MONDAY
Flew to Menorca with my husband, Max for a birthday treat (his) and a work partnership (mine). People often think when you do travel photography as part of your job that you must have the pick of the bunch of wonderful holidays and hotel experiences together but truthfully this is the first time in forever that we’ve managed to do anything like this, bar a one-night stay in Bath this winter. It has to marry up with our personal diaries and work diaries, but most importantly with the hotel’s diary as well, so after a lot of back and forth we managed to book the last two days of the year which the hotel will do a collaboration on, as it’s just before their peak season. really kicks off.
The contact with this hotel group was made when I was looking for a location to shoot the fashion campaign in Lanzarote. I emailed their marketing contact (which I received via an Instagram DM) and eventually heard back that they only rent out part of the hotel for shoots at a rate which was out of the brand’s budget so we went back to the drawing board on that. They did however say they had taken a look at my portfolio and would be interested in a collaboration; the Lanzarote location had already max’ed out it’s partnership opportunities until later in the year but would I like to come to one of their other properties in Menorca, as they were looking for some additional content of those particular properties. It was Lanzarote that I really needed accommodation for so I managed to get a press rate for that property, as I was keen to stay there for one night despite not being able to shoot the campaign there, and then agreed I would find some prospective dates for Menorca. People always ask how I built the travel side of my portfolio if I wasn’t being paid to shoot hotel content and the answer is I have always just shot every holiday, every location house, every interesting room/building/texture that I’m drawn to and suddenly a portfolio was just there. It’s the only advice I have, if that’s something you want to explore - you won’t get paid to shoot hotels straight away, but once you’ve built your ‘look’ into your portfolio with personal trips, you’ll be on your way.
Day one I try not to rush into taking too many pictures. I like to just ‘be’ in a property ideally for a while, getting my head around how the light falls and what the best angles are. Normally I take my best shots in the hour before I leave for the airport on a final walk around, so today we just soak up the atmosphere, eat at the hotel restaurant, float about in the pool and generally just hang out before heading to supper.
TUESDAY
Today is our only full day (its truly a whistle-stop stay) so I wonder around shooting some bits, whilst Max fires off a few emails and then head off for the day exploring. Like I said last week, on a short stay like this I want every moment and every meal to count and find myself stressing a bit about getting it ‘right’. We headed off to a beach recommended by the hotel, which had beach bars along it and instantly knew it wasn’t for us. Cue ferocious googling, guzzling up every Conde Nast Traveller article there is and made a decision to head further north to Cala Morrell where we can lie on a rock and read for hours. Lunch is at Ivette, a great beach club type restaurant looking over the bay. I’m in the middle of adding the rest of the places we loved to my Amigo (username: ALICIAWAITE) so look over there this week to see some ideas. It dawned on me this weekend that I’ve been away eight times this year already and, as someone who likes to make the most of every trip, whether it’s for work or play, I have a lot of recommendations. Adding recs for Lanzarote, Florence, Saint Paul de Vence, Menorca and a few others whilst they’re fresh in my mind.
WEDNESDAY
Time to leave already. Wander around in the early hours to catch the morning light before heading to the airport and home.
THURSDAY
This is my one full day in the office this week so have to get all my admin done. It’s amazing what two days of relaxing can do though - feel so full of energy and have a really clear head. I have so much catching up to do in the dark room so get in there for the whole day and do my emails etc. in between prints.
June is quite an in-between’y time for me so I’m going to dedicate the next two weeks to updating my website with recent projects, a bit of outreach with my updated portfolio, and building the art print website (which have been putting off for 6 months), as well as recording a couple of Case Studies to put on on PP. this month. Always plenty to do.
Reach out to some interviewee options for the newsletter and get confirmation for someone who I think you guys are going to be absolutely desperate to hear from. She’s a seriously iconic photographer and launching an amazing online course soon, so we’re going to chat in a couple months to build up to that release. I cannot wait to share more soon but you won’t be disappointed…
Listen to the interviews with Lucy Laucht and Mark Anthony Fox.
FRIDAY
It’s Sadie’s Sports Day so do a few prints in the morning and then head out to cheer her on in the relay.
A x
P.S. Do you have any assisting opportunities you need to get great photographers for? Or are there jobs you can’t do that you want to pass onto someone else? To list them on our Job Board and tap into this amazing community of creatives, just send the details to studio@aliciawaite.com.
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Hi, this sounds like a good week! Yay getaways!
Regarding the hotel collaboration, can I ask what your agreed-upon deliverables are? How many rolls did you shoot, and did you take any other camera gear other than your Contax? xx