Athena in Rhodes

Athena in Rhodes

21^st October 2011

Due to the mounting problems and riots in Athens we aren’t 100% sure if we’ll make it to the port. In case we don’t make it to Athens in 2 days time, Reuben has put me on the gangway in Rhodes as the Greek Goddess to try and maximise counts. Hernan is also on the gangway dressed in his favourite costume, the Spartan mini dress.

David was shooting me while Sandra was photographing Hernan. There was a bit of running around from me and David and things were going really well. Most people seemed to be in good humour while some were the complete opposite. 

I love working on gangway but it gets incredibly hard when you have rude guests, especially those who snap “No” in your face when you try to get them in for a photo. One of the worst things is when a guests puts their hand in your face to decline a photo. You try and make a joke out of it, even if it is a sarcastic one. Sometimes you have to make a joke to avoid losing the plot and screaming blue murder!! As I said before, there’s only so much mass rejection and denial you can take.

By the end of gangway at 11.30, each costume had roughly 350 images which wasn’t bad.

Originally I was supposed to be Port Manning but Paco contact someone to get them to change it as it’s my last cruise. 

Getting ready, I headed out with Camilo, Hernan and David. Four Seasons had completely changed compared to the last time I was in Rhodes. It’s now reopened as a restaurant rather than a little café/bar. It looked expensive so we carried on down to another bar that Hernan knew of. It wasn’t long until Las Lauras from Bar joined us. Sandra was upset about a few things and wanted to be alone, opting to stay in the cabin.

Rushing back to the ship I had 10 minutes to get ready for set up. Hernan arrived later than I did which Dione wasn’t too happy about seeing as it’s always him arriving late.

Later on during the evening, it became clear that Reuben had cocked up the schedules. The production cast came to the gallery looking for LSP to have their Murder Mystery photos taken. D was shooting Spanish Light. Reuben soon realized that he’d cocked up and scheduled me to shoot LSP on the wrong day. I was supposed to be shooting the Production Cast tomorrow but it was supposed to be today. Now.

Dione came up to the gallery. Instead of changing the background and lighting like Reuben wanted, Dione had another idea. This is where you can separate the average AMPs to the Master AMPs like Dione! Rather than changing the backdrop, Dione got D and I to turn the entire thing around. He set up two backlights and upped the power for the main light for the characters. Fiddling around with the backdrop lights, I took a test shot of him and realized what he’d done. The back of Spanish light is cream so Dione had used lowered aperture to over expose the backdrop and get it pristine white.

Taking over from D, the Murder Mystery group wanted individual shots as well as a couple of groups. Not a problem. The last time I shot Murder Mystery with the previous cast, all I had to do was take the picture. The Production Cast were all dolled up to the nines, knew their characters and posed themselves. This wouldn’t be the case with this particular lot. They seemed to have no personality and wanted me to pose them! Sorry to say this, but they had no originality or personality! Each one went through their characters, telling me the plot. This allowed me to pose them accordingly. 

The group shot was probably the hardest. One of the Production Cast caught on to the look that I was going for and the final image I wanted to achieve. I loved every minute of it, if I’m honest. It reminded me of the days when I was at college and had the run of things. I was able to experience, be original and try different things rather than doing the standard, run-of-the-mill McDonald’s photography that I’d been doing for the past 6 months. One thing is for sure, Dione wins AMP of the Year hands down!!

After work, I got on with packing my suitcase. Tomorrow I’d have to go out in Kusadasi and get another, smaller suitcase. The packing is almost done though. Hernan hasn’t started and David is 98% packed already!! The Final Countdown really is on...

Getting Picked Up & Thrown Around by a Guest on Gangway

Chech out that Tash!!