Casterline | Goodman Gallery - David Yarrow
David Yarrow was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1966. He took up photography at an early age and as a 20-year-old found himself working as a photographer for The London Times on the pitch at the World Cup Final in Mexico City. On that day, David took the famous picture of Diego Maradona holding the World Cup and, as a result, was subsequently asked to cover the Olympics and numerous other sporting events. Many years later David established himself as a fine art photographer by documenting the natural world from new perspectives and the last nine years have been career defining.
David’s evocative and immersive photography of life on earth is most distinctive and has earned him an ever growing following amongst art collectors. His large monochrome images made in Los Angeles are on display in leading galleries and museums across Europe and North America. He is now recognized as one of the best selling fine art photographers in the world and his limited edition works regularly sell at high prices at Sotheby’s and other auction houses.
David’s position in the industry has been rewarded with a wide range of advisory and ambassadorial roles. He is an ambassador for WildArk and The Kevin Richardson Foundation. As the European ambassador for Nikon, he has recently been integral to the company’s most anticipated camera release of the last decade. In December 2017 he shot LVMH’s latest “Don’t Crack Under Pressure” campaign with Cara Delevingne, which can be seen in airports around the world. In January 2019 David was appointed as a global ambassador for UBS. Most recently, in the spring of 2020, David was appointed a Global Ambassador for Best Buddies - one of America’s most established children’s charities.
In 2018 and 2019 David’s work raised over $4.5m for philanthropic and conservation organizations. At Art Miami in December 2019, David’s photograph “The Wolves of Wall Street” broke new records. One print, signed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese, featuring the real Wolf of Wall Street - Jordan Belfort - sold for $200,000. The proceeds went to conservation NGOs supported by DiCaprio.
The equipment that David takes with him on location will naturally vary according to the subject matter of the assignment and the lighting conditions/climate of the environment in which he is photographing.
David favors two camera bodies above all else. When a subject is fast moving, he looks no further than the Nikon D5. The high frames per second and powerful motor drive make for a combination that can capture any moment and allows for pin sharp imagery.
For everything else, David prefers the high resolution of the Nikon D850. David was asked by Nikon to spearhead the campaign that launched the new Camera in 2017. The D850’s supreme resolution allows David to blow his images up to the large trademark sizes for which he has become known.
One of David's technical tips is to “use a well-positioned remote-controlled camera to capture shots of dangerous wildlife. When conceptualizing animal shots, think laterally and strive for an image that sits outside normal boundaries. This may be to achieve perspective by capturing shots that look up at the animal from the ground, but often to get the animal at eye level and pin sharp. This can prove problematic when photographing dangerous animals but a solution is offered in the form of well-positioned remote controls”
One of David’s more unusual pieces of equipment is a custom-made 14-pound steel box. This object is used to house his camera body and then placed near the subject matter of his assignment. He then triggers the protected camera from a short distance by pressing a hand-held switch at the right moment… his timing has to be perfect. All of David’s photographs tell a story; his durable camera casing has several tales of its own, ranging from being buried in a swamp in the Camargue, doused in Old Spice aftershave in Amboseli and smothered in rhino excrement in Lewa. These ‘treatments’ have been used after extensive research into identifying the most attractive and enticing smell for the animal in question.
All of David’s images are produced by BowHaus in California. BowHaus are a highly regarded Los Angeles-based printer of archival pigment prints. They work with the leading galleries in America and some of the most recognized contemporary photographers.
Their proprietorial printing process employs technology that transcends generic digital prints by allowing for bespoke allocations of the 12 ink cartridges within the Canon drum printer. All prints are on 315gsm Hahnemühle photo rag Baryta paper and varnished after processing to give both endurance and sheen.