When the Waldorf Astoria Chicago made updates to its hotel, the team needed images for their online marketing efforts. Someone in the marketing department, who previously worked with John Muggenborg in the past, suggested working with him again. Already knowing John’s skill set going in made the team certain that John was the right man for the job!
Initially, the Waldorf team sent John a basic shot list, instructing him to photograph a list of rooms. Since the Waldorf Chicago hasn’t had much experience hiring photographers they assumed they only needed John, overlooking the potential need for any assistance. After many back-and-forth emails, John was well aware of the client’s expectations, and he knew exactly how he was going to go about shooting the images successfully.
From there, John suggested hiring a stylist who provided flowers and little touches to make the scene more vibrant and beautiful. Though bringing on a stylist meant a higher budget, the Waldorf was willing to spend more money knowing the imagery would be well worth it in the end. After getting approval from the Waldorf team the shoot was underway!
The shoot took place over the course of two days. They put John and his team up in the hotel for those nights, which John enjoyed. His team even got to indulge in some of the great amenities at the hotel, in addition to experiencing one of its fantastic breakfasts. During the shoot, John captured imagery, photographing the hotel’s king suites, conference rooms, the ballroom for weddings and events, and the interiors of the lobby and exteriors of the hotel. Although they didn’t initially include shots of the lobby in the shot list, John shot them just in case. The Waldorf ended up loving those images and bought those pictures as well.
The hotel owns a fancy car, called a Fisker, we were going to shoot the front of the hotel with and without the car. The Waldorf is part-hotel and part-condos, so while we were shooting, a resident came and parked his Porsche in front of the hotel. It’s such an awesome car to come into our photoshoot accidentally, and it was a silver Porsche, and the Fisker was silver, so at one point we had two luxury silver cars out front.
After shooting all of the necessary images, John sent them over for approval. After making a few retouches here and there, John thrilled the client with the outcome. The hotel’s website, as well as online advertisements, feature these photos. Oddly enough, John came across the advertisements featuring his images as he booked a flight for himself to Chicago. As a photographer, seeing your work in real-time never gets old!
See more of John’s photography on his website.
Credits
Stylist: Dean Renaud / South Social & Home
Assistant: Rolando Pellot
Further Reading
Read more articles about John Muggenborg.
Read more articles about Hospitality photography.
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