Hilton's Wayfarer Downtown LA | Los Angeles Hotel Photography
The Wayfarer Downtown Los Angeles is a part of the Tapestry Collection hotels by Hilton. I had the opportunity to collaborate with the sales and social media managers to produce photography for their print and digital marketing.
For this photoshoot, the team needed new images of interior and exterior spaces, inclduing bedrooms, an event space, and a rooftop area. Since there wasn’t a need for any lifestyle shots, I did not have to consider the logistics of hiring models for this shoot (which I have previously done in my work with Pacifica’s Marina del Rey Hotel).
PRE-PLANNING FOR THE HOTEL PHOTOSHOOT
In preparation for the photoshoot, I arrived at the Wayfarer DTLA to meet with the sales manager to go over a prepared shot list and see the rooms that were to be photographed. This pre-production meeting only lasted an hour as there were only a few rooms that needed to be updated, but it was necessary in order to make sure that every minute of the photoshoot would be spent productively capturing the images they needed in a timely manner.
For this planning session, we visited the different rooms and locations around the hotel that were going to be photographed. I brought along my camera and my 24-70mm zoom lens so I could take test shots before the actual day of the shoot.
During this pre-production of the hotel photoshoot, I made sure to confirm a time schedule that worked for the team and one that would allow me to photography the interiors properly with natural light.
When preparing a shot list for a hotel, it’s important to try to be as unobtrusive as possible. The hotel wasn’t closing its’ doors for this photoshoot, so being able to manuever through guests and decide a schedule that would be most convenient for all parties is a necessity.
PRODUCTION OF THE PHOTOSHOOT
On the day of the photoshoot, I met up with the hotel social media managers and photographed the confirmed rooms in planned order. During this shoot, I photographed the owner’s suite, the skyline room, the Lily Rose event space, and their rooftop.
Because the widest angle I could capture was 24mm with my zoom lens, I had to work around the corners of each room and find angles that would best show off how spacious the rooms were. One of the biggest reasons why I opt for the 24mm and try to avoid using a wider lens is because using an incredibly wide lens creates too much distortion in the image.
For hotel photoshoots, I always make sure to bring a tripod in order to get as much of the room in focus with a high enough aperture and a slow enough shutter speed.
The Lily Rose event space involved a lot of meticulous setups of the candles and chairs on the tables to make sure that they were perfectly symmetrical and most fitting for a photo.
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