Wardrobe Malfunctions

Wardrobe Malfunctions!

20^th July 2011

This cruise I’ve been on gangway quite a lot, mainly shooting and I’ve got to admit, I’m getting much, much quicker. The same goes for my cropping but there are times when it gets a little loose. Today however I’m in my favourite gangway costume as… the Crete Girl!

The costume was still in the lab so I had to get up at 06.00 and run down to pick it up. I was so tired that I ended up dragging my backside out of bed at 06.030 leaving me little time to get ready.

Getting the costume I decided to just get dressed in the lab. Putting the white under shirt on and something didn’t look right. It was all baggy and falling off me. Then it clicked. The elastic in the shoulder line had snapped. Chucking the dress over my head and there was nothing to lace it up with. The lace hadn’t made it out of the Crew Laundry. Putting my shirt back on, I run up the stairs to come down another flight on the opposite side of the water tight doors (you’ve got to love the water tight doors!) and popped into the laundry. 

The Indonesian lads in Laundry are always so nice and when I told them that the lace wasn’t with the dress a couple had a look around for me. They couldn’t find it but found something else that I could use as a substitute. Thanking them, I ran back up to Deck 1 and to the cabin.

While changing into the costume there was a knock at the door. It was Camila asking to borrow my white gangway trainers as hers were hurting her feet. No chance. I had 5 minutes to get ready in, it was pitch black because I couldn’t turn the light on without waking Luci and there was no way I could find anything under the mountain of shoes and bags on the floor. She hadn’t even got the rail from the lab yet.

Zoran was having a field day trying to find David’s gangway shorts to wear but thinks Fabio’s done something to them in one of his overly drunken moments.

Camila soon came back into the corridor with the rail. The only problem was it didn’t have the Greek flag inside. It was completely bare. When we told her she needed to have a flag inside the ring she went mental, shouting at us in Portuguese “you all expect me to know everything. None of you have told me it had to have a flag. You haven’t taught me anything”. She’s been here long enough to know that the ring and rail always have a flag with the name of the port on it. Storming off she went back to the lab. 

The rest of us headed onto the gangway where we found the rail in the open and no one watching it. Zoran and I picked up the rail and put it to one side. 

Coming back a little later Camila was carrying a tiny Greek flag. We told her that wasn’t the right one to which she said there wasn’t anymore. There are normally stacks of them in the lab but she was insisting there wasn’t any in the folders where we store the flags.

Zoran was shooting me and we always work well together. We were skipping around and literally chasing after guests who refused to have their photo taken. So many people were pegging it away from us thinking we wouldn’t chase and grab them. Most laughed at us running after them and stopped and had their photo taken. Others had to be grabbed and turned around towards the camera before they’d put their arm around me and smiled for the camera. It was all a great laugh. 

There were a couple of people getting pissed off at us for constantly being hounded by photographers. We were all doing it with a smile on our faces and having a laugh. Some didn’t quite take it like that. One person shouted at us to which I replied “Miss, you’re going to miss having us treating you like celebrities, running after and papping you”. She wasn’t amused. 

One guy shrugged me off saying he couldn’t have his photo taken with us because his wife was jealous… looking over at his wife, I suggested she should jump in too. She simply looked at me like dirt and walked off. So did her husband. Zoran and I looked at each other in amazement before cracking up and running towards someone else. A lot of people were recognising me and calling, “Hey Lou! We’ll get a picture with you”. It was great fun.

Taking a break quick break to have a drink, I went down to the lab to see if I could find some of the Crete/Greek signs for Camila. 

Walking through the Crew Laundry they all started whistling and cheering. One of the lads, Edi, simply held his hands out, pointing to my costume with a big smile on his face. Everyone, including myself was laughing. I shouted “Calm it you lot” which just made them laugh more. The Indonesian lads from laundry are always so cheerful and laughing!

Camila was right, the folders were where they should be but there was nothing in any the Crete folder. Where the hell had the signs gone? There were loads of them!

