Bad News All Around

Bad News All Around

20^th April 2012

Princess Gathering is usually scheduled for 09.30 and set up at 08.30. Getting out of bed at 07.00, to set up for the Princesses at 07.30 was a real shock to the system. It reminded me of my Royal Caribbean days – late nights and early mornings with a few hours’ sleep in between.

My wrist was still in pain and ballooned.

Arriving at the Atrium there was a huge puddle by the elevators, right where we set up one of the studio lights for the Princesses. Looking up, it was coming from the deck five ceiling. The water was splashing up against the electrical points. This was obviously going to slow down our set up as we were frantically calling people to get the leak sorted and mopped up.

Kate started setting up a light on the opposite side of the elevator. She had the right idea. If the leak couldn’t get sorted, we could just move the light over and position it towards Snow White. None of us could find a small soft box, so Kate used one of the large ones from LSP. As it obviously weighs more, she didn’t extend the light’s tripod too high, making it top heavy. Our back up light was sorted.

I tried helping where I could, which wasn’t much help. Cintia was just standing around, watching people until someone told her to get on with something that needs doing and not to wait for us to tell her what to do. Cintia frantically started moving on the spot, looking around for something to do, before resuming her place of standing still and watching us.
“Cintia, there’s a lot to do, so start setting up the lights” after having what we’d just said repeated back to us, she went over to the light Kate had put up and extended the height of the tripod.
“Cintia! What are you doing? Can’t you see that light has already been set up?”
Blankly Cintia looked at me before repeating “So this light is already set up?”
“Yes Cintia, look at it. Look at the other side, there is no light set up there. You’ve extended the height of the already set up light too much, lower it.”
“So you want me to lower this light?” The parrot talk between Cintia and another person wears thin very quickly.
“Yes and then set up the lights over there” pointing to the opposite side of the Atrium.
“OK, so to confirm, you want me to lower this light and then set up a character light on the other side of the atrium?” As rude as I felt, I had to ignore her. I was frustrating enough with not being able to do a lot, without the rest of the team having a muppet, who has been with the team for two months, not knowing what to do during a Princess Gathering set up. It’s not brain science!

Grabbing the light metre, I went to help Ani out at Preludes where she’d be shooting Princess Minnie. At least I can test the lights and be of some help. Ani was having problems of her own. The monolight wasn’t firing. Playing around with the switches and plugs, there was no obvious reason as to why the monolight shouldn’t be firing. The ON light was on, so there wasn’t a power connection failure. It was a job for Mike the AMP, who had already been woken up by Csaba. Things were a mess.

Going down to the Atrium/Lobby area to speak to Mike, there were glass all over the floor. What the hell had happened here? Mike was pissed to say the least. Turns out, the light Cintia had extended, hadn't been lowered. Being top heavy and the ship cruising through rough seas, the light was wobbling around and gravity took hold. The entire light and tripod came crashing down, smashing the light head into pieces.

Csaba and Mike were looking for answers and by the looks of things, it was all going back onto Kate, who was adamant she hadn’t set the light up so high. I had to stick my foot in say what had happened after Kate set the light up. Even though I felt bad for Cintia, I couldn't watch Kate take the blame. Especially as us senior photographers have been taking a lot of stick and blame recently for the new hires mistakes. When asked questioned on the subject, the only reply I could give was “It’s Cintia”. Everyone made the same acknowledging face that Cintia had cocked up royally, again.

Later on, Mike told me that we were now two lights down. Why? Whoever was shooting Preludes or using the Monolight last, hasn’t packed it again properly and the glass dome of the light had a hairline crack across it.

People’s tempers were running out. Studio lighting is very expensive and being on a ship, we need that equipment to work. If it doesn’t, you can’t set up certain studios and therefore lose counts. Losing counts means you use money. In addition to that, it can take weeks or months for new equipment to finally get sent to the ship. Accidents happen, but two lights being completely trashed because of poor care was unacceptable. Management were fuming!

Set up was finished with minutes to spare. It was unbelievable that it’d taken so long. Picking up the camera, a sharp pain shot through my wrist. I couldn’t shoot Princess Belle, that much was clear. Signalling to Csaba that I couldn’t shoot, he gave me a disappointed look before saying he’d call Carolee to swap with me. I’d be taking over her from display in Shutters.

The Princesses arrived and I had to take a couple of photos while waiting for Carolee to replace me. The sharp, stabbing pain was still shooting up my wrist and into my index finger. I also had pins and needles in three of my fingers. Belle was great and spent time interacting with the kids while I flipped the camera vertically, zoomed in or out and focused at a snail pace, until I was ready. For that, I couldn't thank Belle enough or be more grateful!

Within minutes of being in Shutters, the Captain made an announcement. Due to bad weather and winds of 15 knots, we wouldn’t be docking in Key West. We were nearly there and the ship was starting to slowly turn around. Steph and I looked somewhat confused. The previous Captain had docked in Key West when we had the tail end of a hurricane. Outside it didn’t look that windy and the waves weren’t very high either. Then again, what did we know? He was the Master of the ship for a reason.

Everyone was rescheduled within minutes. Carolee later joined me in Shutters.

A couple came in, disappointed that Disney Magic wouldn’t be docking in Key West. They sure had an excuse to be disappointed too!! This couple were supposed to be getting married in Douval Street today at 13.00. Both of us couldn’t help but feel bad, they were a generally lovely couple who didn’t have luck on their side.

They were now trying to arrange a small ceremony on the ship. All they wanted was someone to say “Do you?” to be able to reply “I do” and someone to take one photo of the event. Carolee was more than happy to arrange something for them in her free time. All they had to do is let Carolee know when the event would be taking place and she’d meet them there with her camera and take a couple of photos, free of charge. I was invited too, but insisted that I’d come only if there were jugs of beer, like the ones they were carrying, available. They agreed! Sadly enough, I’d have to refuse the beer!

During the day, Csaba confirmed that I’d have a wedding later on in the cruise. Great news because it’s extra money and a wedding really does help pump up your pay cheque. The only worrying aspect of it all is my wrist. What happens if it’s not better by the wedding and I cannot shoot? I was determined that no matter what happened, I’d be the photographer for that wedding. I needed the money. I needed the money for the deposit on a house… that’s the ultimate goal at the moment.

While in my cabin, Carolee called me, laughing her head off. She’s just met her wedding couple. Apparently the bride and groom are lovely, but very picky. They are the sort of bride and groom who’d make your wedding pictures look great in your portfolio. Mine, however, were a completely different kettle of fish. The couple were big, fat and hard of hearing.

Five minutes later, I got another call from Carolee. My couple weren’t hard of hearing, but completely deaf and mute!! Oh Lord… one thing is for sure, this is going to be a wedding to remember and quite possibly for all the wrong reasons!

Snow White and Princess Belle