Time To Chill

Time to Chill

19th July 2011

Today Camila and I have the day off for our good comments. We gathered our stuff and headed to 4 Seasons – our favourite place to go for food, internet and drinks in Rhodes. The people are so friendly, it’s a place Rueben took us to when he was working on the Mariner. We’d be meeting Luci there later on to get a photograph with the owners. 

There was a message from Stu. He’s been out in the wilderness for 10 days and seems to be having a great time.

After having a bit to eat and a quick drink we grabbed our stuff and headed to the beach. 

Rather than going to the beach where the other members of the crew were, we headed in the opposite direction. There’s a quite bay just by the port, with a great view of the ship. The water is crystal clear, Luci said it reminds her of the Caribbean Sea.

Stripping down to our bikinis it was so refreshing running into the sea. The water was pretty chilly but lovely! After taking some photos, having a swim and splashing round a bit we laid in the sun for 20 minutes before we had to go back to 4 Seasons to meet Luci.

We didn’t stay long as we were running out of time. Today we were acting more like guests running around trying to cram everything into a couple of hours. Sometimes we really do take being in the same port countless times for granted and do very little other than sitting around using the internet, grocery shopping and/or sleeping. We took our photo with the owners of 4 Seasons, he gave us our card and his name so we could add him on Facebook.

Heading out into the heat of Rhodes we walked up the main shopping strip. Luci needed to get some presents for her family as she’s leaving in a bit more than two weeks. The way things are going at work, she can’t wait to go home either!  

As time was ticking, we decided to head to the shops where we knew there was something we wanted. After an hour of walking around Luci had a traditional Greek style silver ring and a dress for her niece. Camila and I bought the same stripped blue and green bags (I found a bag to match my scarf in completely different countries). I nearly walked into the armour shop to buy another one of the scroll painting but held myself back. We had a quick look in our favourite dress shop in Rhodes. There was one dress I really wanted… but it was longer than 5’1, my height!

Back on the ship, we all jumped into the shower (the same shower… just kidding) and changed into our evening uniform. It was straight down to the lab to collect the prints for display. 

One and a half hours of display (followed by an evening of condensing in the gallery) is enough to make anyone fall to sleep! Let’s hope there are some funny pictures within the pile to keep us entertained!! We’ve decided to rip down Jomar’s wedding montage from the office door and have our own little Wall (or door) of Shame. We’ve already got about 6 gangway photos to put up… most are accidently provided by Zoran!! 

Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas

Me & Camila at the Beach in Rhodes

This is the Life!

On the Beach in Rhodes with the Mariner of the Seas :-)

Greek Goddess No More

Greek Goddess No More

17^th July 2011

Once again I’m gracing the gangway with my presents… as the Greek Goddess! Again I’m not wearing the Image Greek Goddess costume. Originally I was supposed to be shooting Hernan, the Greek God. 

Last night, when Luci handed out the schedules she told the couple of people present to “be prepared”. Looking at the schedule, Sanela was scheduled to be the Greek Goddess with Fede shooting her. Fede was far from happy. Not only did he want to shoot Sanela because she’s apparently boring on gangway, she doesn’t get a good image count. 

The previous evening Jomar was banging on about us not hitting targets and then he puts Sanela AGAIN on gangway. All the female costumes have been going to Sanela for the last cruise and a half. Luci said the exact same thing and I wasn’t disagreeing. 

Fede picked up the phone to call Jomar. He told Jomar they were switching the Goddesses as Sanela was scheduled for gangway and sail away with the same costume (something we don’t do and for a good reason!)

The entire morning schedule was completely rearranged by Fede. Sanela would shoot the rail rather than Zoran. Zoran would shoot Hernan, the God. I’d replace Sanela as the Goddess with Fede shooting me. Sanela would wear the Image Godess costume for return gangway and sailaway. That would give her a chance to practise smudging in costume. 

