“On my journey, I increasingly use my camera to tell stories as opposed to take pictures. To the extent that art should be interpretative rather than literal; this is a progression.” 

That’s photographer David Yarrow in his latest book, Storytelling. In globe-trotting ventures over the past few decades, he has worked with subjects ranging from wildlife to supermodels (sometimes in the same photo) and world-class athletes. On a special edition of Walker Webcast, Yarrow took the stage as a solo act, after Walker & Dunlop CEO Willy Walker’s introduction, to provide an illustrated guide to his creative process. 

It’s a process that has been evolving for most of Glasgow-born Yarrow’s life. As a photojournalist, he earned fame at age 20 with a fortuitous snap of Diego Armando Maradona, captain of the Argentina soccer squad, in the moments after his team beat Germany to take the 1986 FIFA World Cup. 

However, Yarrow took a lengthy detour from photography as a full-time gig, accepting a job at a London bank and eventually forming his own hedge fund, Clareville Capital. It wasn’t until the 2008 global financial crisis that he began to plot out an occupation behind the lens of a camera. 

Acknowledging the influence of Ansel Adams as well as movie directors – for example, he told the audience, he’s seen Jaws many times and from that developed a fascination with great white sharks – Yarrow believes in making pictures as opposed to merely taking them. He told a story of photographing golf greats Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player at Nicklaus’ Bear Club in Jupiter, FL not long ago.  

“I’d a dive bar in Florida nearby that I wanted to take him to,” Yarrow told the audience. “But it takes a while to kind of win the great man over, and I think we’re kind of getting there. But he said, ‘No, no, no, we just want to sit in the locker room’ and the locker room in this club doesn’t give you much potential as an artist. So we actually had to turn it into a dive bar, which I think the members actually quite appreciated, having it as a dive bar for a day.” 

Yarrow concluded with a tip of the hat to the U.S., looking beyond the perceptions of divisiveness and infighting that color many Americans’ view of their homeland. “I’d say as an outsider and as a Brit coming over here, where we spent nine months of the year, it’s your country more than any other country in the world that allows an artist to fulfill their dreams,” he said.

“I can’t think of a country that comes close to America in terms of positivity, collaboration, believing in other people, helping other people. So when you’re having your down moments, know that whilst there are problems, you still have by far and away the best culture in the world.” 

On demand replays of the Sept. 13 Walker Webcast will be available through the Walker Webcast channels on YouTube, Spotify and Apple.