The hotel photography at the Radisson Blu Stuttgart concentrates on one room whose design is tied closely to its large window front. A curved outer wall, floor-length curtains, an exposed concrete pillar, dark marble and a few pieces of colored furniture give the room its character.
From that follows the central decision of this production, and it is not about the furnishing but about the time of day.
The view is part of the product
In this room the view belongs to the product itself. So the frames were made at a time of day when the light inside and the light outside sit as close together as possible.
Both the furniture and materials and the city behind the windows stay visible that way. Photograph too early and the window is a white surface with the view gone. Photograph too late and the room is dark, leaving nothing but the city.
The series is in the project Radisson Blu – Stuttgart.
Ordering the room before the shutter
Before every frame the room was carefully put in order. Bed linen, curtains, seating and small objects have to sit exactly right in a hotel series, because even small deviations break the calm of the picture.
That is unspectacular work and it takes up the larger part of the time. A crease in the bed or a chair standing askew is invisible in the room and obvious in the picture, because a photograph holds the eye still instead of letting it move on.
That care is also why hotel pictures cannot be done on the side.
What different positions show
Different camera positions show not only the fittings but the way through the room, its size and the relation between the bed, the desk and the window.
For a guest choosing a room that relation is the real information. Whether there is a desk is in the description; whether it stands at the window can only be seen in the picture.
What the series conveys is therefore not an abstract hotel brand but one concrete way of spending a night, with a clear spatial quality. Related work is under hotel photography.