Going back to the cabin, I had a quick cigarette and drink before Zoran and I headed back onto the gangway. When we reached 250 images we’d come back in for another break. It wasn’t long until we reached our 250 images. 

Unfortunately, our time on the gangway was cut short by the sound of “Bravo, Bravo, Bravo…” It was time for the red drill. Zoran and I both held red emergency cards and therefore had to head back onto the ship. I had get out of my gangway costume and into my uniform before the alarm sounded. The alarm itself took longer than usual. I had time to sit down with Zoran and have a quick can of Fanta before it sounded. Grabbing my life jacket I headed up to Deck 5.

Once upstairs Becky ticked me off the list and someone came around and asked us security questions. Regina was there and explained to me what we were going to do. It was my first drill in this section and I had no idea about what was going on. The life rafts were ready to be lowered.

After an hour and a half of waiting around and endless calls for certain people to get to their emergency stations, we were all called to our life raft points. The drill couldn’t end until everyone holding a red card was ticked off the list. For that alone, the drill look an hour longer than usual. 

My life raft point was the same as my muster station. We all had our life jackets on and finding it hard to stay awake... More waiting around. After another 30 minutes the announcement came for all crew members participating in the life raft exercise to board their rafts.

There were six of us in our life boat. My job was to grab an oar when we hit the water and push the boat away from the ship. There were two of us doing the job. Two guys were at the back of the boat to release the clamp from the wires and one at the front. The final person was the “captain” of the life boat who was in charge of driving. 

Once a couple of metres away from the ship, the engine started and we were speeding off into the sea. Two minutes later the engine cut out. There were about eight other life boats around us, just floating. 

This is the procedure – we get away from the ship, group together as much as possible and just wait for help. The boats were rocking side to side and bobbing up and down! If you get sea sick easily, you’ll be turning green within no time at all!

The “Captain” of the life boat told two of the men to come over. He taught them how to work the life boat and steer. They both had a go of driving around in circles for five minutes or so. After we were just waiting around for the other boats to join us and the call to come back in. I was also told that next time there’s a drill and I was going to have a go at driving the life boat – I couldn’t wait!! 

Finally, after what seemed an age, a voice crackled over the walkie-talkie telling us to head back to the ship. The captain of our life boat said that when it’s windy the boat will slam against the side of the ship – oh joys. 

Once it was secured we climbed out and onto the deck. From there we had to climb up a ladder to the point where we all had a go at cranking up the life boat until it was suspended over the deck. It was like doing a work out at the gym!! The girls went first, the higher the boat got, the harder it became to crank up and that’s when the men took over.

Once we’d all climbed back down, we picked up our life jackets and were dismissed. The drill was finally over after 2 and a half hours. 

I had an hour left of my break before going back to work. I bumped into Zoran on back deck and we sat around talking for a bit before going up a couple of decks for something to eat.

It was formal night tonight and we were already shattered. We’d both missed our chance to get some sleep and it was now time for set up. For the fourth formal night in a row Zoran was shooting ship and boy, was he getting sick to death of it! I’m being alternated between two boring backdrops – Bow and Titanic. There’s really no point in even looking at my formal schedule anymore because I know what’s coming. Fabio is always on LSP. David’s reign on black is over and all the new members of the team are shooting centrums and stairs while the more experienced ones are on crap, "learner's" backdrops. 

The worst thing about it all was that Sanela was put on Stairs one formal night, didn’t take many photos and approximately 95% of her shots were out of focus. The same happened the following formal night when she was on Centrum 3. 95% of all her shots were completely out of focus while the background was as sharp as a pin!! It didn’t make sense to us.

Set up took longer than it should – as it always does. By the time we were finished we had a couple of hours until it was show time. I had an hour to sleep. 

The night was a bit of a drag, no one wanted their photos taken. We were smudging as much as we could until the middle of the second session. By then it was obvious we weren’t going to get anywhere. After the second Ressi, we were back in the studio for one last session. One hour to go and the studios were dead. 

