London to Inverness from Michael Harvey on Vimeo.

Having been away from London now for a couple of weeks (Dubai/Lagos/Abu Dhabi) you just get a lot of time to think about everything back at home. I guess it kind of makes sense to log what you’re up to, share some of your experiences with the world, and then get to see if anyone cares.

I’ve been shooting various hotels around Africa and the Middle East for a hotel group in South Africa. It’s been a great opportunity to see some places that I might never have made it to. It’s also the strangest thing – to live in a hotel for 4 days and call it home and work. You get to be a member of staff and find all the secret passageways behind the scenes. The corridors that lead back to the kitchens, the laundry rooms, even the staff canteens.

Having said that, you meet the nicest people – even if the barman doesn’t want to be photographed making cocktails! Security is a big thing in Lagos, from the ‘you’ve got 15 minutes to shoot the Presidential Suite because the minister is about to arrive’ to every AK-47 toting guard wanting to be photographed and then have his picture sent back to him. Just occasionally you snap a picture before realising what you’ve got – and this was one of them.

Here’s another, this time from the roof. There’s something about these ‘snapped’ images that appeals to me and I’m certainly interested in bringing them together as a project at some point in the not too distant future.