“I’m staying at the Chateau…maybe we can shoot?” So went a message I received a few weeks ago from my friend and frequent collaborator Nana, who had suddenly found herself staying at the famed Chateau Marmont hotel in Hollywood for a few days. Following a fun shoot last year at the downtown Ritz Carlton, the thought was that maybe we could keep these hotel shoots going. Naturally, I said yes and met her the following day. And so a series was born, tentatively titled “Nana lives in hotels.”
Here are some of the favorites from the shoot. Unlike the Ritz shoot, in which she was jumping around and laughing, this room lent itself to a quieter set of images. There’s a sense of history and seclusion there that didn’t inspire loud, high energy photos. I had brought lights, but ended up leaving them in the bag in favor of the soft, natural light pouring into the suite. Incidentally, according to Nana the the suite she was staying in was the one Helmut Newton stayed in at the time of his death. I couldn’t find anything to verify this, but he was in fact staying at the hotel when he died in a car crash in 2004. Regardless, if you’re going to shoot nudes in a Hollywood hotel, even believing you’re shooting in Helmut Newton’s room doesn’t hurt. We had a fun time shooting and catching up, as always. Can’t wait to see what hotel we end up in next.
