"The concept of this photograph has been on my wish list for many
years. A group of male bison charging through heavy snow, directly
towards a camera is certainly a rare sight and it always seemed a bridge
too far from almost every perspective. The question has always been
where and how could this epic scene unfold in front of a camera?

"Yellowstone
National Park was never going to be the answer. This sort of
collective behaviour does not tend to happen in the park and if it did,
there would be zero chance of being in the right place at the right time
to film it. It is difficult to break new ground in Yellowstone.

"In
2020 an American artist, John Banovich, an exceptional talent and good
friend, suggested that I approach Ted Turner to see if I could gain
access to his stunning 180 square mile ranch - Flying D - saddling
Yellowstone and neighbouring Big Sky. This remarkable place is nine
times the size of Manhattan and showcases Montana at its most stunning
best.

"John’s wonderful painting of a group of running bison
adorns the wall of the main reception of the exclusive Yellowstone Club
and he took his inspiration from spending time at Ted Turner’s ranch. I
recognised that this was a link worth pursuing. Flatteringly, a few
months after my initial approach, the Turner team agreed to collaborate
in the hope that we could raise money for Ted’s conservation
initiatives.

"Ted Turner is one of America’s biggest
landowners and also one of its most acclaimed conservationists and he
reintroduced both bison and wolves into Flying D, one of his three
Montana ranches. In mid-winter, his team of ranchers will herd some of
the 5,000-resident bison into areas where feeding is easier and this
controlled activity creates an opportunity to work a situation. Just
like cowboys herding their cattle in Texas, the skill sets of the Turner
ranchers in deep snow are a privilege to watch.

"The
difficulty is that bison in this vast ranch are more skittish of humans
on foot than their Yellowstone cousins, who see thousands of tourists
every day. I therefore needed either to be camouflaged or out of sight
as they made haste in my direction. Luckily the Flying D team knew of a
group of rocks behind which I would be obscured from the bison’s line
of sight.

"After many a failure, and some adjustments to the
approach, one gorgeous winter morning in February, we achieved what we
set out to do. It was a real team effort and I want to thank John
Banovich and the whole Turner Corporation team at the Flying D." - David
Yarrow