Models are no must.
They give rooms meaning.

Not necessarily. Models are no must – but used well they guide the eye. They give a room scale, show how it is used and make visible how a concept feels.

A single person, a family with a child or occasionally a pet underline both: what the room is for and how it works. Whether your house needs that depends on what you want to show – the furnishing or the experience.

Restaurant, bar and spa I photograph at a time when nobody is in them. That is a matter of tact: a guest having breakfast does not want to be photographed.

So that stretch of time is in the plan for the shoot day from the start. Usually early in the morning or in the afternoon between shifts.

Yes, and often that is the best answer: your people know the movements, and a picture of your own house works differently from one with unfamiliar faces.

What matters is that it stays voluntary. Anyone who would rather not is better saying so beforehand than on the day in front of everyone. The house settles that internally, before the date – I do not put anyone on the spot.

When a scene has to be staged that does not occur during normal operation. When a particular kind of guest is to be shown, the kind you would like more of. Or when simply nobody suitable is available.

For work being done, though – laying a table, standing at reception, making up a room – your own staff are usually the better choice.

Either way works: you book, or I do it in consultation with you. Tell me which you prefer.

The fee is settled by the model or the agency directly with you. It does not run through my invoice and is therefore not part of the day rate.

They show different kinds of guests without an additional shoot day being needed. No searching for models, no scheduling. The picture is built on the existing material, the room stays real and the use is added.

That is no replacement for photography but an addition – and sometimes the better answer, for instance when the same room is to be peopled differently for different markets or seasons. With no model there is also no model contract and no term that eventually runs out.

Here is the one point where two things differ. The rights of use you get in my pictures are unlimited in time and place.

A person's consent usually is not. Anyone who agrees does so for a particular purpose and often for a particular time. What you agree with your staff is between you and them – all I can tell you is that it is a separate question and does not travel along with the rights in the picture.