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Chris Shaw worked in London hotels for ten years, using his camera to document the unexpected human dramas that unfolded there and to keep himself awake during the long hours on the job. Whether it’s prostitutes waiting between clients, tired hotel staff, intoxicated and extravagant guests, or details of the hotels’ faded grandeur, Shaw’s images transcend the physical boundaries of a place and instead capture a state of mind in which few people would choose to stay more than one night. “What I like most about these images is the significant element of what I call chance encounters—those moments when I was so tired that I let go of the artifice and techniques of photography. I simply took photos to keep myself awake. It became artless. The people I photographed—these episodes of social fantasy—enriched and illuminated my entire night, often making my difficult work and my twelve-hour shift bearable. The book is, in fact, a hotel of my own imagination built from several hotels where I’ve worked and some where I’ve stayed as a paying guest. In reality, these hotels bear little, if any, resemblance to the photos I took. It all depends on how you look at things. In my experience, heaven and hell are places right here on earth, and you can stay in either one.” --Chris Shaw
Published by Twin Palms Publishers, 2005
30.5 × 40.5 cm
64 pages
ISBN: 978-1931885508
Chris Shaw worked in London hotels for ten years, using his camera to document the unexpected human dramas that unfolded there and to keep himself awake during the long hours on the job. Whether it’s prostitutes waiting between clients, tired hotel staff, intoxicated and extravagant guests, or details of the hotels’ faded grandeur, Shaw’s images transcend the physical boundaries of a place and instead capture a state of mind in which few people would choose to stay more than one night. “What I like most about these images is the significant element of what I call chance encounters—those moments when I was so tired that I let go of the artifice and techniques of photography. I simply took photos to keep myself awake. It became artless. The people I photographed—these episodes of social fantasy—enriched and illuminated my entire night, often making my difficult work and my twelve-hour shift bearable. The book is, in fact, a hotel of my own imagination built from several hotels where I’ve worked and some where I’ve stayed as a paying guest. In reality, these hotels bear little, if any, resemblance to the photos I took. It all depends on how you look at things. In my experience, heaven and hell are places right here on earth, and you can stay in either one.” --Chris Shaw
Published by Twin Palms Publishers, 2005
30.5 × 40.5 cm
64 pages
ISBN: 978-1931885508