The singers came onto the Royal Promenade bridge and 70’s Night began and it wasn’t long until the party was in full swing. The guests were all rushing over. David had to quickly dismantle his studio on the Promenade as the crowd grew bigger and bigger. People will even try to stand on the light’s power packs to get a bigger view of what’s going on!! 

There wasn’t long left and my side of Deck 5 was empty. The dining room was empty too. Not even the Italians were out… and that’s saying something. David started breaking down the studio where Fede had been before he started his long night of printing in the lab.  With nothing to do, I helped. With 10 minutes left, David told me to gather my stuff, download my images and bring the studio bag up. In the meantime he’d break my studio down.

Soon we’d all closed our studios and downloaded our images. We were all breaking down our studios. Those who had broken theirs down already were moving on to other studios to help out. 

Starting from Deck 5 we loaded all the equipment in and moved down to Deck 4 where we did the same. Three people had to run down to Deck 3 as there was no more space in the lift. From there, we all worked as quickly as possible to shift everything into the store and finish up for the night.

With break down done, all that was left was the pizza. Two of the lads had already gone for pizza but in recently weeks we’ve been having a lot of problems with getting food on formal nights. It was getting a bit playground-like and incredibly petty. The cooks simply didn't want to make us pizza!

Looking around at everyone… we were all completely shattered. Port days and formal nights really aren’t a good mix!!

Popular on the Gangway! :-o

Crete Girl and Shooter

BEST gangway photo EVER!

Out of Ideas

Out of Ideas

4^th July 2011

Today we are docked in Chania, Crete. 

There’s a big difference today, all on board is at 18.00 for crew and 18.30 for guests. Usually all on board is at 13.00 and 13.30. Most of the time, us photographers, don’t get time to get off the ship so it’s a great chance for us to have a walk around and see some of Chania.

This morning I was on gangway rocking the Crete Girl dress again. Boy, was it hot in that dress but I absolutely love the outfit! There’s always a great response from the guests.

First off David and I were at the Savoy Theatre where we racked up 220 shots. There was a Green Drill today so David had to stop shooting early. I was lucky enough that my Emergency Drill Card had been changed from green to red. 

Heading on to the gangway, Luci took David’s place as the shooter. It wasn’t long before we had a steady stream of people getting their photo taken. Before we knew it, with an hour and a half we’d surpassed our target of 450.

I wasn’t the only one in costume on gangway. Camila, despite scorching in the heat was having a blast in the dolphin costume. 

Originally Zoran was scheduled to wear the costume but Jomar didn’t take into consideration that the outfit wouldn’t fit. Camila and Zoran had to do a swap… not that Camila was complaining! 

David had bought a captain’s hat in Kusadasi and came out of his cabin wearing it one night. It wasn’t long before Zoran snatched it off his head and started using it on the gangway. When people went to get there photo taken on the ship wheel, he’d pop it onto someone’s head. It was especially popular with the kids, as you could imagine.

Ritesh soon came out to have his photo taken with us all. Checking our image count he said there were 129 passengers left on board and allowed us to finish up and go inside. There was still one hour and 25 minutes until we were scheduled to go in. Guests were still coming out so I was more than happy to carry on dancing around and acting the prat but Luci wouldn’t have it.

Once showered and changed we jumped on the bus towards Chania town centre. I have a cracking cold again thanks to the air conditioning so I was desperate to find a chemist as we’ve been told not to go to the medical facility on the ship as it's costing Image too much money!

Getting off the bus in Chania we soon found out that we were surrounded by pharmacies! Chemists here are like corner shops in England. You simply can’t get away from them, they are everywhere you turn – literally! At least now I have something for my cold. I think I’d better start taking supplements because I can’t keep getting colds like this, it’s ridiculous.

