I like using people in the frame when their presence helps convey something that is difficult to show through a photograph of the space alone. At El Castell de Ciutat, this approach helped with several different aspects of the hotel photography: setting the context, suggesting a possible type of stay, showing the kind of guest the hotel may appeal to, and conveying scale.

The people in these images are intentionally not the focus. A couple on the balcony or having coffee suggests a particular way of spending time at the hotel. Someone reading a magazine in misty weather adds context for a day when going out for a walk is not necessarily the main activity. In the pool images, a person becomes a reference point for scale, making it easier to read the size of the room, windows and pool. Even a pair of hands with a milk jug works as a simple sign of human presence rather than a separate still-life subject.

For me, this is part of what makes lifestyle photography for hotels interesting: people do not always need to be the main subject. They can be used to communicate scale, context, atmosphere and different ways of experiencing a property.