Renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz captures one of The Peninsula's Pages walking some special guests in Manhattan
A memorable image of The Peninsula Page in trademark pillbox hat holding a cage of songbirds from the street markets of Hong Kong

Renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz, famous for shooting pictures of rock stars and celebrities, has just completed a series of portraits of one of Hong Kong's most famous icons, The Peninsula hotel.

The work of the New York-based lenswoman, who is almost as well known as some of the people she snaps, regularly appears in Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone magazines. To shoot The Peninsula portfolio, she was given unfettered access to all parts of the Kowloon hotel at all times of day.

She and her crew set up many of the black-and-white shots at night-time, when the hotel was quieter. Among the memorable images are those of the property's page boys, with their pill-box hats, including one in Hong Kong's famous bird market; the chefs in the Chinese kitchen slaving over a hot wok; the fleet manager tending to the vintage star of the Rolls-Royce fleet of limousines; and staff in the ultra-trendy restaurant Felix, which was designed by another internationally renowned name, Philippe Starck.

Leibovitz, who usually takes pictures of people such as film stars Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, also shot portraits in and around The Peninsula in New York, including one stunning shot of a hotel page-boy walking a hotel guest's dogs ... all five of them.

The images will be used in advertising and promotional campaigns by the hotel group, which has a busy few years of expansion ahead. Work recently started on construction of The Peninsula in Tokyo, a 315-room hotel that is located in the Marunouchi district. A Peninsula boutique, selling teas, chocolates and gifts, has already opened in a Tokyo department store, in addition to an outlet at Hong Kong International Airport.

Also in the pipeline is the The Peninsula Shanghai, a US$361 million project at the northern end of the famous Bund promenade. The mixed-use project will comprise a Peninsula hotel, an apartment hotel, a retail arcade and ancillary facilities.

The Peninsula group has undergone vigorous expansion in recent years, with properties located throughout the world including Hong Kong, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Bangkok, Beijing and Manila.

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