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The Mandarin Oriental is one of New York’s most coveted hotels, and the list of reasons why is a long one. From spectacular views of Central Park from inside a stunning restaurant to that hyped-up Suite 5000, the Mandarin Oriental is all about opulence. As a hospitality photographer in New York, all of this makes for a dream assignment.

But it’s not without challenges.

With so much allure and in such a busy corner of midtown Manhattan, how would we shoot spaces like the lobby, restaurant and entrance without closing the hotel?

In this ‘inside the shoot’ article, I’m going to give you a tour of how my team and I photographed the Mandarin Oriental’s splendour while keeping all the doors open and guests out of the frame.

The exterior: 300 shots for one image

I’m going to start with the hardest shot: the exterior. The Mandarin wanted a photograph with the valet car service, the flags, the front doors—and no people. This is a hotel where people are constantly coming and going, even more so at check-out time. But, of course, that’s the time of day when I knew the sun would come around the side of the building and hit the flags.

So there we were—my stylist and my assistant and I—for about two hours. Shooting, shooting, shooting. Later, in the tiny gaps where there were no people in the frame, I would take that piece and layer it with another frame, and then another. The final image was comprised of about 30 shots in which there were no people in a section of the frame.

I wanted the light hitting the three flags, but also the breeze to give movement to the flags. Again, I’d wait for a breeze and it would flutter one flag, and I’d get that shot. Then I’d wait for the wind to lift the middle flag, and so on.

Two hours and hundreds of shots later, we had our photograph.

There’s another exterior shot that was my favourite of all and it was an exception because we could use a model. Now we have this dark, monochromatic space and the blur of his movement contrasted against the hotel’s iconic logo. The gold is just gleaming.

The restaurant: Breakfast at three

This is a restaurant that’s open seven days a week until one or two in the morning. So, the only time we could shoot there was before breakfast: from about 3 am to 6 am (sometimes after doing the lobby at 2 am). We did that two days in a row because there were four shots we had to get.

One of those shots I’d had in my mind for some time. A tight, cosy vignette of one table and two chairs—and in the backdrop, the sun rising over leafy American Elms in Central Park. Whenever I’m shooting a restaurant and choosing angles to capture, one question I always ask myself is, If I could sit anywhere, where would I want to sit? This was my chosen spot.

The pool

I suppose a theme of this shoot is the sun. I use an app to track exactly where the sun will be on a given day—and I knew I had to make the most of that intel and those precious few seconds when the sun would come around the corner and, during a short gap between buildings, light up the pool.

My app said I would have exactly five minutes. It was right. There it was, the shadows of the mullions from the windows landing on the water. What detail and depth the sunlight brought. I snapped away, and we got it:

Suite 5000: How a hospitality photographer in New York got to save the best for last

It’s called the Suite 5000 not because of the nightly rate (which is rumoured to be near $35,000 USD) but because this penthouse is on the 50th floor. Yes, this is definitely a bucket list item for a hospitality photographer in New York.

During our second shoot, a certain star was booked in Suite 5000, so we got to come back and focus a shoot exclusively on this luxury suite.

What makes this suite one of a kind?

It’s true, the walls of Suite 5000 are adorned with millions of dollars worth of contemporary art. Look at the foyer alone.

And it’s definitely spacious. This Mandarin Oriental penthouse features a living room, dining room, kitchen, media room, two bedrooms and three bathrooms—all with stunning views of midtown Manhattan and Central Park.

Our biggest challenge? We only had one day to capture eight images. Everything—styling beds, adding props, moving furniture—had to be carried out quickly and in conjunction with the position of the sun so that it was never blasting into the room.

What do you think?

For me, as a hospitality photographer, capturing the Mandarin Oriental in New York was definitely an honor and a privilege!

Interested in capturing the unique beauty of your hotel? I can’t wait to learn more and share my ideas.

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