Barbados Recap | Hotel Photography & Video

Here’s a little look at the hotels and properties we photographed during our May trip to Barbados. We decided to approach this trip a little differently, hopscotching to a few different properties over the course of ten days on the island. Since we booked a few different spaces, we strategically packed up most of the photography and video arsenal, checked in with US Customs, and got ready to go. We left wearing many metaphorical hats and carrying many, very real, rather heavy cases.

Beach View Barbados

For the first half of our stay, our base of operations and first project was Beach View Barbados, a beautifully landscaped escape for those who wish to experience Barbados with an edge of independence and family appeal. Beach View is family owned and run with a personal touch. Robin, the owner, is always briskly moving around, warmly greeting guests, picking up stray bits, and coordinating staff. The lush, tropical landscaping design can be attributed to Robin’s wife Hazel and behind the front desk sits their down to Earth and kind hearted daughter Carrie. Each room comes with a kitchen and living space, making it feel almost like a little apartment rather than a hotel room. The pool is only steps away and every room has a view fit for relaxation. I felt very at home there. After a quick trip to the local market, we stocked our cabinet with tea, bread, orange marmalade, and some peanut butter and proceeded to lay out our schedule. As you can tell from our shopping list, we didn’t make full use of the kitchen appliances, but let me tell you, there was tea. Lots of tea. And toast. Lots of toast. With marmalade. They made for great treats while organizing files, selecting images, and keywording everything in between shoots. Whenever the craving for roti hit over the next few days (which was…almost daily), we’d walk down a block or two to the Roti Den and gather our notes for the day.

We struggled with the weather a bit at first, due to an influx of Sahara Dust in the area (which was a situation I had never before had to think about), but we worked around the temporary haze and in the moments when we were greeted by the bright, unfiltered Barbados sun, we were there to capture it. Here are a few of the final shots from our time with Beach View.

The Club Barbados

Our second stop was The Club Barbados, an all-inclusive resort on the West coast near Holetown backed right up to the calm, turqoise sea. This was a relatively shorter shoot, updating a lot of hotel room photos and capturing their newest restaurant and rum shop renovations over the course of three (busy) days. The staff were very friendly and the chef in charge of the eggs in the morning? On point. Our rooms overlooked the water and were framed by seaside trees. There were quite a few times early in the morning or at the end of the day where I opened the windows up to the sea breeze and was able to watch the sailboats pass in the distance, which I obviously imagined only as pirate ships.

Then…Big Wednesday.

Let me explain. Big Wednesday was our last day in Barbados. It was also the day we spent at Harbour Lights, a multifaceted entertainment venue situated on the beach just outside of Bridgetown. During the day, visitors can come enjoy the Bajan sun, lounge on the beach, enjoy lunch and drinks from the bar, and relax until the cruise ship calls. In the evenings on certain weeknights, the stage lights up with a family friendly dinner show complete with singers, dancers, and fire eaters. Later into the night, a new crowd comes in, shots are poured, and the night club opens up for business. We needed to photograph and take video of all three faces of Harbour Lights in one day, a day we shall call Big Wednesday. Up until this point, our attempts to photograph the venue had been hindered by one thing or another, so we worked down to the wire, finally leaving Harbour Lights for the last time at 1:00 a.m., satisfied with our accomplishments and not-so-secretly dreading the mere two hours of sleep we were going to get before leaving for the airport. It’s a good thing I set two alarms for myself!

In between photo sessions, we were lucky enough to see a little bit of the lush and rocky East coast, meet up with some friends for Quiz night, and have coffee by the ocean. Nice food, lovely views, friendly people, heavy bags, and most importantly, great photos all came together for a very successful trip. Until next time, Barbados. Save me a Banks.