@davidyarrow

The Home of Golf Golf was first played on the links at St Andrews, Scotland, 600 years ago. It is unequivocally the home of golf and when the Royal and Ancient (R&A) had to choose a venue for the 150th British Open this July, there was never really a choice. It would be held at St Andrews. This small university town in Fife has always struck me as a place from which to tell a story because the golf course and the town merge harmoniously as one, which is no surprise as they have lived with each other since the 15th century. Even non-golfers find it difficult to look at the view toward the clubhouse without feeling some sense of visual overload. My concept was to tell a period story and use the town and the historic buildings behind the 18th green as extra characters in a cinematic celebration of the most famous view in golf. It is a scene that has been painted many times, but I had not seen a photograph with a revisionist take of what the links may have looked like when golfers played “The Old Course” the other way around, as they did in the 19th century. The goal was to be greedy and include important landmarks such as the Swilcan Bridge and this demanded an intricate composition. I knew who my lead would be, the iconic Gary Player, nine times a Major winner and three times Open Champion. St Andrews has been a major part of his life and he holds the course and the R&A in the highest of regards. Gary, whilst in his mid 80s, is still a showman, with the looks and style to carry the photograph with ease. With the idea approved by St Andrews Links, we had great support from the R&A and many of their members were game enough to be styled in 1890s gear. It was such a memorable evening and everybody played their part in making a little bit of history. I was honoured to be behind the lens and I think I did the town and the Old Course proud. As a Scot, this is an important and special picture for me and I know Gary shares my pride.

The New Testament This photograph in the London Times yesterday was taken 5 days ago in South Sudan. My photograph Mankind, taken in the same country in 2014, was a stepping stone for me. It was authentic, it had a biblical scale to it and it could be looked at for a long time. Haunting and hellish one minute and serene and ethereal the next. I knew it would be a mistake to go back and try to copy what I did 8 years ago - it would hint of a lack of creative progression and courage. I needed to do better and offer a new story - to go backwards would be damaging from many a level. My premise was to play on scale and my leaning was always to go bigger not smaller. The Dinka tribe are the world’s tallest people, their cattle camps are the biggest of their kind and the cattle horns are Jurassic. This is a place to play on the word “big”. My sense was that there needed to be even more of a visual overload in the frame and I found it difficult in my preconceptions to escape from the word “panoramic”. The local chief and the head of police knew where to take me and knew how to keep me safe. I would go into largely unchartered land where there the Dinka had established a camp of over 10,000 cattle. We knew to bring cow medicine to win the crowd and we came with a load from the capital Juba. The discomfort of staying in a room costing $5 a night and eating a meal for $2 whilst security costs $1000 a day, is compensated by the comfort of knowing that there is a chance of authenticity. For an artist that is pure gold. I question whether anything is truly novel these days - all creation is influenced by what we have seen elsewhere. There is about a 40-minute window for this kind of image; basically the time between the cows returning to camp in late afternoon and half an hour before sunset. The hope, of course, is that there is direct sunlight. On a dull day with full cloud cover, the light can’t bounce off the smoke quite like it does here. Meanwhile , there was some maths involved in determining the best height for the ladder that travelled 500 miles with us; too low and there would not be enough depth and too high and we would lose immersion.

The Sheriff's Daughter I do think Westerns have been too male dominated, almost to the point of parody. Taylor Sheridan’s outstanding 1883 readdressed the balance and his star, Isabella May, shone bright as Elsa Dutton - she stole many scenes from Sam Elliot and Tim McGraw and that is some achievement. Our Isabella is often Josie Canseco and she shows again in this shot, not far from where some of 1883 was filmed, why we work with her. She has presence, intelligence and attitude - despite the extreme cold that day at Crazy Mountain Ranch, near Paradise Valley, Montana where the Duttons settled. (Yellowstone) I have huge admiration for Taylor Sheridan - what a storyteller and what entertainment he has given us. If anyone is in any doubt as to how tough life was on the final frontier - they must watch 1883.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood To have the opportunity to photograph two of the world’s most iconic models on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles is clearly a privilege, but it also carries a responsibility. Cindy Crawford and Helena Christensen are good friends, but they live in different parts of the world and if they are together in public, it is more likely to be at an event than on a set on one of the most famous stretches of road in America. Helena flew a long way for this gig and I was most conscious not to let her down. My creative direction was to go back in time and style them as bohemian 1970s hipsters. The narrative could then be reinforced by turning the stretch of Sunset by Chateau Marmont to a specific date in that era. I chose 1975, because I knew the Jaws poster would work well on that famous vertical billboard on the border of Hollywood and West Hollywood. Complementary props such as period cars would be fairly straightforward, after all, we were filming in Hollywood and every prop is just a phone call and a few dollars away. Cindy and Helena are both wonderful to work with; they are fun, hugely experienced and they know how to work with a camera. My only issue that morning was to work with the rising sun in a way that would do them justice - in particular their eyes. On set I struggled with them wearing shades; it would, of course, have been entirely natural given they would be looking east into the sunrise but I sensed it would be dumbing down the narrative. I wanted the photograph to shout “Helena and Cindy” as this was about them not me. If 50% of those looking at the picture didn’t recognise the girls immediately because they were wearing shades, I thought that I would be missing the opportunity. I think it was the right decision, Helena’s eyes are as hauntingly intense as they were when she first came to the world’s attention and Cindy eyes are - of course - a window to her soul.

