Interiors photography is not just about the wide shots of hotel rooms and restaurants; many hotels, especially luxury country hotels like the Flackley Ash near Rye in Kent, for whom I took these photos last year, have little details that vary from room to room. Whether it’s a posy of  flowers here, or an embroidered cushion cover there, these details are as important to a hotel’s atmosphere as the bright sunlit rooms and a grand facade. Continue reading Ready for the close-up
Another of my regular clients, who have sent me around the UK recently, are Tune Hotels. I first came across the company when working for Hotel Tonight who asked me to photograph their London hotels at Paddington, Kings Cross, Liverpool St and Westminster. I was struck by how good the hotels looked — despite advertising themselves as a budget hotel chain they still have an extremely modern aesthetic, with interiors designed by Leisure Concepts featuring bright red highlights and a friendly sans serif font on all the signage. Symbols representing the local area (e.g. the Beatles in Liverpool, the Angel of the North in Newcastle) give a sense of unique identity to each of the hotels, and many of them are in conversions of listed buildings, with the up-to-date styling living alongside original features that add to the individual character of each. Continue reading Staying in Tune
Once again this is an example of looking the other way. As part of my work as the London photographer for Hotel Tonight, I have been sent to some pretty spectacular hotels and apartments in and around the capital. One of the ones that impressed me most in 2012 was CitizenM London Bankside, part of a Dutch chain of hotels which feature identical budget rooms alongside highly decorated public areas. The Bankside hotel is in a converted office building and features automated check-in via computer terminals and a wooden spiral staircase from the ground to the first floor.
I love spirals, in nature or otherwise, so I set my camera on the tripod at the bottom of the staircase and pointed straight up. Craning my neck to view the display on the back of the camera, no doubt attracting puzzled looks from hotel guests and staff, I aimed the camera up along the axis of the spiral staircase towards the black globular lampshades hanging from the first floor ceiling, and ended up with a photo that is almost abstract, fooling the eye with the combination of sweeping curves and radiating wooden slats.
I’ve taken hundreds of photos of hotels over the past two years, but this one is probably my favourite still.
An acronym from my former life working in finance there for you: Year to Date. Anyway, for no reason other than I want to (and it’s my blog, so why not?) here, in no particular order, is a selection of photos from my year so far. It’s been a good year; mostly interiors but with some variety, as well as the start of my personal project, Icelanders in London.
Prints of some of my images are available at nickminers.com/prints. Â Proceeds from the prints you buy go towards helping me pursue my personal projects. Thank you, and enjoy!
Many hotels pull out all the stops when it comes to their restaurants. Given that most of them are open to the public as well as paying guests, they are likely to be seen by more people than any other part of the hotel, so it makes sense to make them look as good as possible. Here are some of my favourites from the past year.
I should add that these photos wouldn’t have been possible without the lovely people at Hotel Tonight who had faith in me and signed me up as their London hotel photographer. In the course of my work with them I’ve been to some amazing places.
(Click on the pictures to view full size.)