This is my second time off the ship in Chania.  The previous trip into Chania was on my first cruise. The internet spot we used to use was closed for refurbishment so Luci and I had a meander around, searching for somewhere to eat and the internet.

We’ve managed to find a nice little Chinese restaurant with a lovely, shaded terrace area. The food is lovely even if it is a bit pricey. As soon as we sat down our laptops came flying out our bags. 

Straight after eating the waiter came over to ask if we could leave a review on TripAdvisor.com We said yes and carried on but the guy was lingering, trying to look over our shoulder. In the end it got a tad annoying so I logged onto the website and left a review… finally he went away!

I’m not due back on board until 17.00 so we’re planning to have a look around, maybe do some shopping and definitely pop into the supermarket – a long list is needed! One thing I must get while I’m here as I don’t know if I’ll be able to get off the ship again anytime soon is a magnet! I have a couple of our team photos to put up. I’m missing one which was Stu’s birthday shot. I’ll have to get that one reprinted. I’ll see if I can get a copy uploaded onto here for everyone to see.

It’s Independence Day in America today, there are a few guests being overly patriotic but it gave us all something to smile about. They were more than happy to parade in front of the camera with their American flag shirts and sunglasses. It was a good giggle. 

Tonight there is an Independence Day celebration for the crew on back deck. I’ll go check it out later on tonight depending on what time we finish work. It’s got to be better than last night’s Caribbean Party.

Back on the ship I had enough time to take a nap. The pills the pharmacy had given me for my cold were knocking me out! I must have turned off my alarm as I only had 10 minutes to get ready for work. Darting around to find everything, I felt like a zombie. 

Arriving late for the gallery and there was all hell from Luci. She gave me my orders so I headed off to get on with displaying more than 2,000 images from Rhodes.

We are behind on displaying images and by the looks of it, making no attempt to catch up. The photos are appearing on the panels 36 hours after they were taken.

While I was in the gallery Sanela was up on the pool decks in costume. Originally she was supposed to dress up as the Crete girl for return gangway. There was only one Crete Girl costume which I was wearing in the morning. There was only a couple of hours between handing over the costume. 

The previous night I’d rang the BM and said it wasn’t fair if someone had to wear a costume I’d been previously sweating in. This goes for everyone. It’s unhygienic. The lads are by far the worse… David was sweating buckets on the gangway in Rhodes and still had to hand over his costume to Hernan for return gangway. Jomar hadn’t realized there was only one costume. Sweating like a bitch in layers upon layers, I was glad someone else didn’t have to wear the costume. 

The other downside was the costume that Sanela would be wearing. Jomar, the BM, was rapidly running out of gangway ideas and costumes so Sanela was told to wear a Spanish Flamenco dress… in Crete, Greece. What the hell? Anyone with any knowledge would know that it’s a typical Spanish dress and has nothing to do with Greece. It was laughable.  Going through all the costumes that had been used, there were only three left: camel (Istanbul), belly dancer (Istanbul) and pirate. 

Pirate is now going to be a last resort costume for Naples. Jomar was running out of ideas very quickly and it showed. He’d made his way through the costumes too quickly and we now have nothing for the final push in Naples before the guests disembark the following day.

Crete Girl - Stairs to Savoy Theatre

Crete Girl in Chania

Me and Stu (Previous Cruise)

Aye Aye Sailor

Aye Aye Sailor!

2^nd June 2011

Don’t be silly… of course I wasn’t dressing up as the Sailor after what happened last time! It was my turn to shoot Jeni, dressed as the Sailor. We arrived in Chania, Crete (Greece) later in the morning so it was a relatively late gangway compared to most. Stu was already out on gangway shooting Fabio who was also dressed as a sailor.

The morning hadn’t got off to a great start, I fell out of my top bunk! It wasn’t so much of a fall but it was! Jeni rang me early to ask if I had to costume as a pair of pants were missing. In the end they were in Hernan’s cabin. Getting a call completely disorientated me and I stepped off my bed expecting to put my feet on the floor, instead I went into a quick free fall. One foot hit the chair while the other crashed towards the ground. Even though the chair broke my fall, I felt the muscle pull non too gently in my leg. Telling everyone on gangway what had happened provided a laugh.