When Sanela was told about the changes she was far from happy to say the least and wanted to do both gangways. When she asked why, she got the honest truth, a response she really didn’t like and looked even more miffed! Not long afterwards, she stormed out the office. She honestly thinks there’s some sort of vendetta against her!

The next morning I dragged myself out of bed once again and climbed into my dress. Boy, was I tired! 

At 07.00 Fede and I headed up to the Savoy Theatre. Our orders were to “shoot as many children, blacks and Brazilians as possible”. This, as always, had us rolling up laughing!! Especially as during the meeting someone had to turn to David, fake having a gun in their hands and shooting him. David would start laughing his infectious laugh and shout “you’re all racist!” 

Once up in the theatre, it wasn’t long until we were on a roll. I was skipping about pulling people in for a photo with Fede snapping away. We got some great shots on the stairs leading down to the Savoy. The morning tours had gone and we had over 200 images. 

We decided to go outside onto the gangway for a while to join Hernan and Zoran before coming back in to go to the Lotus Lounge for the afternoon tours.

Walking outside and the heat hit you like a ton of bricks. It was so bright outside Hernan and I (the ones who couldn’t wear sunglasses) were having troubles keeping our eyes open. Fede even said that the heat today in Athens was similar to what he’d experienced in Jamaica. Apparently it was 38ºC and guests were asking if I had sun protection on! The poor guests were worried I was going to burn as I’m as white as a pint of milk (and that’s with a tan)! 

Fede and Zoran had to count to three to enable Hernan and I a chance to close our eyes, opening them only at the last second for the photo. It was an attempt to stop us from squinting. It worked a little, but not much. Without a doubt there are going to be so many dodgy, squinty photos!!

Going back onto the ship at 11.30 we had an hour of photographing the tours coming out of the Lotus Lounge. 

There’s a Brazilian Congress on board with their very own vicar. He was standing at the entrance of the Lotus with one of the Congress leaders. Fede kept asking me to go and get my photo taken with the vicar. I somply couldn’t bring myself to do it because I was wearing a relatively see through white dress with was exposing rather a lot of cleavage. I was looking far from virginal to say the least! “That’s exactly the point” Fede told me. 

In the end, after too much begging and pleading from Fede, I walked over to the Congress Leader and vicar and said in my very best Portuguese “Come, I want a photo with you both” and once the Congress Leader agreed, the vicar did too. Saying thanks I jogged back to Fede who was trying his best to keep a straight face.

12.30 finally rolled around and Fede and I called it quits. We had about 450 images and this gangway had proved to be a lot more difficult than normal. Most of the guests were already complaining that they were “pictured out”. 

Seeing Hernan and Zoran in the photographer’s corridor, we asked how they had got on and the response wasn’t a good one. They’d only managed to take 200 images. To be fair, I can understand where they were coming from and why they’d got such a low count. Outside, no one wanted their photo taken, it was too hot for them and all they wanted to do was jump on the shuttle bus and get to wherever they were going. It was incredibly hard for Hernan to smudge the guests in when he couldn’t even open his eyes. At one point both of us were standing on the gangway with our eyes closed rather than struggling to open them and squinting.

Quickly showering and getting dressed, I grabbed my things. Luci and Camila left a message with security for me saying they were waiting for me outside. They weren’t there. 

Regina, David, Hernan, Fede and I jumped onto the shuttle bus towards the port. It was a Sunday so there's no chance anything but a few coffee shops being open. Not even our local internet haunt was open. O’Connell’s (an Irish pub of all things) was closed for the first time ever. 

As we were heading towards another internet café we bumped into a few crew members who had an internet connection in a small coffee shop. It was too hot to move so we went inside rather than walking around to the other place. Unfortunately the internet was slow but I managed to upload a few photos of the crew party to Facebook for the parents to see. The other crew members were slowly leaving to head back to the ship for work. 

After a couple of hours, Fede, Hernan and I, the last ones standing, decided to call it quits.  Fede had set up at 16.30 while Hernan and I had work at 18.00 so we were going for a quick kip.

