A snapshot of life as photographer gets star billing

When a company or organisation appoints someone to be "in residence" it is something of a misnomer. Really, it should be "artist with visiting rights".

But the latest residency for photographer Giuseppe Lambertino was exactly that – his residency came with room and board.

"I was put in a suite for six nights and given complete access to all areas. It was a great place to work," says Bradford-based Lambertino.

The photographer was recently artist-in-residence at City Inn, a Leeds hotel, which is why a place to actually be in residence was a perk of the job.

The worlds of commerce and art rarely sit well together, but City Inn, at Granary Wharf in Leeds, claims to have a genuine interest in art. Which would be easy to dismiss as PR flannel, were it not for the fact that the hotel has a dedicated curator to stage exhibitions.

Lambertino's experience of being the hotel's first artist in residence bears out the fact that the hotel's dedication to the arts appears genuine.

"I was worried at first when I was approached about the exhibition," says the photographer.

"The tension between artistic values and commercialism is interesting. If they wanted me to take brochure pictures of the hotel or photos they could put on their website, I wasn't interested.

"But when I talked about my ideas and it was clear that the brief was going to be fairly open to me, I was excited by the project."

Yvonne Carmichael, who teaches at Leeds College of Art and acted as curator for Opera North's art space at 42 New Briggate Gallery, is the hotel's curator.

She knew of Lambertino's work and approached him.

She says: "There can be tensions between art and the commercial. I feel I chose the right artist to undertake this project, his work is appropriate for the situation. Giuseppe's photography is really beautiful and so appeals to a broad audience. His work has commercial appeal but importantly it has a lot of integrity."

For the residency, Lambertino moved into the hotel for six days, to observe the "rhythms" of the building and was given access to wander around and photograph what he wanted.

"I spent a few days just taking in the place and understanding it and making a list of the things that might work as photographs," he says.

"I wasn't sure I would find anything, but by the end I was rushing around trying to cross things off my lists.

"The work certainly isn't something that would be used on the hotel website. It's more about getting behind the hotel and looking at the stories and the images of the building that really spoke to me."

The exhibition is placed around the hotel building and is launched today, running to Sept.