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,” Yarrow expounds. “But we continually check weather patterns, and within thirtysix hours of a shoot, we tend to home in on a certain plan . . . 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 filmmaker’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 fifty years ago in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. We were in town and waiting as the storm system pushed through. It had lasted thirty-six hours and left eighteen 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 . . . 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 who made it happen. A real team effort.”

AUTHENTICITY is always a good start.

His action shots and those evocative pieces with humans and wild animals together are captured after a meticulous setup to ensure lighting is consistent and minimal editing is needed—and yes, they are all authentic, not digitally manipulated.

“I try and remember that there needs to be something in an image to allow it to transcend,” he continues. “Authenticity is always a good start. The printing is also strong, and we see that as an integral part of the brand. Clients know a David Yarrow print when they see it; there is a very consistent tonal range.”

Identifying the most challenging part of his work, Yarrow says, is easy: idea creation. As someone whose creative work is also his livelihood, he must focus on what will sell, not just what he wants to shoot. “It must be creative, and then it must be commercial—99 percent of ideas break down at these two levels,” he explains. “I often have periods when ideas don’t come easily and I must be patient. The most rewarding part is good execution. I would also say it is a treat to meet some of the people I have come across in the world of Hollywood or elite sport.”

This sales-minded focus is ideal when working with some of the top interior design firms in the world, which Yarrow does. Getting his work in the hands of collectors is often thanks to having an interior designer introduce their clients to the world of David Yarrow. “The best-selling interior design firms are passionate about what they do and have a deep client base that has remained loyal over the years. These relationships can come in the most unlikely of places.”

One prime example is Christopher Collection, a top-selling interior design firm based in Homewood, Alabama, just outside Birmingham. Yarrow’s partnership with founder and architect Chris Reebals and his team has been one of his top-grossing retail endeavors, selling over $400,000 of art annually.

“David’s work is timeless,” Reebals says. “When contemplating art, I always envision the piece in a space. David’s work enhances a room like no other art. It creates a depth and movement that are inspiring, timeless, and engaging. His art stares back at you. It pulls you in. It makes you feel like you are there. It is crisp and clean yet organic and extemporaneous. Somehow his art, while inanimate, is not static. The juxtaposition of David’s work on a designed space creates a symbiotic bond between the built environment and nature.”

Although he’s seen great commercial success for over a decade, Yarrow says seeing his work displayed in someone’s home or office still makes him feel proud and humbled. “It means that someone liked my work enough to put it on a wall above all other choices in the world. We sell a thousand photographs a year. I can’t see them all in place, but I do see a decent number, and it is always exciting. It is nice for the buyers to meet the artist and even better for the artist to meet the new owner.”

Many fans and collectors got the opportunity to meet the artist and display his work in their homes through Yarrow’s latest book, aptly titled Storytelling, released in November 2022.

“We have had events for the launch all over America and Europe. Some are very busy, like in Dallas, Denver, and LA, where we have big galleries and a large collector base. I guess over two years, over twenty thousand people will have attended the shows,” he expounds. “But sometimes it is the quirky places with small bookstores that bring the most fun memories, as it is always people that make the places. But my favorite event was in Edinburgh, Scotland, as it was so special to come home and see friends and family.”

“Someone was going to make this shot, and I always felt we had a chance to bring all the constituent parts together. We have some history with ideas based on Scorsese’s epic film, and the fact that I once worked on Wall Street added a sense of purpose as well as a personal connection,” says Yarrow. “Made of white Georgian marble, the temple-like facade of the NY Stock Exchange Building was inspired by the Roman Pantheon, and the six Corinthian columns make for a majestic backdrop. It is an unmistakable building, and when it opened its doors in 1903, it was a big moment in the history of America. I needed a quiet day to shoot on set, and that always pointed to a Sunday, but I also wanted an emphatic written reference as well as the architectural reference somewhere in the frame. The green street signposts of ‘Wall Street’ were too high to incorporate meaningfully into the picture, and I saw no real workable alternative . . . But by some extraordinary stroke of luck, when I found my shooting location lying on the cobbled street, there, smack in front of me on the road, was a museum plate that spoke of Wall Street’s history. I had no idea it was there, and at the margin, this detail makes all the difference.”

Storytelling is Yarrow’s fifth coffee-table book filled with his work, preceded by: Nowhere (2007), which depicts some of the world’s most remote and isolated locales; Encounter (2013), a collection of eighty-seven powerful black-and-white photos of wildlife and indigenous communities; Wild Encounters (2016), which captures “the splendor and very soul of what remains wild and free in our world through incredibly intimate, close-enough-to-touch portraits”; and his eponymous David Yarrow (2019), featuring over 130 of David’s images and a foreword by Cindy Crawford.

The most challenging part of the book-creation process, according to the photographer, is culling down which images to use. “Most coffee-table books have some weaker pages, and this is also true of photography books,” he says. “We call these weaker shots ‘fillers,’ and my goal is always to have as few as possible. If Storytelling had been delayed for six months to allow for more filming time, I guess we could have replaced about ten ‘fillers’ out of 140 images. That’s not bad, and I am quite tough on myself. The biggest mistake photographers can make is to give their own work a weak edit.”