Here’s a little secret on how I find the hotels in which my photo sessions take place. I don’t search on hotels.com or any other major deal sites. Instead, I either Google for “boutique hotels” in the city I’ll be visiting, or search through tablethotels.com. Of course, exclusivity and uniqueness comes at a price I am willing to pay. I don’t want the next Joe S. with some extra change to spare to use the same location and produce mediocre results. After I find an interesting hotel online, I continue my research by looking at user photos submitted through tripadvisor.com, though I rarely read the written reviews – when it comes to photo shoots, I don’t care much about the view nor the service. I also try to submit as many photos to Trip Advisor as I can. You should keep in mind, choosing a hotel for a photo shoot is not the same as choosing where you want to stay for your vacation. A clean modern room might be boring for photos but easy on the eyes, while a tacky room might make you feel cheesy but produces far better results for photography.

One hotel I am legally not allowed to name, just in case they search for it. This resort is popular to celebrities and top fashion photographers, so they don’t allow other professional cameras on the premise. Although I was allowed to shoot my own model, I had to sign a waiver which included a few simple rules including not publishing any photos with guests in the background nor using the name of the hotel. This waiver prevents the hotel and I from being sued from celebrities that might have been captured in the image without their consent.

Whitelaw Hotel, Miami Beach, FL

Pelican Hotel, Best Whorehouse room, Miami Beach, FL

Miami Beach, FL