The Ritz Carlton in Chicago recently redid their lobby. It was an entire overhaul, a really beautiful, modern overhaul with a new restaurant, bar, common area etc. Naturally they needed it photographed, and I was lucky enough to be picked for the job. The shoot had a 4am call time to ensure that few, if any, guests would be meandering through the shot in search of coffee, so I was a little bleary myself, and admittedly apprehensive about lighting an enormous lobby early in the morning with no assistance from the sun.Occasionally, we get really, really lucky on shoots and giant spaces that would be tricky to light look just lovely without me adding a thing. This was the case here. As I was test shooting, something very similar to this popped up on my laptop and I was able to go and stop my assistant from assembling more lights. They would not be needed. We ran with the dark sky and went for a hip night life look, and I love it. Sometimes things fall into place and I'm super grateful when they do. Whether that be an out of the blue phone call based on a referral, or a pre-lit hotel lobby, they say its better to be lucky than good. I'd like to think that I've got a combination of the two but am certainly glad to be lucky.