We are pleased to launch Volume Four of In Focus Journal. This is, at heart, a photography publication and we want to use the platform to showcase the work of other photographers, as well as keep our audience up to speed on what we have been up to. We believe that this should be a fraternal, not a competitive, space. Meanwhile, our new book - Storytelling - is due to be released this Autumn and we understand that it will be one of Rizzoli’s signature books. We would like to thank those who feature in this edition of In Focus; @CindyCrawford @CAMERAWORKGallery @TheTylerShields @ChrisFallowsPhotography and @SoccerAid. You can order it now by clicking on the shopping link in the video or head to the link in our bio. Video credit: @wjwestaway

Bearish We are so looking forward to returning to Alaska next month - it is still one of the wildest places I know on the planet. The animals are wild and the locals even wilder. My journey has now largely taken me away from the natural world, but one place I can't resist going back to is Katmai in July. We miss the bears, but we miss the people even more. We called this image "Bearish" without, of course, knowing what might happen to financial markets of late. I don't think this mother bear cares one bit however. Our hit rate up in Alaska is very low - but that is the way it should be. Most of my pictures are fairly generic, but like investment, all you need is a couple of big winners.

Bandera I wanted this carefully composed Honky Tonk vignette to have real sense of place; that place being Texas. There are a few hints in the photograph: the Lone Star pool table lighting; the ten working cowboys; the neon guitar on the left and even the air conditioning unit (less common in more northerly cowboy states). Throw in a tall, bad ass women in the foreground and we know we are in Texas. It is the lighting that makes the photograph and that is down to the big barn doors at Arkey’s that are open during the day. It was this ambient light on the far-left corner that allowed me to work with minimal artificial light and that made all the difference. There is also a little bit of a ‘Red Dead Redemption” vibe as I am shooting with a wide-angle lens close to the lead, as often seems to be the perspective in the successful video game series. This allows the depth of Arkey Blue’s Silver Dollar saloon to be exploited rather than compressed. I avoid distance compression if at all possible, as a sense of space is often as critical as a sense of place. Bandera, in the Hill Country of Texas, is quintessential cowboy territory and a country music stronghold. Behind my shooting position there is a stage that has been graced by Willie Nelson and Hank Williams and throughout the bar there are historical treasures celebrating one of the most authentic bars we know in the whole of America. There are locations that demand to be worked in and this is a gem for sure. I am very fortunate to have had the chance to create my interpretation of a classic Texan dive and I thank the eponymous owner - Arkey - for his accommodation.

The New Kids on the Block This moment in time, taken at about 80 degrees north in Svalbard, tells a happy story and is made all the more profound as a result. I have never had the chance to take a photograph like this before; two newly born polar bear cubs travelling in unison with their mum through the very environment that defines them - glacial ice, mountains and snow. The polar bear population is more resilient than some would perhaps lead us to believe, and whilst it is difficult to prove empirically, the most informed estimates suggest that the population of white bears in the arctic is around double the lion numbers in Africa. The local governments in Greenland, Svalbard and the Canadian arctic are doing a great job defending the species against an unequivocally warming planet. From a photography perspective, there is not much craft being employed here; I was simply in the right place at the right time. The light was kind, the mother bear looks excellent and there is an emphatic sense of place. There is not much, if anything, that I would change. It’s always a dilemma with these polar bear stories as to whether to print in monochrome. On this occasion, I think I need the cream of the polar bear and the blue of the glacial ice and that’s why it will be printed in colour.

