Not everyday we get to experience a 5-star treatment in our lives. If you are like me, who is blessed to be around an adventurous family in fond of traveling, probably you'll end up savoring the sunset at the balcony of a deluxe suite in Jeddah Hilton Hotel.
Thanks to kuya Fiery Agramon ("kuya" is a Tagalog word, meaning "brother") who invited me and other friends to come with him and his family for leisure and relaxation. It's my first time in Hilton. My expectation is on the roof as we enter the main lobby and it didn't fail me. The natural sunrays sneaking through the tall glass rooflight is the hotel's focal point. It just feels so perfect to capture the moment from a low angle as I literally lie on my back at the lobby's floor!
In this blog post, I want to feature the Agramon family throughout their entire stay at Hilton. I'm such a huge fan of randomly taken candid shots when working around a family especially with kids. The resulting images are so unexpectedly surprising and honest in such a way that I don't have to tell them what to do. I would just sit on a corner, somewhere unnoticed, and steal a shot. This is the real essence of lifestyle photography -- you seize the moment, at a right time, no matter the lighting conditions.
10 Useful Tips for a Short Hotel Vacation I Learned from Agramon Family:
Bring your own food to save from meal expenses. Kids' tummy always need a refill.
Pack your best wardrobe to have plenty of options for your own photoshoots.
Never ever bring paperworks when you're on a vacation trip.
Prepare a backup storage for all your photos and videos, as they easily pile up.
Depending on the signed agreement with the hotel, you can have limited number of guests visit you and bring them with you on hotel amenities such as pool, gym, or sauna.
Don't spend your time sleeping a lot! You can do that at home.
To save your pocket, double check if the hotel has promos during the period you are checking in. It won't degrade your dignity. Everybody loves a discount!
Gadgets are not bad. But lessen the use of it. Spend time with your loved ones.
Bring home the hotel's toiletries and condiments. These are refilled on a regular basis. Don't be shy and cocky. You paid for it.
Check in early (before 12noon) during peak and holiday seasons. In Hilton, rooms were usually fully booked and we'll have to wait for an hour in the lobby before we were called.
Hotels are incomplete without the pool. Oh the pool! That VIP "vacay feels" you rarely experience in your daily normal living. So, lavish and indulge the moment while it lasts. A steady, heavy-duty tripod is a photographer's reliable friend when it comes to taking shots of yourself. For outdoor water splash prone photography, GoPros are advisable. But in my case, I still used my Nikon D3400 camera that is not waterproof! Ninja skills are necessary to protect the camera lens against the water, though.
To wrap up the holiday, I had a wonderful portrait photoshoot with my very talented and versatile model, Carol Agramon, a mom of two little pretty girls, a wife to kuya Fiery. Today's theme is seductive/dramatic/emotional portraiture all in one angle! Can you imagine that? By the way, the sunset-lit glass doors of the balcony is a perfect spot for this theme. All you need is a good control of aperture and shutter speed combination to draw focal attention to facial expression.
There is a saying that "lightning doesn't strike in the same place twice". This is the same with blissful family moments and a youthful glow, it only passes once. So why not capture it?
See more of my shots in my Portfolio.