March 2011 Commission to review the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Barcelona, Spain

For Red Online (luxury women’s lifestyle portal) and Hotel Essence Photography (website dedicated to capturing the essence of luxury hotels).

When Red Online magazine commissioned a review of the Mandarin Oriental in Barcelona, I was delighted as this would be the first MO hotel outside the Far East and Americas where I had stayed.

This hotel is indeed a total urban-chic luxury hotel, with oriental flair and first-class service, situated on the most elegant street in Barcelona, the Paseo de Gracia.

You can see my hotel review for Red Online here and you can see imagery of the hotel and a photographic review here.

March 2011 Photography of the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, USA

Perched at the very top of Nob Hill in San Francisco stands the Grand Dame of luxurious historic hotels: the Fairmont San Francisco. This hotel is listed in the US register of historic hotels, with over a century of history – it opened its doors in 1907, and is a well-deserved member of The Most Famous Hotels in the World®. A striking circular lobby reaching dizzy heights with solid marble columns, and the luxurious deep-piled carpets and velvety textures on the curvaceous sofas, provide a palatial feel. Just entering this hotel feels like a special occasion.

View more Fairmont Hotel images here
Read Essence Photography Blog entry here

My views on photography at the Fairmont San Francisco.
It was a joy to photograph. As a guest for 10 nights, I was mesmerized by the view from room 1607 – a smart move from the hotel, as I couldn’t resist capturing the scene of San Francisco bay in both daylight and night (dusk) conditions. The Fairmont team were so well organised and helpful that one of the managers even moved a grand piano for me to achieve a better angle on my shots – what more can I say?

March 2011 ICANN 40th Public Meeting, Silicon Valley, California, USA

I attended the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) 40th Public Meeting in San Francisco and concentrated on photographing the Commercial Stakeholders group breakfast with senior ICANN staff and guests from the Silicon Valley business community. Imagery was also captured at the press conference and a newly formed group, Women in the DNS (domain name system).

It was fun to have a caricature created and a page indexed by the team at ICANNWiki.

The founding father of the Internet, Vint Cerf, spoke at the opening ceremony and also gave a very interesting speech at a networking event. The highlight of the meeting was an address by ex-US President Bill Clinton. The press were placed at the very rear of the room, far from the podium, requiring extremely long lenses to capture the scene.

The quote that I remember most clearly from his one-hour address, during which Bill talked about his humanitarian work, was “Hilary and I have changed places on the dance floor”.

March 2011 US Market Access Center, San Francisco, USA

On behalf of Andalucia Web Solutions and Andalucia.com, a photo shoot was carried out with Alfredo Coppola, Director of Business Development at the US Market Access Center. Alfredo is working in conjunction with the Malaga Town Hall on their “Open for Business” project.

March 2011 San Francisco stock photography

Between the shoot at the Fairmont, one at another San Francisco hotel (which I will reveal in my April news), March rain, foggy skies and the ICANN meeting, there was not much time for stock photography during my stay in the city. However, no trip to San Francisco is complete without visiting and photographing the iconic Golden Gate Bridge and a few other notable sights and monuments along the way, to add to my ever-growing collection of travel stock imagery.