TownePlace Suites

TownePlace Suites Marriott St. Petersburg Clearwater commercial pool shoot

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Photographing the same subject matter in different seasons or just a significant amount of time later is a very good personal photography project to do.  It is rare to have that kind of opportunity with a commercial photography shoot, but that is just what happened when former clients TownePlace Suites Marriott Clearwater called and asked me to come make a new photograph of their outdoor swimming pool.  They had updated the furniture and needed a new photograph to highlight the changes to the pool area.  

For me it is interesting to see the differences in angles I chose in 2011 and 2012.  The tighter shot of the pool in 2012 was no doubt influenced by the client wanting to see the new furniture in the shot better.

Here is an insider photo tip for shooting pools:  do not get the entire pool in the shot, thereby leaving the exact size of the pool unknown to the viewer.  

TownePlace Suites Marriott St. Petersburg Clearwater commercial hotel shoot

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TownePlace Suites by Marriott St. Petersburg Clearwater outdoor pool - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-bracket HDR mounted on Induro CT214 tripod with Nikon MC-30 cable release

Continuing my partnership with area Marriott hotels (see Historic Courtyard), last week I photographed the exterior & interior of TownePlace Suites St. Petersburg Clearwater.  This hotel is designed for long term stays with the rooms featuring kitchens and additional living and work spaces within the suites.  To my surprise, this hotel is also pet friendly, so your dog or cat can stay with you!

Lobby area features of TownePlace Suites - snacks & front desk are HDR; gym is single exposureI really liked the "In a Pinch" snack shelves for some reason, maybe because of the clever name or the fact that you can just grab a back of chips right from the lobby.  It was the hotel management's decision to photograph the front desk with no people.  The photograph mine will replace did include people.  What do you think, should a hotel lobby/front desk shot include people in it or not?

Features of suite rooms at TownePlace - kitchen, bedroom, living room are HDR; bathroom is single exposure with speedlight in the tub!Photographing rooms is very hard.  You might think making a sunset portrait on the beach is harder, but to me, photographing a hotel room is because the lighting is more of a challenge indoors.  I use a combination of HDR and off camera flash techniques to produce the best results given the rooms windows and ambient light.