This summer, I photographed The Nickel Hotel and its rooftop bar, Rosemary Rose, for Method Co. on Upper King Street in Charleston's Cannonborough neighborhood. The hotel was designed by Method Co.'s in-house team, Method Studios, with Morris Adjmi Architects, and as a hospitality photographer in Charleston, I wanted to show how that design comes together across guest rooms, the courtyard, and the rooftop.

The Nickel is a 50-room boutique hotel that feels like a well-traveled friend's Charleston apartment: every room has a full kitchen, there's a central courtyard with a tiered fountain, and the rooftop looks like it belongs on the French Riviera. Our job was to capture all of it in a single day, in a way that makes you want to book a weekend.

The design story: modern, but rooted in Charleston

In Hospitality Design's feature on the hotel, the architects describe The Nickel as unmistakably modern but very much “of the place,” and you can see it in every frame. Arched windows and a precast façade nod to Charleston's historic proportions, while inside, Method Studios layered in herringbone oak floors, honed marble, aged bronze hardware, and wrought-iron balconies over King Street. The palette is warm and grounded: ochre and rust upholstery, olive and sage walls, botanical headboards.

How we planned and shot a working hotel in one day

Photographing a hotel is a different project than photographing a private home. Here's how we approached The Nickel.

Start with a shared vision. Before the shoot, I had a call with Method Co.'s creative team to align on everything from the shot list to styling. We worked from their vision board and collaborated on that document directly, so I understood their objectives and we could make sure everything on the list was realistic for a single shoot day.

Pick the right day of the week. When you photograph a hotel, every room you shoot is a room that can't be sold that night. Hospitality shoots should happen on the slowest days of the week so you're not marking rooms as booked during peak sales windows. I recommend Tuesdays to every hospitality client. It's the quietest point before the weekend ramps up again, and it's the day we photographed The Nickel.

Plan the day around the light. The Nickel has beautiful natural light, and a cloudy day gave us soft, even light in the guest rooms. We started with the standard guest rooms and saved the penthouse suites for midday, when the sun was highest and those top-floor rooms were at their brightest.

Keep the styling light and lived-in. Styling was intentionally minimal. Marissa from Method Co.'s corporate office brought in fresh flowers and a handful of personal touches so the rooms felt stayed in, not like stark sales images. That small difference is what makes a guest picture themselves there.

Cast from the team, then make it easy on them. The people in our lifestyle images are hotel staff who stepped in as models. Real people bring a warmth you can't fake, but they're not professional models, and nobody should have to nail one perfect frame. So we shot each lifestyle moment in bursts and blended the best expression and pose for each person into the final image. Everyone looks their best, and no one had to hold a pose for an hour.

A small, efficient crew. On set, it was me, my shoot assistant Asher, Marissa from Method Co., and the hotel staff who joined us on camera. Keeping the team small let us move quickly from room to room without disrupting guests.

Rooms and spaces we photographed

The guest rooms and suites. The tall arched windows were the defining feature, so we composed nearly every room around them, letting King Street rooftops and balcony ironwork frame the beds and living areas. The full kitchens got their own frames because they're a selling point for longer stays.

The bathrooms. Patterned encaustic tile, marble vanities, and dark green tile showers, photographed tight and detail-forward so the materials do the talking.

The courtyard. Shot from above, it reads like a hidden European courtyard tucked behind King Street.

Rosemary Rose. The rooftop lounge has a French Riviera feel: scalloped umbrellas, olive trees, terracotta, and green bistro seating overlooking Cannonborough. We photographed it as a place to be, not just a space, with people sharing plates and drinks.

Delivery

Editing took about three weeks. Method Co. received a final gallery of 25 images in both high-resolution and web-optimized versions, licensed for their own promotional use. The mix of architecture, details, and lifestyle moments gives them images for their website, social channels, and marketing from a single day on site.

Planning a hotel or restaurant shoot in Charleston?

If you're opening or refreshing a hotel, restaurant, or short-term rental, I'd love to help you plan a shoot that works around your bookings and serves your marketing. Reach out here to start the conversation.

More recent work in Charleston: How One Project Can Be The Perfect Introduction to an Entire Market