Outside the Bar Centrale in San Quirico d'Orcia, the whole town seems to have stopped to watch. Neighbors lean from the green-shuttered windows, the café tables are full, and in the street sits a red 1955 Ferrari with Frida Aasen at the wheel. It is a single photograph, and it plays like the last scene of a film.
Who is David Yarrow?
David Yarrow is a Scottish photographer, born in Glasgow in 1966, and one of the best-selling fine art photographers in the world. At 20, on assignment for The Times, he photographed Diego Maradona holding the World Cup in Mexico City. He then left photography for finance, built a hedge fund, sold it in 2014, and came back to the camera.
What he came back to make was cinema in one frame. He stages large-scale scenes with models, animals, vintage cars and whole communities, and prints them big, in black and white and in color. His book Wild Encounters, with a foreword by Prince William, was Amazon's Art Book of the Year in 2017, and its royalties go to the conservation charity Tusk.
Carousel Fine Art represents Yarrow in Miami, Atlanta and Nashville.
Why Art Miami matters to Yarrow
Art Miami is where his market turned. In December 2019, Yarrow had 11 works at the fair. A print of The Wolves of Wall Street, signed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese, sold within ten minutes of the doors opening, for $200,000. The proceeds went to conservation charities.
Seven years later, he comes back with five photographs. Nearly all of them start the same way: with a film he couldn't stop thinking about.
Road Trip (2018): Thelma, Louise and a wolf
The view south across Monument Valley, on the road toward Mexican Hat, is one of the most filmed stretches of asphalt in America. It is where Forrest Gump stopped running. It was on the poster for Thelma and Louise. Yarrow picked up the DVD box of Thelma and Louise one day and saw his picture: the convertible, head on, with the valley behind it.
To make it, his team needed the road to themselves, so the Utah State Police held traffic at about 7:40 in the morning. Josie Canseco drove. In Thelma's seat sat a wolf. By 8 a.m. the light would turn too harsh, and nobody could promise what the wolf would do. "It was tight, but we did it," Yarrow wrote afterward.
Testarossa (2023): the same road, five years on
Yarrow went back to Monument Valley in 2023 with a vintage Ferrari, a wolf, and Brooks Nader. This time the hosts were the Navajo Nation, whose elder Don Mose looked after the crew and had them to dinner. Yarrow thanks them before anyone else in his notes on the picture. The car is the prop. The place, and the people who let him in, are the reason it works.
So why does a wildlife photographer keep coming back to cars? Because to him they aren't machines. They are the set.
The Good Life and Mille Miglia (2026): Tuscany, and a race about to turn 100
The Mille Miglia was a thousand-mile road race from Brescia to Rome and back. The first cars left Brescia at 8 a.m. on March 26, 1927, and it ran flat out until 1957. Today it is a classic car rally that still crosses Tuscany, and in 2027 it turns 100.
Yarrow's idea was to put that race back into a 1950s village, at the height of Italian café life. He chose San Quirico d'Orcia in the Val d'Orcia, the valley Ridley Scott used in Gladiator. In that film, Maximus is told that to win his freedom he must "win the crowd." Yarrow says he keeps that line in mind on every shoot, and in San Quirico he took it literally: before the camera came out, the crew went to the bar and got to know the town.
The car in The Good Life is a 1955 Ferrari 121LM, the same car Piero Taruffi drove in the Mille Miglia. Frida Aasen is at the wheel. Yarrow credits the photograph to the people of San Quirico rather than to his own camerawork, and he is clear about the tone: "our default position is to be playful not earnest." His summary is five words long: "Italy is La Dolce Vita."
Mille Miglia, made the same year, puts the red car in the race itself, with the crowd pressed in along a stone street.
Living with a Yarrow
These are made to be seen large. The standard size of The Good Life is 52 by 76 inches framed, with a larger 71 by 107 inch edition, and each size is an edition of 12, available in black and white or color. For collectors and designers, that scale is the point: one photograph can hold a whole wall, and a whole story.
See all five at Art Miami, December 1 to 6 at One Herald Plaza, booth AM202, or at Carousel's galleries in Miami, Atlanta and Nashville. The rest of the booth is in our Art Miami 2026 guide.
Back in San Quirico, the crowd is still leaning out of the windows. The picture never says whether they're watching the car or the man with the camera.
Frequently Asked Questions About David Yarrow at Art Miami 2026
Where can I see David Yarrow at Art Miami 2026? At the Carousel Fine Art booth AM202, One Herald Plaza, December 1 to 6, 2026. Carousel also represents Yarrow at its Miami, Atlanta and Nashville galleries.
Which David Yarrow photographs are at Art Miami 2026? Road Trip (2018), Testarossa (2023), Mille Miglia (2026) and The Good Life (2026).
Where was David Yarrow's Road Trip photographed? In Monument Valley, Utah, on the road south toward Mexican Hat, the stretch seen in Forrest Gump and on the poster for Thelma and Louise. It features Josie Canseco and a wolf.
What is the Mille Miglia? A thousand-mile Italian road race from Brescia to Rome and back, first run on March 26, 1927, and raced until 1957. It now runs as a classic car rally and celebrates its centenary in 2027.
What car is in David Yarrow's The Good Life? A 1955 Ferrari 121LM that Piero Taruffi drove in the Mille Miglia, photographed in San Quirico d'Orcia, Tuscany, with Frida Aasen at the wheel.
Does David Yarrow shoot in color? Yes. He is best known for black and white, but many works, including The Good Life, come in both black and white and color editions.
What did David Yarrow sell at Art Miami? In December 2019, a print of The Wolves of Wall Street signed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese sold at Art Miami for $200,000, with proceeds going to conservation charities.
