In the world of photography, few artists transform landscapes into epic narratives and moments into timeless vignettes quite like David Yarrow. He develops plots and tells visual stories that blend breathtaking locations, iconic models, and unexpected elements into singular, unforgettable imagery.

Yarrow's photographic journeys are complex productions requiring detailed preparation, cooperation, and execution. Whether he's positioning a supermodel alongside a wild cheetah in a purpose-built desert bar in Namibia, staging a scene on the legendary Route 66 with a vintage Ferrari, or capturing the dramatic curves of the Amalfi Coast with a 1970s-inspired aesthetic, each image is a carefully choreographed performance.

What sets David Yarrow apart is his ability to transform geographical landmarks into characters in their own right. Roads are not mere transportation routes but narrative devices. Deserts become stages. Vintage cars, wolves, and cheetahs become co-stars. Models become pivotal actors in complex, cinematic tableaus that speak to broader cultural mythologies – the American Dream, freedom, adventure, and human resilience.

His work is an intricate play between intentional planning and spontaneous magic, where every element – from a wolf's gaze to a cheetah's pose, from a meticulously restored Ferrari to the play of light on an Italian coastal road – is considered, yet appears effortlessly natural. David Yarrow doesn't just take photographs; he creates visual legends with visual storytelling.

Enjoy three crafted storytelling images from David Yarrow, accompanied by his personal narrative ... imagine yourself on Route 66, in the middle of the Kanaan desert, or along the Amalfi Coast.

IT'S A WONDERFUL WORLD

David Yarrow - December 12th - Sorrel Sky Gallery - 419 West Broadway, New York, NY 

David Yarrow will be at Sorrel Sky New York for a winter show just in time for the holidays. Don't miss this opportunity to meet Yarrow before the New Year begins. Hear him talk about his latest travels and images, get your book signed, and decide which piece will go home with you. 

"In the 1950s, the Californian Dream made Route 66 the most famous road in the world. “The Mother Road”, as John Steinbeck described it in The Grapes of Wrath, became the route of flight for the American Middle Class; a trend accelerated by the rapidly evolving Californian economy and the opening of Disneyland in 1955.

The stretch of road heading east near Amboy in the baking Californian desert showcases the Route 66 journey as it once was. The sense of scale offers the filmmaker a valuable tool kit and I have been drawn to this outpost for many years. It is a commitment of time to get there, but one that many road trippers make because of the iconic Roy’s Motel and Cafe which serves as the one identifiable landmark in a barren desert.

Amboy is a known known and I worried how I could break new ground because like all spectacular vistas in the US, it has been well photographed. The challenge is not in getting there, but in transcending when one does.

I called upon a Hong Kong friend who is a passionate investor in vintage cars and owns one of the most lauded and valuable collections in the world. I explained the shoot concept and he graciously offered up one of his most coveted treasures - the 1953 Ferrari 250 MM Vignale Spider. It was one of only 12 built in the world and when one comes up at auction, they sell for more than a London townhouse. His team was kind enough to transport this fabled Ferrari 1,000 miles across the country, but at least when they arrived, they understood the opportunity. It was going to be a trip well made.

The design of the Ferrari was perfect as its low windscreen allowed my lens direct access into the faces of the girl (the wonderful Daniela Braga) and the wolf. They could then hold centre stage and let all the other constituent parts play off each other.

The goal of this shoot was to play on the metaphor that is Route 66. It encapsulates the American Dream, as it was the road of freedom and ambition. Go West, work hard, stay focused, and enjoy the very best of lives.

We styled to the mid-1950s and I told Daniela to exude a sense of positivity. She should look, as Nat King Cole suggested, that she was “Getting her Kicks on Route 66”.

Hard not to in that Ferrari.

It is rare that we release a picture in colour some time after the monochrome version is unveiled, and it is our preferred practice not to do this. But on this occasion, we believe that the colour version of this image stands up on its own and it offers something extra. The warm hue evokes a sense of desert heat that lends to the narrative of extreme isolation, whilst the burgundy colouring on the Ferrari is showcased. It works and as soon as I saw it, I knew we had to release it. Of course, the original image has proved very popular - it is our best-selling image over the last 2 years." — David Yarrow

"This eye-grabbing photograph has been in my head for many years. We have taken our fair share of bad ass pictures of girls in cars in America, but I always wanted to extend my reach to Africa and introduce a Mad Max-type narrative. Rather than working in the mountains with snow, as we often do, it was time to work in the desert with sand.

I knew my girl for the shot - Cara Delevingne - and I knew that the hugely respected Naankuse Sanctuary in Namibia often work their cheetahs with film crews, and then I also knew the Kanaan desert well. But I needed a central prop to hold the whole idea together. I needed something of substance.

I had long deliberated over building a bar marooned in the middle of the desert. Not just a two-dimensional facade of a bar, but an actual functioning bar, with lights, cooling machines, and entertainment.

I confess that there was quite a bit of talking to myself about the risk-reward ratio and I became all too mindful of Walt Disney’s famous advice of “stop talking and start doing”. I like to have creative courage and be bold.

So, I threw my fears away and we built our bar in the desert. It is so damn good that we are going to keep it there for tourists to visit and perhaps have a cold Namibian lager. It was not a small building job and six lorries full of wood and corrugated iron made the eight-hour trip south from Windhoek. I have never worked with a more willing bunch of people in my life than the Namibian production team and they had earned the right to be very proud of The Desert Inn.

In a tableau photograph like this, I want to be greedy and broaden the story: the barman and the bushman on the far right are the little details that help. Cara looks sensational and, of course, that split-second pose from the cheetah makes the photograph what it is.

It is a bad ass shot for sure and it is also a bad ass bar." — David Yarrow

"A corollary of life on the road, is to build up a mental collection of favourite journeys. Most roads only offer a perfunctory way of getting from A to B, but then there are the gems where the journey itself becomes the main event. My home country, Scotland, has the A82 through Glencoe; America has the stretch through Monument Valley, Highway One, and many more; Iceland has its entire ring road and then there is the Amalfi coastal road in southern Italy.

It is almost incumbent on any movie director filming in the area, to emphatically locate the destination by celebrating the road. That is instructive as it suggests that to ignore the means of travel is to forget a prop.

The road is terrifying and breathtaking as one: hugging the cliffs on one side and offering vistas of the Tyrrhenian Sea on the other. John Steinbeck wrote of the terror of winding through the Amalfi Coast on a road that “corkscrewed on the edge of nothing”, clutched in his wife’s arms who was “weeping hysterically”. Every hairpin bend is a prelude to a new visual feast, and none more so than the bend heading west before Atrani. I knew, at some stage, this bend would find itself in front of my camera.

My leaning was to style a 1970s period shoot with a model capable of capturing the effortless grace and sexuality of Italian models of the time. She had to own the scene without impairing the visual feast behind her. American Supermodel, Brooks Nader, works with us regularly and knew exactly what I wanted from her. It all had to came together in the few moments when the police kindly closed the road; this was not a set for deliberating." — David Yarrow

IT'S A WONDERFUL WORLD

David Yarrow - December 12th - Sorrel Sky Gallery - 419 West Broadway, New York, NY