Once again it was another night in the gallery and studio for me. I’ve gotten to the point where I prefer working in the gallery, selling, rather than taking photos in the studios. There are some rude guests on this cruise along with some spoilt kids so there’s plenty of snappy remarks and getting ignored. 

Tonight I was shooting Bow for a second time. I didn’t make sense to shoot the same background twice when we have so many others. This time I had the ship’s wheel in front of the background. To make it a bit more interesting and fun, I borrowed David’s captain’s cap. I was aiming at kids… that’s if there were any awake during my 21.30h to 23.30h shift. 

Surprisingly enough, there were loads and it wasn’t long until I had a steady stream of people coming to have their photo taken. They loved wearing the hat and paying captain of the ship – even the adults!! I was only taking one or two photos of each guest and by the end of my shift I had 105 images! Everyone else had between 20-40 which was proving to be normal during these times. 

Back in the office, to download my images, Jomar asked how many images I got, when I told him he didn’t even batter an eye lid, carried on looking at the computer screen and said “that’s what we should be getting”. You can’t please everyone… especially a boss who obviously has a chip on his shoulder!

We are now sailing towards Kusadasi, Turkey. The Greek God and Goddess costumes can now be laid to rest. It was the last time we’d be using the costumes on gangway in Athens and with the way things are going in Greece at the moment, it’s unlikely we’ll ever return. It’ll most probably get dropped from the agenda. 

From now on, the Greek God and Goddess are no more… roll on the Matador and Flamenco dancer!

(Just found these photos from a previous Athens. Luci and I shooting Sailaway)

Checking Exposures for Sailaway

Athens, Greece Sailaway

Luci During Sailaway

Luci LOVES Romero Britto's Work

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)

Gangway... OWNED!!

Gangway… OWNED!

3^rd July 2011

Today we are in Rhodes again and it’d be the first gangway without Stu which means no more pouting knight! Zoran who does a fantastic job as the Greek God was dressed up in the Knight costume and it swamped him!!

At the last minute Fede wanted to shoot Zoran because David (Centurion) wasn’t ready. Sod off was my reply. Zoran and I were already on the gangway. Zoran was still a little worse for wear from last night but we got to work on the tour exit. Every so often we’d dart into the middle of the gangway and work both sides as much as we could. Within the first hour we had nearly 300 images. Our target was 400 each.

Fede came to join us a little later on gangway. David had locked himself out of his cabin and Fabio, who was free shooting, had forgotten his key inside too. Great stuff! 

Just as Fede came back over my Quantum battery died. It’d been on charge all night and hadn’t lasted two hours! My Quantum has been giving me so much grief recently. My flash doesn’t always fire, the light consistency is terrible and the battery simply isn’t lasting half as much time as it should.

Running to the lab I picked up another SD card for Fede, my spare wasn’t anywhere to be found. Grabbing another Quantum battery I locked up and headed back outside. 

David had finally made an appearance. Teaming back up again we continued shooting and smudging. People were lining up and the ones who refused were literally chased down until they gave in and had their photo taken. 

Fede and David reached 400 before Zoran and I did. There were however 400 images of the knight (Fede took over shooting while I went inside for another battery). They said they’d stay out on gangway shooting and help us get 800 in total. Before we knew it, we had 800 images in total. It wasn’t even 10am and we’d smashed the target, owned the gangway! 

Jomar told us to keep going even though we’d reached the target. We were due out until 11.30.

Smudging like hell and soon Fede and my right arm were aching like hell from holding the camera up to our faces. I must have spent about 10 minutes with my camera to my eye without lowering it once. It was a continuous aim, focus, shoot. It was fantastic!

By the time Zoran and I had reached 500 Fede and David were just passing 700!! This was a record for Europe. David and Fede said this was Caribbean style shooting. Zoran and I were in our element when we reached 600 images!! Every time we got to another 100 mark we’d be laughing in amazement with high fives all around!!

