A little catch-up with Adrian, the man behind the meat, about The Hotel Diaries...
Tell us about The Hotel Diaries
Well, I’m in the second year of publishing meat ICONS (meat’s monthly zine featuring a bloke worthy of ICON status), and I just had this idea to do another project. It was going to be a bigger magazine, possibly produced twice a year. Then I started thinking about hotels and at the same time I had a real urge to
self-publish another book. The Hotel Diaries was born.
So how did you choose the guys and the hotels?
I didn’t choose the hotels. I just rocked up to where the guys were staying. Most of the shoots have taken place over the last year, some are a little older. It just so happened that I was taking lots of photographs in hotel rooms, out of necessity really. It means there’s quite a range of places featured, from the local Travelodge to boutique hotels and one very swanky London one.
I imagine it’s quite difficult to shoot in hotels.
I mean there’s usually limited space and you must make the best use of the décor, even if it’s a bit meh. To be honest though with meat, as well as my regular photography work, I’m used to just having to rock up to wherever I'm sent and make something amazing. Some hotels can be quite soulless and ordinary. The place is only ever a backdrop though for the guy I’m shooting. The photographs are all about them, wherever they’re taken.
There’s something quite sexy about hotels though, right?
Oh, hell yes. There’s a sizzle of excitement. As one of the guys in the book says, they’re kind of no man’s land and nothing feels off limits. They bring out the voyeur in me.
So, did you talk to the guys about their hotel experiences?
Absolutely. Lots of the guys were generous enough to share some of their stories and anecdotes with me for the book. That brings a context to the whole subject and there’s some eye-opening tales!
meat The Hotel Diaries is available to now exclusively HERE
The book is entirely self-funded and self-published by Adrian and it’s only through your orders that this can happen.