Jackie Caradonio can’t quite remember when her love affair with hotels began. As the daughter of a general manager, holidays were spent in suites, and weekends passed, eating and enjoying the best brunches. On her birthday, the fanciest chocolate eclairs would appear at the family breakfast table, whisked away from the kitchens of her father’s hotel. As the celebrated photojournalist writes in her debut book The Inn Crowd: Artistic Getaways and the Modern Innkeepers who Crafted Them, “Everything about a hotel seemed like an enchanted world of wonders.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, as an adult, she has turned the role of guest into a career, as a travel photojournalist and magazine editor.
The Inn Crowd: Artistic Getaways and the Modern Innkeepers who Crafted Them invites readers into more than 20 unique, stylish independent inns across the Northeastern United States. These charming and gracious properties aren’t just places to stay – they are dreams realized, reflecting the innkeepers’ creativity, ingenuity, and drive. Ranging from quaint escapes to luxurious retreats, the one-of-a-kind spaces are a testament to the vision and passion of the innkeepers behind them.
Lushly illustrated with more than 250 evocative photographs alongside lively profiles of the innkeepers themselves – both by Caradonio - and a foreword by Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker, The Inn Crowd invites readers to experience firsthand these unforgettable destinations. We asked Jackie a few questions about the book and how she came to create it.
Alan Stenberg & Daniel DeSimone, Glenmere Mansion, Chester, New York. Photography: Jackie Caradonio
What were the things that you tended to notice when you were staying in those luxury hotels as a kid and did it go on to affect your photographic vision? In terms of just the hotel room itself, it would be the crisp linens! You just don't get that at home. And the unopened toiletries were always such a delight for me. Those were the really two things. Just the immaculate presence of a hotel room.
But with the hotels that I grew up in, it was more about the lobby space and the public areas, because that that was where we ran around a lot as kids. My dad didn't make us just hide in the hotel room. It really was our playground.
One visual memory I have is at this one particular hotel my dad was working at during Christmas. There was this huge Yule log, that seemed to be made purely out of chocolate. It was this really beautiful scene, and so over the top. But it was actually made out of lard that was dyed! That was kind of a horrible surprise. It was the things like that that I loved. I just loved that sort of over-the-topness of a hotel.
I really loved the theatricality, the fact that what was unfolding all around us was actually just any other day at a hotel, but for the people who come through here, it was such a special treat. And it felt to me that every day was special when I was able to experience those things. It never got boring for me.
We would go to brunches and there would be musicians there, and they knew who I was because it was the same musicians every Sunday, but it never got old. I always requested a song from them. I did feel that I was just this little girl, sort of running around in this fantasy land.
IWill Tims & Brett Haynie, Norumbega Inn, Camden, Maine. Photography: Jackie Caradonio
How do you think that fed into your photographic style from that early age to now where you're, experiencing these properties in a different way, you're capturing them and almost translating them for viewers, and in the case of The Inn Crowd, readers too? I don't know that it necessarily affected my photography style. It's funny. I'm always trying to figure out what is my photography style.
I mean, my husband's an architect, and we met in college, so there is definitely some influence there in the things we were interested in, art and architecture. And I was always interested in travel from an early age, just because of the nature of what my parents were interested and involved in.What it imparted on me I think is I that I had this certain taste level that I actually wasn't even aware of. It was before you even think to have a taste level.
When I was abroad and everyone was staying in hostels I would make my friends pool our money so we could afford one room together at the Ritz. I was always forcing people to do this. Because it was just what I was used to. I just thought why would I stay in a place where I have to share a bathroom with people?
I also picked up a camera from a very early age. I was fortunate that my father-in-law, who I met when I was only 19, was a photographer for AP for years, and he gave me his old camera. I was able to become a real photographer very quickly. I had certain people in my life that were not pushing me to be a lawyer or a doctor. They were really saying these are things that you're good at and we are interested in these things as well. So I feel like it was a natural gravitation.
Terri & Terry Coughlin, Granville House, Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Photography: Jackie Caradonio
What are the things you look for when you walk into a space you're going to photograph? It's hard to answer this question because I wrote and photographed for the book. And both of those components were important to me. There were a lot of inns that I really liked visually that I didn't end up putting in the book because the stories didn't match up. So there was a whole other vetting process going on.
What were you looking for in the inns visually? I would say for the inns in particular, overall, I was looking for a lot of layers. I didn't really want something that would be really minimalist. I thought that in order for these thematically to work for the book, they had to be a very complex representation of the owner's personality and desires.
I was almost looking for things that were maximalist or over the top and for it not to be a very minimal white box. And then it was important that they all were very distinct.
I went to school for photojournalism. I feel first and foremost, it's just about framing and lighting. I love peeking through a window or through an archway.
The other component to the book was that I really had to do a lot of phone calls before I even really committed to photographing the inns because I really needed to get a sense of where the people's heads were at.
