Blazing His Own Trail

During his 40-plus years as a photographer, David Yarrow has been held at gunpoint, chased by a hippopotamus, and suffered hypothermia when his raft capsized in the Arctic Ocean. No matter what he encounters in the field, however, it is the art world that keeps him up at night. “My biggest fear is to bore people,” he says.

Yarrow’s life has been anything but boring. Born in 1966 in Glasgow, Scotland, his childhood love of sports led him to pick up a camera when he was a teenager. He learned his craft on the job while photographing local sporting matches for the press and, by age 20, he was named Young Scottish Photographer of the Year.

While pursuing a degree in business and economics at Edinburgh University, Yarrow traveled to Mexico City to cover the 1986 FIFA World Cup for The London Times.

Read the full article in the January/February 2024 issue.