Storytelling, my new book published by Rizzoli, is coming out this fall. The book features more than 130 images, including this one in the chapter on Texas. I wanted this image to fully embrace the vibe of a honky-tonk bar in Texas, peopled by hard-working, hard-living cowboys whom David Allen Coe made pivotal to his songwriting. John Steinbeck - the American literary giant - wrote, “I have said that Texas is a state of mind, but I think it is more than that. It is a mystique closely approximating a religion.” I get it, and cowboy culture is core to that religion. To try to immerse oneself in Texan culture and not spend time with true cowboys is akin to holidaying in Italy and eating at Burger King rather than the local trattoria. I needed a strong lead and Roxanna Redfoot does this so well. She is comfortable with playing badass, and she can do it with no real effort, which is why we so often cast her. She is not in character - she is just herself. Sometimes one person can kill an image, but that evening in Bandera, in the Hill Country of Texas, everyone nailed it. The saloon is the Arkey Blue’s Silver Dollar, where so many legendary country music singers have passed by and sang. By the bar downstairs, there is an open door, and that gave me the chance to play with a little ambient light.

It’s not often that my home city of Glasgow, Scotland is the focus of world sport. But tonight it will be, when the National teams of Scotland and Ukraine meet in a World Cup eliminator. It was always a big game and now it is an historic game and the world will watch like perhaps never before. I have been to many World Cups, photographed a couple, had my Maradona moment and been to Hampden Park for over 40 World Cup qualifiers. But this evening will be very different to anything I have ever known. Tonight is not a binary situation for even the most patriotic of Scots; jubilation on victory or heartbreak on elimination. No, if Ukraine are victorious, they will be applauded off the park and there will be tears of joy. This has never happened before and will never perhaps happen again, but I do think Scots are emotionally intelligent enough to understand that we have a tiny cameo role tonight in a European tragedy on a shocking scale. I hope that I am proud of my team tonight, but for all Scots it’s far more important that we are proud of ourselves, our perspective and our behaviour. Tonight is not about us at all. It is all about our brave friends from Ukraine. The world is watching.

Kong I have travelled north from Kigali to the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda many times over the last 10 years and I have generally failed to return home with anything that does justice to Africa’s "Jurassic Park". There are many reasons - including, of course, my own ineptitude. For one, these magnificent mountain gorillas are only accessible in mid-morning and therefore if the sun is out, the jungle is not an ideal canvas on which to work - it’s all streaks and a nasty cocktail of overexposed and underexposed. More importantly, it is difficult to have a sense of proximity and a sense of place in the same image - the jungle can be exceptionally dense and this works against offering a wider contextual narrative. It does not pay to be greedy, rather it pays to show common sense. Thirdly, the experience is so other-worldly that it takes time to work out what to do with the camera - and every cameraman, no matter who they may work for, only has an hour in which to work. Thinking time is limited in front of a troop of 22 or more gorillas. So, before I arrived, a few decisions had already been taken. We would go when the chance of cloud cover was best and we would focus on the Silverbacks. Most importantly, I knew there was no point in deciding prior to the hike what lenses to take, as we had no idea of the topography in which the trackers would find the gorillas, but I knew I could leave some gear halfway up the mountain and then work with whatever the layout dictated. In other words, that year the goal was to be spontaneous and not prescriptive. That day, it worked. The vegetation was so dense and messy that wide angles were out. On the other hand, there was cloud cover and this offered the chance of a tight portrait of Gihinga - a 32 year old Silverback.

Mars Attacks! Every year in the early summer, thousands of Mobula rays congregate in the Sea of Cortez off the coast of La Paz in Mexico. On calm days at sea, a spectacular courting ritual unfolds during which the rays show off by jumping several metres out of the sea. It is one of the most surreal sights to witness anywhere in the world. In the ocean, Mobula rays look as one would expect, but when flying through the air, they look like aliens or spaceships. They are quite literally a fish out of water. I have no preconception as to what a “Mars Attack” might look like, but this is hopefully the closest I will get to it. There are a few dilemmas on this location for the filmmaker. Firstly, the action often takes place 90 minutes from port and the light and the activity are at their best in the hour before sunset. We also discovered that the wind picks up after the sun sets. Secondly, I wanted to be as low as possible and this ruled out hiring larger, more comfortable boats. There was no way we would sacrifice content, so we had no choice but to spend a few dark evenings returning home in quite rough seas in a small fishing boat. But that was still the right trade. There are no shortcuts in this gig. I took a great deal of frames that week, but it is such a low percentage assignment that just three or four did justice to the spectacle. It requires quick reactions and - as always - good fortune. Much depends on the alertness and manoeuvering skills of the captain of the boat. I was fortunate to work in La Paz with my fellow Londoner - Luke Inman - who now lives in the city and knows the sea and sealife there as well as anyone. He hired the boat captain - Tony Ruelas - and this picture is as much his as it is mine. What a planet we live on.