September 2008 Archives

We spend a fabulous couple of days at The Palace in New York, and I sneak a Sunday off to spend a day with friends Ujwala and Pascal Samant out in Princeton. Suburban heaven and a total break from the bizzyness of the last few weeks.

Great food (as always), turbocharged mojitos, and lots of banter. Ujwala is the former director of our client Learning For Life, the charity whose West Brompton offices will soon be our home.

James gets some fantastic shots at the Palace – the rooftop suite has a unique panorama with the Manhattan Skyline bracketed by The Chrysler Building and The Empire State Building. (I adore New York, as per my previous blog here.)

Then it’s off to LA to capture two of LA’s most elevated properties, The Beverly Hills Hotel and Hotel Bel-Air.

I’m ashamed to say I haven’t been to LA since Starsky and Hutch was still in production (The TV series, not the recent movie!), and I was shocked by the change……and it’s all for the better. OK, we were staying in pretty incredible neighbourhoods, but some taxi rides and a small shopping expedition show the city has changed almost beyond recognition. A very similar transformation to what Giuliani achieved in New York.

I steal an hour off and hit tennis balls with David Olmedo, brother of 1959 Wimbledon champion Alex, at the Beverly Hills. He’s even older than me (!) but still effortless on the court. I have to play more often, I really do. I love the game and the way every stress and worry just disappear when you drop into the rhythm of hitting.

The shoot is a dream – I can’t say too much about it but we’ll post the shots when it goes live into the public domain – but we feel proud and just very, very lucky to have been tasked with the capturing the personality of The Dorchester Collection. (Beverly Hills copped in the pic on the right by James Bedford.)

It was one of those shoots where you feel a sense of loss when the final wrap is called. But some great memories, and lensman James Bedford and client Jade Galston were the best trip companions you could possibly have.