hotel photography
I spent another afternoon with a rumbly-grumbling tummy at Tiffany’s restaurant in the Cresta Jameson Hotel recently in Harare, where I was tasked with photographing their mouth-watering menu for their imminent re-opening. The restaurant had just undergone some renovations so in addition to some gourmet food photography I was also tasked with capturing the restaurant space as well as a few lifestyle images for Cresta’s social media platforms. Can you get through the gallery without salivating?
The iconic Nesbitt Arms in Chiredzi has recently undergone a soft refurb and so I was approached by the marketing team to help create some fresh images of the newly refurbished rooms and exterior of the hotel.
Nestled in the Imbeza valley near Penhalonga in Zimbabwe's Eastern Highlands is possibly one of the countries best kept tourism secrets; La Rochelle Country House. The former home of the eccentric Courtauld family it was generously donated to the National Trust of Zimbabwe on their passing and has recently been refurbished and offers sumptuous cuisine and unique boutique accommodation to the discerning visitor.
La Rochelle are focusing on the experiential traveller and so a large portion of my brief was to showcase, often in close detail, the unique settings, drinks, dining and more that is on offer at La Rochelle.
And it is certainly undeniable that La Rochelle is one of the most unique buildings in Zimbabwe, the original architects where instructed by the Courtauld's to create one of the most 'ambitious' homes of their time (in the 1960's). True to form and built on a large scale for entertaining their guests, the facade of La Rochelle is truly fascinating.
Thankfully I had a good amount of time at La Rochelle which allowed me to capture as many of the experiences on offer. From exceptional food and drinks to wandering through the immense and captivating gardens, sipping gin and tonics by the pool or enjoying a relaxing session in the Spa, there was certainly a lot of opportunity to create and capture some stunning marketing pictures. Because of this, I would like the images to speak for themselves, so sit back, relax and enjoy the splendor of La Rochelle!
Batonka Guest Lodge must be one of the most well appointed small boutique lodges in Victoria Falls so when they asked me to help them update their marketing gallery I was thrilled! Although the focus was to create some fresh material to be used as signature images for the lodge's new marketing strategies some more general shots of the public areas and rooms where required to replace older images. You can see some of the great results below.
The owners of the lodge really love the look and vibe of the property in the 'blue light' just after sunset so as the sun started to dip over the horizon there was some frantic activity to ensure that all the areas we wanted to cover were well prepped and looking fantastic. I'm sure you will agree that the character of the lodge is really accentuated by the soft tones and poppy colours of that magical blue hour.
In addition to the beautiful blue images above we took to the air to look for some unique angles of the lodge that really showcase the green haven that it is. As usual my drone did not disappoint and I was able to capture a stunning sunset above the lodge.
All in all I am sure you will agree with me that the shoot was a great success, thankfully so did the owners of Batonka Guest Lodge who where thrilled with some of the fresh angles that we managed to capture! I had great fun shooting Batonka and would like to thank the owners for the opportunity to shoot and showcase the lodge.
Food is certainly a large part of the overall experience that we have come to expect from modern travel and so a large part of my job when photographing hotels and safari lodges is to showcase the amazing food on offer. So when Zimbabwean hotel giant Rainbow Tourism Group wanted to showcase some of the premier dishes available at their hotels I was all too happy to rise to the occasion. I would like to let the food do all the talking here, so below are some of the delicious results...
