Hotel Photography in London
London is one of the greatest cities in the world, with a fantastic range of architecture, shops, attractions and grand hotels. London is the capital city of both England and the United Kingdom, giving it a fairly unique and important place in the world. London has a long and eventful history that goes back for two millennia and it has been an important international centre for this entire time. As well as having a fantastically rich history and heritage, London is an up to date and exciting world centre that leads the world in many different fields.
Whether it be in the world of business, arts or finance; London has a lot to say that is both historically pervasive and completely relevant to the modern age. This mix of history and modern style has given London a number of great hotel destinations. Some of these fantastic hotels - similar in ways to some of the best hotels in Germany (Hotels in Deutschland) - are interesting not only from a visitor’s perspective, but are important from an architectural and artistic point of view as well. Photographing these hotels has become an important activity for many artistic and commercial photographers.
London can be defined in many geographical ways, making it a confusing place to be at times. There is the city of London in the middle which is sometimes referred to as ‘the City’ or the ‘Square Mile’, however this obviously only incorporates a very small section of the entire modern city. The much larger area is referred to as Greater London or the London region of England, and beyond this even is the London commuter belt where a lot of people manage to live and commute to the city daily for work.
A great deal of the city exists because of the urban sprawl that has spread over the city since the end of world war II. Most of the old traditional buildings, and also the newer and grander buildings are located in or near the centre of the city. The middle of London has an amazingly rich mixture of architectural delights, including some of the fine hotels that a photographer may be interested in capturing.
There are a few different reasons that a photographer may be interested in capturing images of the best London hotels. Some of them are architecturally interesting in themselves, and others are just so rich and luxurious that they seem to have a sense of fascination for people everywhere. Some hotels are historically interesting, having famous celebrities staying at an establishment can even give a hotel a kind of notoriety. The commercial photography of hotels is a big part of the hospitality industry, whether in Germany, France or in London.
A commercial hotel photographer needs to be trained in how to best capture pictures of a hotel, of how to portray any hotel in its best light. It may be a Hotel Bad Wörishofen in Germany that they are working for one day and a grand hotel in the centre of London the next; the very best photographers will know how to get the best and most unique perspective from every location.
Some of the best images have been taken at the grandest hotels in London. The city has a tradition of converting private residences and office buildings into hotels - Renaissance Chancery Court and the One Aldwych are examples of this. A list of the grandest hotels that truly reflect the English tradition would have to include the Ritz, the Savoy, the Langham and the Dorchester. These hotels are all fantastic locations for pictures from either an artistic or a commercial perspective.