Four years ago, I photographed my first hotel, for free, to start a hospitality portfolio.
They had it all going on, but their marketing was terrible. Like stock photos and pixilated phone images from guests. That kind of terrible, yet they were charging between $1500 and $2000 a night!
One cold pitch later, we had four nights in a standard cabin (which was far from standard) and 1 night in the VIP cabin, which came with its own helicopter pad.
The shoot went really well, I worked 15 hours days for 5 days straight, and even created a new 1-minute video spot for them. All for free.
Before you get your panties in a ruffle about under cutting the market, blah, blah, blah... they took a serious chance on me. I had never photographed a hotel, or shot video of a hotel. They had to put me in a room because the place was off the grid. They had to send a boat to pick me up, feed me, and pay for everything from air plane rides to see glaciers to halibut fishing. And, there was no guarantee I would deliver.
But, I did.
Then, out of nowhere that adventure lodge was recognized with not 1, but 2 Michelin keys.
Which put them and my work center stage in the luxury world for adventure hotels.
Since there acknowledgments, their guest list has grown and so has my client list. Instead of begging to give away free work, I'm booking a few tourism boards and experiential hotels (state side and international) every year.
A prime example, this boutique surf lodge in Nicaragua - Rancho Santana Nicaragua
A full week of surfing, zip-lines, food that melted in my mouth, exploring workshops and coffee farms, sailing on a catamaran, motoring across a lake so large they feel like the ocean, volcanoes, and so much more.
All of that started because of a cold email and doing some free work.
P.S. These images come from the first 4 hours of being on property, check out the full gallery from this surf lodge in Nicaragua: