Hotel Stories - II

Since I had a couple days before I would venture into Isaan area for a short trip to the countryside, I decided to use some time to scout for my next hotel in Bangkok, for when I'd return.  I knew I'd be staying in Bangkok for about 6-7 days, and had planned to book as many shoots as possible during that time.  So I wanted a good space.

I  checked my favorit online booking site, and found a few candidate hotels.  One was "Jasmine Suites", which I'd stayed at many times.  I gave that some consideration, but the rooms I'd had there in the past were highly variable.  Some would be amazing for a shoot, others would be lame (not enough window space).  Also, the pool wasn't the ideal space if I wanted to do any pool shots.  One new hotel showed up on my search, and looked promising.  I decided to go pay a personal visit to check it out.

Hotel Stories

The prospect of doing a photoshoot in a hotel could be a nightmare, or a photographer's dream.  For most photographers, the expense involved in any aspect of the work is a serious consideration.  Basically, that means that getting a "dream" location out of a hotel room (or building) will be very challenging for all but the most well-heeled (or financed).

There are a number of challenges faced with shooting in a hotel environment.  In most rooms, for example, there are only windows (actually, most of the time only ONE window) on one of the four walls.  So natural light is in short supply.  To make matters worse, we might have little say on the exposure (North, South, East, West) of that room, and in a city the lower floors are typically shadowed by towering buildings nearby.  Not an easy problem to be faced with.