediatric cancer care organizations, including AFCH.

Yarrow describes his photographs as “immersive, aesthetically tight, textural, and, hopefully, emotional.” He’s captured shots of beautiful women driving rare vintage cars with actual wolves in the passenger seat. Other pieces show scenes of cowboys and Wild West saloons that any fan of Taylor Sheridan’s latest television series should look up. Meanwhile, depicting major motion picture-worthy storytelling while also showcasing a watch by TAG Heuer, for example, combines fine art, cinema, and advertising in a way few have achieved. Indeed, he often draws direct inspiration from his favorite films to re-create iconic scenes and evoke the emotions they gave him as a viewer.

“Route 66—The Mother Road—will always be a symbol of America’s postwar freedom and geographical mobility,” says Yarrow. “It evokes imagery of roadside motels, diners, and 1950s Cadillacs. America is the home of the road trip, and Route 66 is its poster child . . . In the autumn of 2022, I scouted for shooting locations in California and Arizona that would emphatically offer a Route 66 vibe, and I found it to be a challenge. So many motels and diners along the route are either abandoned or, worse still, have become rather kitsch tourist attractions. To find a set that was both authentic and operational seemed mutually exclusive. But then I stumbled across the town of Holbrook, one hundred miles east of Flagstaff in Arizona. There are some real gems in this small town, and none more so than the Wigwam Motel that saddles up right next to Route 66 . . . I chose Josie Canseco as the lead on this project as I knew she could wear a glamorous 1950s vibe very well. I was right, and this photograph is as good as I could have imagined when I started exploring the creative concept. Have you slept in a Wigwam lately?”