Day 1: Arrival and Reconnaissance
We landed at Suvarnabhumi at 6am and checked in by 9. The rest of the day was spent walking the property with the hotel's marketing manager. Mandarin Oriental Bangkok sits on the Chao Phraya River and has been operating since 1876. The original Authors' Wing, the newer River Wing and the recently renovated Garden Wing each have a completely different character.
We mapped every location against the sun path. The riverside terrace faces west .. perfect for sunset content but brutal at midday. The lobby and Authors' Lounge face east .. morning light only. The pool deck gets direct overhead sun from 10am to 3pm, making it unusable for photography during those hours.
Day 2-3: The Authors' Wing
The Authors' Wing is where the story lives. Somerset Maugham, Joseph Conrad and Noel Coward stayed here. Each suite is named after a writer. We shot the Maugham Suite first .. teak floors, period furniture, river views through colonial-era shutters. Sony FX3 on a gimbal for the walkthrough. Sony A7R V with a 35mm for stills.
The challenge was the furniture. Every piece is an antique. We could not move anything without permission from the heritage team. That meant working with existing compositions, which honestly produced better results than our planned setups would have.
Day 4: Food and Beverage
Lord Jim's restaurant at 6am before service. The kitchen team plated 8 dishes for us in 90 minutes. We shot flat-lay stills and overhead video of each plating process. The head chef moved quickly .. we had roughly 4 minutes per dish before the garnishes wilted in the Bangkok humidity.
The Bamboo Bar in the evening. Low light, jazz trio playing, cocktails being assembled behind an art deco bar. We shot everything at ISO 3200-6400 on the 85mm f/1.4. No flash. No video lights. The atmosphere is the content.
Day 5-6: River and Exteriors
We hired a longtail boat for the riverside footage. Three passes in the morning. Three at sunset. The best angle is from 200 metres upstream, looking south with the hotel framed against the Temple of Dawn. Drone clearance was approved by CAAT for two 15-minute windows.
The spa occupies a separate building across the river, connected by a shuttle boat. We crossed at 7am when the river traffic was quiet. The Oriental Spa is consistently ranked among the world's best. We shot it empty, in natural light, focusing on the treatment rooms' river views and the herbal preparation area.
Day 7: Selects and Departure
Final morning. We reshot three sequences that needed better light. Then spent the afternoon doing an initial edit select with the hotel's marketing team on-site. Of 2,400 raw files and 6 hours of footage, we flagged 180 stills and 45 minutes of video for the final edit.
Total delivery 10 days later: 60 edited stills, 20 short-form videos, 5 longer editorial pieces. Mandarin Oriental used the content across their global channels for Q4 2024 and into 2025. The heritage suite series became a tentpole for their 148th anniversary campaign.