Beneath the whimsical themed rooms of the iconic Madonna Inn, a team of four Cal Poly students armed with racks of quirky attire, top-tier cameras and expansive lighting gear embarked on a transformative journey. They aimed to capture the hotel’s essence, turning it into a youthful, fantastical realm through their camera lenses.
These students were photography seniors Jordan Marozik, Alicia Zimmerman, Miranda Kowalski and Jacob Botelho. For their advertising photography class, they were tasked with creating a photo campaign for a local business. The group chose the Madonna Inn.
“The Madonna Inn has such an eclectic and unique character, one that immediately inspired us as artists,” Kowalski said.
They created a pitch deck and the Madonna marketing team excitedly agreed to the collaboration. The team’s goal for the project was to create a fresher perspective of the 1958 establishment that brings out the fun, youthful-spirited aspects of its brand image.
The team said they wanted to do this by personifying the themed rooms and bringing them to life by “matching the models to the distinct style, color palette and aesthetics of each location,” as stated in their pitch deck.
“Amanda Rich, one of the marketing managers, was really interested in how we could encapsulate the Madonna Inn through a younger perspective, being that it’s so well known for its elaborate personality,” Marozik said. “Going off of that we just kind of took the foundation of the Madonna Inn’s unique style and put our own little creative spin on it.”
The Madonna marketing team said their top priorities were to market and highlight the hotel’s spa and boutique. Kowalski proposed a creative concept to style the entire shoot using wardrobe picks from the Madonna Inn boutique, which further encapsulated the aesthetic and aura of the inn.
With thousands of dollars worth of merchandise in their hands and help from staff in the boutique, the group set aside two days to style intricate outfits for their six models before the big shooting day. From luxurious fur coats to sparkly knee-high boots, the team skillfully curated an entire wardrobe that not only aligned with their creative vision but also showcased the extensive inventory available at the shop.
“We were able to make tons of incredible looks, where we were able to freely let our imaginations go wild and help all of the amazing pieces at the boutique shine,” Zimmerman said.
Heavy preparation was a huge part of the photoshoot running smoothly, according to Marozik. Aside from styling the looks, they also did a walk through of potential locations around the property and made a rough blueprint of the shoot concepts.
While they meticulously planned ahead of time, the team shared some funny anecdotes of chaotic situations they ran into trying to fit everyone and everything in one room while also trying to get just the right angle during a photoshoot concept.
If someone were inside the room witnessing the shoot, they may have caught Marozik standing in the shower, Zimmerman and Kowalski climbing over each other and Botelho laying upside down on the bed, all holding lights and cameras amidst loud music and laughter.
“Being unorthodox and working around challenges as they came up definitely made the shoot memorable,” Botelho said.
The whole portfolio of images they produced were issued to the Madonna Inn marketing team and the various establishments around the property for free use, according to Marozik. So far, a few images have already been used for Madonna Inn’s social media content and a new redesign of their boutique website.
“We hope they are able to appeal to various demographics and appeal to the fresh, young and playful themes that were the foundation of the series,” Marozik said.
The Madonna Inn project was a significant milestone in the students’ work and heavily influenced their photography careers, according to Marozik.
“It was a way for us to test our limits and see what we are really capable of when working in a creative atmosphere and collaborating with both huge brands and other photographers and artists,” Marozik said.
The overall collaboration and detailed preparation process gave Kowalski a deeper insight into not only how to be a photographer with a larger team, but also all of the other roles that are necessary for a successful shoot.
“As much as I love to photograph, there are so many other ways to be a part of a project like this one, and I really got to dive into all of those roles with this opportunity,” Kowalski said. “I had just as much fun working on the creative deck beforehand, organizing the clothing racks with the handpicked outfits for each model during the shoot and sorting through the countless images afterward.”
