How Strong Project Images Created a New Opportunity
The opportunity began with a completed-project photography commission at Dundee Railway Station for J&D Pierce Contracts Ltd. After Nicoll Russell Studios saw the finished images, they requested usage rights for selected photographs of the station and surrounding development.
The exterior images also attracted the attention of Manny Baber, then manager of Sleeperz Hotel Dundee. Following a conversation about the hotel’s presentation, I arranged to stay at the property and produce a wider set of interior and exterior photographs for portfolio and marketing use.
Photography That Connects Architecture, Place and Experience
The completed hotel forms part of Dundee’s wider railway-station redevelopment, with its curved elevation, glazed entrance and prominent corner position creating a strong architectural presence.
When I photographed the project, I wanted to show more than the building in isolation. I also wanted the images to communicate how the hotel connects with the station entrance and the surrounding city.
For this early-morning view, I got up before sunrise and waited in the freezing cold for the light to reach the point I wanted. Passing traffic made the timing difficult, while the building opposite was still under construction, so I had to work carefully to find a clean angle and avoid construction traffic and other distractions.
That patience was important. The final image shows the hotel and station together in a way that feels calm and considered, even though the conditions around me were anything but.
Inside Sleeperz Hotel Dundee
The exterior photographs established the hotel within Dundee’s changing waterfront, but the interior images needed to show what guests would actually experience once they stepped inside. I photographed the reception, bar, lounge, restaurant and guest rooms to create a varied set of images that could present the hotel as a complete destination rather than simply a building beside the station.
The contrast between these spaces was important to capture. The reception area feels open and connected to the city outside, while the lounge has a warmer, more relaxed atmosphere. Showing both helped me present the hotel as somewhere that works for arrival, meeting, eating and unwinding, rather than simply somewhere to sleep.
The bar and restaurant needed a different approach from the reception and lounge. Here, the lighting, seating layout and smaller details help explain how the spaces function throughout the day. I used a combination of exposures: one to retain the warmth of the existing ambient lighting, followed by soft fill flash to lift the shadow areas. I then blended the exposures carefully so the finished images remained natural and reflected how the spaces actually felt.
Guest Rooms Designed to Feel Warm and Practical
The guest rooms needed to feel comfortable, well designed and practical without appearing over-staged. I concentrated on the relationship between the bed, seating, window and decorative details, using the natural daylight to keep the room feeling open while retaining the warmer tones of the interior.
For this room, I used the available daylight to keep the space feeling open, then balanced the brighter window area against the warmer interior lighting. The aim was to show the room honestly while still making the design, colour and practical layout feel inviting.
From Project Photography to Wider Image Use
What began as a completed-project commission for J&D Pierce Contracts Ltd led to wider interest in the images. Nicoll Russell Studios requested usage rights for selected photographs, and the hotel photography gave me a separate body of work covering architecture, hospitality interiors and commercial property presentation.
That is one of the reasons I value taking the time to photograph a project properly. A strong image can support far more than the original brief. It can help architects, contractors, operators and marketing teams present the same development in different ways, across websites, social media, portfolios and future project submissions.
Planning Photography for a Completed Hotel or Commercial Property?
If you are preparing to market a completed hotel, guest house, mixed-use development or commercial property, I can help you plan a photography brief that covers the building, interiors and wider location without creating unnecessary work for your team.
I also return to hotels and guest houses when interiors have been refurbished, restyled or updated with new furniture and finishes, creating a fresh set of images that reflects the property as it looks now.
I work directly with contractors, architects, developers, operators and marketing teams to agree the essential views, organise access and produce a commercially useful set of images for websites, case studies, social media, award entries and future project promotion.