Once I already wrote a post on this topic, but today I decided to return to it again, fortunately, I have new photos ready, taken entirely at the hotel during just one evening.
Last December, as I mentioned my Results of the Year post, @kibela and I went diving to Egypt, or rather, to Hurghada. The diving was in the form of a safari on a yacht in the north of the Red Sea (because diving in Hurghada itself right from the shore is not very good — there are few reefs), but before going out to sea and after returning to the shore, we lived in hotels for two nights. We chose different hotels for these two periods, and here are the photos from the second hotel that seem to me quite worthy to show them to you.
So, what to shoot at the hotel? And the answer will still be this: the hotel itself and the views that open right on its territory. It is ideal if the hotel is photogenic and with a large territory, and if it offers nice views. Hotels, hostels, glampings are all different sizes, different levels and located in different places, but still — almost everywhere you can find something beautiful. In the post that I started this topic with, there were views from the fields, mountains and desert from a very small glamping (offhand, it could accommodate a maximum of 50 guests at a time). In today's one — views of buildings, the sea and ships :)
We were lucky, we lived in a good (including from the point of view of a photographer) hotel: it had a large territory, beautiful architecture of the buildings themselves in Arabic style, wide access to the sea and even its own pier with ships.
Almost always and everywhere, if the sunset decides to please us with bright colors, I try not to miss this moment and go for a walk with a camera in my hands. I was too lazy to take a tripod with me on this trip, so I didn’t take a photo with a long exposure after sunset, but even when photographing by hand in the evening, you can also achieve good results. All photos in this post, taken with a camera, I shot with ISO 200-640 and a shutter speed of 1/60-1/100 second. Nothing too complicated :)
Since I was there after a dive safari, a little tired with 3-4 dives a day daily, and I was relaxing more than doing anything else, I didn’t bother finding the best places too much, and even more so I didn’t get up at dawn — that was enough for me on the yacht. So, on the first evening, I just walked around the area, roughly figured out what and where I can shoot here, and the next evening, seeing that the sunset promises to be interesting, I quickly walked through these places.
Among them, of course, there is a walking section of the embankment with a view of one of the hotel buildings, standing separately and surrounded by water.
Of course, it is worth going to the upper tiers of buildings. Here they were mostly two- or three-storeyed, with domes, stairs, railings, nice door and window openings. Interesting, beautiful and light architecture.
Of course, views of the standing boats from different points. Since they are here, it’s a sin not to use it, at least from some side you’ll get a nice view, especially with at least the minimal assistance of sunset colors in the sky :) In general, there is something to admire.
Of course, I am not a supporter of walking inseparably with a camera on vacation, but if there is an opportunity to shoot in a beautiful place, combining it with relaxation — why not? Yes, and I’ll tell you a secret: I don’t like just a beach holiday on the coast, I quickly start to get bored :))
Well, when the camera is not at hand, the phone is quite suitable. Most often, it is enough to complete the impression of the place where we are, do you agree? The photos in the tables below were taken at the hotel, just using a smartphone. The main thing when shooting is to try to follow the more or less correct arrangement of horizontal and vertical lines immediately when shooting.
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In case you're wondering, the hotel is called Arabella Azur Resort, Hurghada, and even though it's winter in Egypt right now, in fact it's almost summer for us :) At the end of December it was about +22C during the day and +16C at night, but cool winds often blow. In such a winter it is very nice to escape for a while from the real Russian winter.
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In general, I like to see the beauty around, and I try to photograph it everywhere. And right in the hotels too :) And I am very happy when I manage to make nice shots. Hope my experience helps you a little.
It's better to watch the photo in high resolution.
Camera: OLYMPUS E-M1 Mark II and smartphone (photos in the tables).
You can also see my photos in my blog LJ and in my profile on NatGeo. You can read a short interview with me here.