Fabio and Stu were going back on the ship, they’d got 200 images. All aboard was at 13.30 (13.00 for crew) so everyone would be leaving the ship early to make the most of the time in Chania. Stu said to get 200 images and then check how many were left on board. We got cracking and the numbers soon started racking up. Our target was 200 images each. Within an hour and 15 minutes we had our 200 images. We couldn’t go in too early as we were supposed to be on gangway until 11. For 15 minutes we continued taking photos and got to 220. 

The port went dead. Security told us there were only 280 guests on board so we called it quits. We’d reached out target and passed it. There were only 30 minutes left so we went back on board and called Ritesh who gave us permission to end shooting. Result!

We headed up to the Crew Mess, which is more like a zoo, for something to eat before heading for a nap. Luci was out on tour so I had the cabin to myself. I love having the cabin to myself. I can put my music on, dance around, make as much noise as I like and even walk around naked if the fancy ever took me (not that it ever does). 

After sorting out my music and camera equipment, I left the door open ajar (which Luci hates) and jumped into bed for a nap – this time reminding myself I’m sleeping on the top bunk rather than being at home. For some reason I feel more comfortable leaving the door open ajar or all the way. The others drop in, sometimes just to say hi, and you feel less confined in your cell.

As soon as Luci comes in, she’ll shut the door. She wants the privacy without people passing by. Each to their own.

At 13.00 we had training in the office with Reuben. We had a test which “wasn’t a test, it’s just to find out what you guys know”. So it was a test. Later Reuben spoke to us about selling and techniques. Not only did I find interesting but helpful. Patricia and my Dad had told me the same when selling houses, just act as if you don’t care to a certain degree. Don’t look overly keen. Be interested in the guests but don’t look as if you are desperate for a sale.

Set up didn’t go to plan. My brain went to mush, I was so tired. Fabio and Fede were setting up my studio on Deck 5 while I was down on 3 with Stu. I made a few cock ups and Stu was rapidly losing patience, not that he had any to begin with. He’d gone for a snooze and woke up in a bad mood. 

When I turned off the power pack I forgot to release the power which is a must. Normally I do it automatically, today for some reason I didn’t. Stu came down on me – yet again. Telling him to get off my case didn’t go down to well and I got another Stuart lecture. “How long have you been here for Lou? You should know what to do by now.” He then turned to the others and asked if he was being unfair. No one answered. Too annoyed for words I told him where to go (not the best thing to do) and headed off to the lab to collect the camera bags. 

When I got back, Stu just looked at me as if waiting for me to say something or an apology. It didn’t come. I dropped everything off and headed passed him and back to my cabin. Again, it feels like I can’t get anything right. I’m tired and everything is just mounted on top of me and everyone else. Luci was asleep so I jumped into the shower and there were more than a few tears. I couldn’t help it.

Now I’m on Back Deck typing away, having down time and clearing my head before work at 17.15. I’m shooting the black background for the first time so I can’t afford to make a mistake. I want to get some great shots! To be able to do that, I need to calm it and sort myself out.

I’m finishing at 22.30 tonight so I’ll probably be heading straight to bed for an early night and possibly call Becks to see how she’s getting on depending on the time difference. I need it… We all do! What’s worse is we aren’t going to get a night off until Istanbul which is still about 15 days away. We didn’t have time to get off the ship today, tomorrow is a sea day, last day of the cruise so it’s going to be manic and then straight onto embarkation the following day. We won’t get any time off on shore for the next  3 days. 

Normally you don’t get days off so Istanbul is a little special for us as we get the night and morning off if we get the image count. At the moment we are working ourselves ragged to get the impossibly high targets that Image have sent us. 

Roll on Istanbul!

