StoryTelling: David Yarrow
- Jack Berg
- Dec 30, 2025
- 3 min read
Every David Yarrow photograph begins as a story long before the shutter clicks. David approaches photography as a form of visual storytelling, one that’s evolved over time from the natural world to carefully constructed scenes featuring some of the most recognizable figures in culture, sport, and history.
In recent years, that has meant creating cinematic worlds around icons like Cindy Crawford, Jimmie Johnson, John McEnroe, and Jordan Belfort, where every detail is intentional and nothing is accidental.
I began working with David in 2025 to capture what most people never see: the work behind the lens. The set builds, costumes, logistics, and narrow windows of perfect light are what bring these images to life.
This series pulls back the curtain on that process—showing how these photographs are made, one story at a time.
WOLF OF WALL STREET:
Controlled chaos. We took over a conference room in a very polished Palm Beach hotel—the kind of room that usually drains all personality the moment you walk in and turned it into the Wolf of Wall Street set of the 90's.
Desks pushed, props rolled in, and suddenly there were Stratton Oakmont employees running wild. No Stratton office is complete without a monkey making the rounds, and yes, a goldfish in the mix. Watching David Yarrow’s team flip such a sterile space into something so unhinged was half the fun.
Jordan Belfort was right at the center of it all, framed by Brooks Nader, Kate Love, Josie Canseco, and his wife Christina Invernizzi. The whole scene felt like a flashback to an era when excess wasn’t just tolerated—it was celebrated. From behind the camera, it felt loud, surreal, and intentionally over the top, but that was the point.
The shoot wasn’t trying to glorify the madness so much as recreate it - capturing that hazy moment in time when greed was good, rules were optional, and Wall Street felt more like the Wild West than a workplace.
THE WILD WEST x JACKSON hole, WY:
The shoot in Jackson Hole was less about controlling the scene and more about responding to what the environment provided: trust the conditions, embrace the uncertainty, and let the setting do the storytelling for you.
Twilight came together in a very small window - about half an hour before dusk- when the lantern light could glow but there was still enough daylight to tell the story outside the saloon. Snow and low light weren’t obstacles, they were the collaborators that David prefers.
The saloon was built to feel isolated and stranded, and Heidi Berger’s presence flips the usual Western script. She's calm, feminine, and clearly in control.
The Jackson 4 leaned into a completely different energy but followed the same instinct. The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar only makes sense at night, when the neon is on and the place feels alive. The 1970s music vibe, the VW bus, and John McEnroe as an unlikely band leader all clicked once the snow started falling.
Filming behind the scenes, I realized you don’t need to overthink it - just trust the setting and timing.
WILLOW SPRINGS RACEWAY:
This shoot had a real cinematic energy from the start. We were out at Willow Springs raceway in California, the same stretch of track used in Ford v Ferrari, surrounded by some seriously important machinery. Seeing the 1967 Ford GT40 MKIII sitting that low to the ground in real life is striking on its own, but once the team started building the frame, it became clear this was about more than just the car.
Filming behind the scenes, it felt like a rare convergence of American icons, all meeting for the first time in a place already famed in motorsport history.
The idea was contrast: history, speed, and design meeting something undeniably human.
Pairing these classic cars such as the Porsche 356 and Ford GT40 with Cindy Crawford was one of those ideas that instantly made sense. Her presence brought scale, elegance, and visual tension to the frame, while Jimmie Johnson and Richard Petty added serious racing credibility. Two legends from different eras, both completely at ease in front of the camera.