Sims Foster & Kirsten Harlow Foster, The Debruce, Kenoza Hall and Hemlock Neversink, Sullivan County, New York. Photography: Jackie Caradonio
And that’s so much of the story. . . Yeah, it's kind of funny because, of course, this is a coffee table book, right? It's photos and I would expect probably that's why most people buy it. But I almost bristle at that, because the owners’ stories are such an important part of it. They're the whole reason I did this book. That was the thing that spoke to me most.
And yes, of course, they had to be beautiful as well. But my hope is if you're not buying this book to read it, maybe you'll be surprised and lured into reading it.
Each of the inns photographed really represent the idiosyncrasies of the owners and the perfectly imperfect nature of their establishments. When it came to the photographs though did you have to impart your own vision to any extent? Not really. I did not bring any styling. I really wanted their vision to be what was here. That doesn't mean I wasn't moving things here and there. And usually with their blessing.
If I’m shooting for a commercial client yeah, I'm tearing that place upside down to make it look perfect, but in this situation, I did kind of tap into that perfectly imperfect approach.
Bobbi Brown & Steven Plofker, The George, Montclair, New Jersey. Photography: Jackie Caradonio
And I did, in a lot of ways, have to check myself occasionally, especially in the post-processing, because there is that urge to make every line perfect. But some of these places are over 100 years old and the floor's not straight and you have to let it not be straight.
So for me, it was a different kind of exercise. If you're asking how I move through a space, it is very intuitive. I don't necessarily have a process that I replicate. It's usually like I’m almost an animal circulating, because I walk through it and I'm looking for the bigger picture and then I zone in as I get more and more familiar with the space, and that's when details start to appear.
On these trips I would stay usually a couple of nights and shoot the same thing like 600 times. Whether that's just because the light changed, or I was seeing it from a different angle, or I just loved the space so much that I took the same photo again and again.
Amanda Zaslow & Joe Moseley, The Villa at Saugerties, Saugerties, New York. Photography: Jackie Caradonio
What were the things you sometimes had to change, so that the photo remained true to the owners original desire for the inn? Well, I shoot everything in raw and then I do basic. That's another reason why I shoot the same things over and over again sometimes, because I am waiting for that perfect moment of light.
I really wanted them to be true representations. That doesn't mean that the lighting is perfect. I wanted there to be mood lighting and for different themes to emerge.
The Hamptons property in the book consisted of these century old tiny little cottages. And the interiors were a little minimalist. I was initially having trouble shooting it. And then I realised it just had the most incredible light. And so every shot was just going to be flooded with golden light. That was a really conscious decision.
There is an old motel from the 1950s, on which I maybe did a little more post-pro with because I wanted the salmon and turquoise walls to feel a little bit retro. There was a desire for just a little extra punch. I really love colour so I have to check myself not to hit that saturation button too much!
But with that one, I gave myself permission, because when you're when you see it, you do feel overwhelmed by the bright red flowers on the box outside this pink wall. You feel assaulted by colour in an amazing way. For me, it was always, make it as true to life - and maybe even a little better than real life if you can.
Bobbi Brown & Steven Plofker with their dog Pippa. The George, Montclair, New Jersey. Photography: Jackie Caradonio
The interviews bring out the personalities of the owners and their reasons for the décor choices they made. Did these interviews inform the shoots? Yeah, there's a couple where the owners were very gracious and gentle humans. And I wanted you to feel that when you looked at the photos.
These people have incredibly sophisticated tastes and they have all poured everything into these spaces, but they have such a very clear point of view, and you can tell that even if it doesn't knock you over the head, everything has been done intentionally.
For those shoots, I was really conscious of the fact that I didn't want it to be too over the top. I wanted to reflect their presence, the people, not just the places through colour and light and composition. I wanted them to be almost serene. I was conveying not only the physical vibe, but the personalities of these people as well.
Do you have any kind of rules around how you shoot? Do you allow people to follow you around and ‘suggest things’? No, I literally can't stand that! And what's even worse about it is when guests do that! You wait for your moment to shoot a space and somebody starts lurking behind me. Oh, what camera is that? What do you do? Oh, can I see? oh, what if you did it like this? A long time ago I went to a lecture of an architectural photographer, and she was talking about how much she hated this. And she said that she just pops earbuds in.
I sometimes now do that. But with the innkeepers they were welcoming me into their space. And you do sort of feel an obligation. Every one of the innkeepers was really gracious about letting me look at every single room and to let me say I want to shoot that one, and that one, but I don't want to shoot that one. More often than not they left me alone.
What are you working on next? What I would love is to make The Inn Crowd a series. What if we just did a Europe one. What am I just going to live in Italy for six weeks? There are worse things to do in the world, right! That would be my dream.
Take a closer look at The Inn Crowd: Artistic Getaways and the Modern Innkeepers who Crafted Them.