Dolphin Tuna

Dolphin Tuna

9^th May 2011

Chania, Crete

My complaining has finally paid off! Hernan has been dressed up on the gangway at least once every cruise. While talking to Reuben I joked that it wasn’t fair he got to dress up and I didn’t. I think he was shocked that I wanted to dress up as most people don’t. So today my wish was granted… I was going to be dressing up as a dolphin for gangway in Chania, Crete. To make things even better, Stu was shooting me on gangway. If Stu’s around on gangway, you instantly know it’s going to be a laugh. The first time I did gangway in Crete, Stu and I were shooting the wheel. It was my first cruise so he was trying to give me as much information and help as possible. The big question was, did it pay off?

After our little photographer’s corridor party I crawled out of bed at 06.30. Gangway was in 30 minutes. Luckily I didn’t have to look presentable so I climbed into the dolphin costume wearing my pyjamas and hair scrunched up into a ponytail. My ipod cable was threaded through the arm of my costume so I could dance to my music on the gangway.

At 6.50 I had no idea where Hernan was so I crept into his cabin and like usual, he was still asleep. This time he had someone wrapped around him. Waking him up wasn’t easy. That boy can sleep the sleep of the dead!! Accidently I managed to wake the both up. Luckily I didn’t wake Fede. Hernan finally flopped out of bed but while getting ready for gangway, laid on the floor and fell asleep... again.

Stu was supposed to be in the photographer’s corridor but was a no-show. While kicking Hernan to wake up I was calling Stuart. He  sounded anything but wide awake when he finally picked up. Security were late opening the gangway so things were going our way. To get in the mood I was blasting Paramore into my ears. A little while later I got a kick from Hernan… I’d fallen asleep! Once Stu arrived it was time for the show to begin.

With the dolphin head on it’s quite hard to see where you are going or what you’re doing. It’s great fun though. Dancing around the gangway, shaking your booty and the more ridiculous you look, the better: the more the guests laugh. Some people tried running away from me… so I ran after them, as you do. A couple of people dodged me and while walking away thinking they’d missed us, I’d creep up behind them and simply place my flippers on their shoulders. Stu and I were rolling up when a few people let out a shriek. The American’s were happy to pose with a dolphin. English just don’t like the cheese of it all. They are more reluctant to have their photo taken anyway, so you just have to put your arm around their shoulders and make them. That way they have no choice in the matter. One person barged past me and nearly knocked me over! Now that would have been funny!

Stu was shouting out to people “give the dolphin a hug… we all love dolphins – we all eat tuna don’t we?” He was also asking guests if they thought I was a dolphin or porpoise and whether they knew the difference. Everyone knows Stu is the camel on gangway so they asked why he wasn’t dressed up. Next came the “what’s the difference between a camel and a dolphin”… I would post the answer here but it’s a little rude and very crude.

Inside the costume was sweltering and sticky. In addition, the Velcro holding the costume together at my shoulders, kept coming undone exposing my pyjamas. Stu was forever doing it up whilst playing silly buggers with me. After an hour and a half on gangway we got 185 images, our target was 200. We didn’t do badly, next time we will do better but it could have been much worse. Natasha didn’t get close to her target shooting the rail.

After gangway it was time to have a snooze. There was no point heading into Chania (or Xania). The port is a bit of a way from Chania town centre and I didn’t want to rush around trying to contact everyone.

Tonight was formal night too so sleep was needed as it was going to be a long night. At 14.00 we were all setting up the studios – eight in total. My first two stints were in the gallery. There were two ressi sessions in between shooting Bars and Lounges. To finish off I was shooting on the Titanic backdrop.

