Ain Sokhna is the weekend coast for Cairo, which changes what the pictures have to do. Nobody is booking a flight on the strength of them. They are choosing between this hotel and four others two hours down the same road.

So the shoot concentrated on the things that decide a short stay: how much shade there is, how close the water sits to the rooms, whether the terrace looks like somewhere you would sit for an afternoon. Parasols and loungers were set before shooting rather than after, because an empty deck photographs as an empty hotel.

Shot across a single day to keep the light consistent from frame to frame.