Zhenspace

Always love to see my work used in real life. This round its on the back cover of IM First Class Volume 24 Magazine.

Love the restoration effort done on our Fort Cornwallis, can’t wait for it to be fully restored and open for public.

As the sun sets, the city transforms—golden reflections, intimate moments, and the quiet allure of the night. Through thoughtful curation of light, texture, and atmosphere, hospitality becomes more than a service—it becomes an experience. Every detail shapes a story, inviting guests to immerse themselves in a world of refined elegance. How does your space inspire after dark?

Throwing back to an image that I’ve shot back in year 2022 at Ilham Tower, Elements Hotel & Spa entrance.

Something about the sheer volume of space and vertical height makes it very challenging to photograph. I can’t help but constantly revisit this particular image that is stuck behind my head. Looking back now, there’s a lot of things that I could’ve done better or wished I could’ve done back then.

Today I will be addressing the question of how early should a client engage us for an architecture shoot? Short answer, as early as possible.

The reason is simple, we will need a lot of time for pre-planning and schedule the shoot at the best time of the year, month or week if we do not have the luxury.

In this first image example below, the top image was a recce shot taken more than a year ahead before the opening of the hotel in May 2022 through my own effort as I aspire to be photographing this project. While the final image at the bottom was shot in Aug 2023.

Well, I do have to admit it is a little overkill to recce so early prior to the shoot. In common practice, we usually do not need such a long recce ahead of the shoot because it may be impractical to do so given the chances that major change will happen during the time frame throwing all the pre-planning work out into the bin.

However, I personally do see some form of benefit in getting photographers involved in the early stage. The reason is simple, the more time we have for us to familiarised with the project and location, the better we can craft the images that portray a particular building's narrative in the best light possible.

A good rule of thumb for photographer's engagement in my opinion would be at least 2-3 months ahead of the shoot to cater for all the communication, paper work, planning and preparation to be done prior to the shoot.

Leaving room for discussions. For fellow clients, How long do you usually start engaging photographers for your shoot? and For photographers, how much effort would you usually put for a recce and pre-planning before shooting a project?

Learn more of my resort and hotel work at https://www.yzhensiang.com/resorts-hotels

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The Light Linear, Penang, Malaysia.

The Light Collection, Penang, Malaysia.

An international benchmark-setting waterfront condominium masterpiece located along the coastline of eastern Penang.

Immersing myself around last weekend. Beautiful restoration of an old building into a small boutique hotel while respecting its heritage feature.