Everything was going well until I went into the dining room. I was running late as I had to wait for Paco to get back from shooting Captain’s Table. The first table I approached, a couple, told me someone had already been around to take their photos. Scanning the room I spotted Fabio. I rushed over to find out what had and hadn’t been done. He told me Natasha had finished my side and her own. As she wasn’t the fasted at shooting Ressi I thought something was wrong. So I headed to the opposite end of my section in the dining room and went over to a table. I asked if they’d had their photo taken, they replied no, so I took their portraits. I did the same with the next two tables and both denied having their photos taken. It became obvious that my section hadn’t been done so I started working my way through the tables. Halfway through my section I had a look around and there was no one to be seen. Once I finished my section I left to find everyone was back in their studios. This annoyed me as the rule is you don’t leave anyone behind in Ressi. If you’ve finished your section, you go and help somebody in theirs and we all leave together.

Back to Reality... Kinda!

Back to Reality... Kinda!

15^th April 2011

Today we are docked in the Greek island, Crete. I was lucky enough to have the morning off. I say “lucky” because I put my alarm on for 8am this morning and my phone ran out of battery. If I was due to be working I would have been screwed! 

At 09.00 there was a training drill which scared the life out of me. “Alpha Alpha Alhpa”. I jumped out of bed and got dressed. While heading up to where I’m supposed to go (although I’m still not 100% sure where that is) I bumped into Lucy. She told me that the training was nothing to do with me! Phew!!

Anyway, I really wanted to talk to a few people and get back in touch with reality, basically, I needed to get online. Lucy and I jumped on the bus and headed into the town centre. There’s a really nice coffee shop called Clock where they have a fast internet connection. We had a drink and a bite to eat while surfing the net. I honestly could have stayed online all day, unfortunately my laptop battery died. Everything has been dying on me today. Not a good sign.

Crete itself is a really lovely country, many parts remind me of Southern Spain. Not so much the coastal areas of Spain but inland where I used to sell property; places like Loja (Granada), Cuevas de San Marcos etc. The small, quaint towns. Another thing that reminds me of Spain are the huge amount of mopeds zipping in and out of the traffic. I love it! Reminds me of home.

At 14.00h I was due on the gangway again to photograph people getting off the buses from the town. As I’m still learning/training Stuart was working with me. You can learn a hell of a lot from Stuart and Lee, especially when it comes down to smudging. Lee has a typical English sense of sarcastic humour which the guests love, while Stuart is the crazy one who bounces around, normally in costumes. We had a target of 200 images but it was completely unrealistic. As we are so close to the end of the cruise the guests are sick of us. So we only got about 60 odd photographs.

I’ve got a small window in my timetable before I go back to work at 19.30. I’m shooting LSP (Lifestyle Portraits). Hopefully by the time the next cruise starts I’ll be in the gallery more. Shooting is great fun but as I’m only a Photog 1 I don’t earn any commission on the images sold. For the time being I’d like to get into the gallery and try to sell some cameras, folios and so on to earn a little bit of commission. I really want to start selling. Let’s see if my real estate “training” with Patricia paid off.

I’m still waiting for my login and password to be sent to me so I can get into the “Image University” website. In short, you have to do online courses to progress up the ladder. As soon as I get the details I’m giving myself 3 weeks to become a Photog 2. Once I’m a photog 2 I’ll give myself some time to learn and practise a bit more interacting with the customers before going for Photog 3.

Hernan got to dress up as a Dolphin for gangway this morning. Lucky sod! I can’t wait to dress up, especially if it’s a fur costume. Cold weather would be a bonus too! It seems a lot of fun to be able to dress up, act the fool and get away with i, without the "men in the white coats are coming for you" look.

Tomorrow we are at sea for the entire day so hopefully I’ll be working for most of it. Even though there are loads of features on the ship, as we are crew, we can’t always do them. Something that wasn't mentioned in training but why am I so surprised? For example, we can’t go in the swimming pool as it’s for guests only. In actual fact, we can go swimming but only during port days and if there are less than 5 guests in the pool - which is never. The ice staking rink is a Royal No-No in case we hurt ourselves and are unable to work. So there’s really not much to do during your free time at sea. I’m so glad I bought some books and started a blog or else I’d be sitting in my bunk bed rocking to and fro!

Before I forget to mention, I have a couple of post cards for people but haven’t found a post office yet. I’ll pop them in my bag and as soon as I find a post office, they’ll be on their way to you.

I’d better get some munch before I start work. I’ll update later. Not only that but I’d better start thinking up some poses for the studio. Posing couples is okay, we were taught some easy techniques and poses during training but singles is another thing altogether. My individual portraits always seem so lacking which winds me up so much and my mind tends to go blank - a real pain in the arse!

**UPDATE**

Tonight didn’t go too badly. First of all I was shooting LSP (Lifestyle Portraits) where I managed to shoot about 60 images. There is a group of Chinese people, made up of three couples who absolutely love having their photograph taken. They’ve purchased to Get The Picture package (all images go onto a CD) and by the looks of things they are getting their money’s worth. It doesn’t bother me one bit: more practise.

During LSP I photographed a little girl with Down syndrome which was a bit of a challenge but not necessarily in a bad sense. Rather than complicating things I tried to keep things are simple as possible for her. Most of the time I’d work around her. She’d sit on the floor and say “like this” so all I’d have to do is ask her to position her hands a certain way and tilt her head a little. Done. She became a little angry when her parents wanted a photograph with her but in the end she loved it. She didn’t want her mini photo shoot to end! When I told the family they could see their prints in the gallery tomorrow at 6pm she left with a big smile.

For the next hour and a half I was in the gallery which, for me, was pretty manic. The other photographers said it wasn’t that busy – just wait until the last day of the cruise. Anyway, I was serving guests left, right and centre and having to run down the photo lab for prints etc. Even though it was hectic and I was running around I loved it. When it’s quiet it’s not so much fun. Being constantly on the go was brilliant.

An American couple came over to me with a print which was taken during one of the tours. In between the couples heads was an arm. The lady asked if we could photoshop the arm out. I ran upstairs to speak to Lee to double check whether we could or couldn’t. We could, but for a $10 flat fee which seemed a bit extreme considering it wasn’t for “cosmetic” reasons like air brushing. When I relayed the message they were understandably a little miffed to say the least. I was given a lecture about them spending serious amounts of money on the cruise ships and that they are Diamond members (I’d been told about Diamond and Gold members the night before. Beware!) and their expectations were high and we weren’t meeting them. I took their details and said I’d speak to the manager when he was about, see what he can do.

Not long afterwards Paco made an appearance. I asked him about photoshopping the arm. He told me that as it was the photographer’s fault they’d remove the arm for free. Whoops! Not only did I piss a couple off but I also tried charging them for something they didn’t have to pay for. Oh well, as the guys as Miami training used to say:  ship happens!

Later during the evening I worked on Spanish Light and no, it has nothing to do with Spain and the light is exactly the same set up we always have. No idea where that name came from. Anyway, I was there for the last 1.5hours of my shift. My feet were killing me and things were slow. A Brazilian girl came over a couple of times during the night to take her photo taken. Mind you, she  was extremely photogenic so I was getting some great photos of her. We have a rough maximum of 5 images per person. If she asks for a couple more photos and there is no one else around or if she comes back after an hour to have her photo taken again, I can’t say "no", can I?

Come midnight we were all finished for the night. Our watches were set back an hour as we are currently sailing to Italy in a different time zone.

Luci and I headed up to the crew cheese and wine event but by the time we got there the bottles were empty and cheese gone. We headed up stairs to the crew bar. Lee, Stuart, Richard, Richard’s girlfriend Lulu, Hernan and Federico came up later. Me and Lee stayed in the bar long after everyone had gone, having a few drinks and talking about photography. He’s given me some useful tips especially as it’s Ressi (last formal night of the cruise) tomorrow night. Lee reckons as I have a technical background in photography I shouldn’t have too much of a problem. He also gave me some extra shooting tips, mainly about shooting angles. Fingers crossed formal night goes well tomorrow!