At 615 my 2GB memory card was full and I didn’t have another. God knows where my 4GB was but it wasn’t in the lab. It was 10.40 so Fede just said to go inside as there wasn’t much we could do. Fede was already on his second memory card and his flash batteries were running low (he was already on his replacement batteries). So Zoran and I had whacked up 615 images. We knocked on a few cabin doors to see if anyone else had a spare memory card so we could continue shooting. We were buzzing! No one had another memory card though.

David and Fede wanted to see if they could get 1,000 shots. They weren’t far off!! They’d done a fantastic job between them. Not long after we’d come in they joined us. Fede had to stop shooting, his arm was cramping and his flash batteries were dead. They had just over 900. Fabio, last time we checked had 150 and we had 615. That’s 1,665 images in total! 

We’d smashed our targets and had an image count to rival the Caribbean’s! It was an amazing image count for Europe when it’s sometimes a struggle to get over 600! The guys in costume were fantastic and not taking "no" for an answer. The Knight and Centurion were acting up, playing the part perfectly! They were absolutely fantastic! Fede was the ultimate shooter. All together we’d done a brilliant job and not only smashed the target but all expectations too!!

During gangway David raised his hands into the air and declared we owned gangway! And he was right… Gangway Owned!

Zoran the Knight

Ancient Greeks Thinking of the Future

1^st July 2011

Thinking of the Future

There were quite a few cock ups during the previous night in both setting up and breaking down for formal night. We noticed we were missing two valuable members of the team. 

Shooting on the centrum on Deck 4 I occasionally looked down to where LSP (Stu’s studio) was set up. The queue wasn’t a mile long like usual. The booming laugh and voice were gone and replaced by Flabio’s relatively quite ways.

One studio, at the end of the Royal Promenade didn’t get broken down until the next day – we completely forgot about it! It was a complete mess. By the time we had pizza (the original order was lost) and finished up it was 2am. Everyone was due to start work at 06.45-07.00.

Fabio, Hernan and I were going on tour to the Acropolis. Sanela was the Greek Godess and teamed up with Sandra. Zoran was the Greek God with David shooting. Zoran did a fantastic job and the a couple of guests even commented at how well he was acting the part and playing up for everyone. Nice one Zoran!!

As I was leaving for tour, I had to tell Sanela to stand by the exit, not in the middle of the hall. From there she can’t smudge for shit! The results showed, only 200 images. Even though I am more experienced and been working in costumes on gangway before, Luci and I would always get more than 400. She needs to improve a lot. Maybe someone more experienced should have been put on gangway for the start of the cruise and allow the newer people to have a go towards the end when the image count drops? Just a thought. It's what Reuben did with us new hires when we joined. Obviously they need to train but we also need the image count and to make money.

The tour itself was hard going. We were told to only get one or two kinds of shots. Trying to get up to the Acropolis itself was a task in itself. The heat was almost unbearable (we were all sporting large sweat patches or wringing wet shirts – very sexy!) and the crowds were unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like it before!! Neither had Fabio. 

There were six ships in the port and all were doing tours to the same attraction. Smudging was too bad, I had a few catty comments to which they got a similar reply! The biggest challenge was getting a gap in the crowds to take someone's photo. I only came back with 32 images which, let’s face it, is nothing. A real disappointment, especially when I was only there for 30 minutes! Fabio was there for longer and got 60 something. I’m not sure how well Hernan did.

Herds of people were trying to leave and enter the Acropolis making the journey to the bus slow and almost painful! People were pushing and shoving, it was like you were at a football match! 

At the entrance of the Acropolis is a tall archway. The archway has been divided into one narrow paths. One side for entering and the other exiting the Acropolis. It's the slowest part to get through, especially with people shoving and getting agitated. One American lady even complained to her family. “Why didn’t they make this archway bigger? It’s not big enough for everyone”. I had to laugh at the stupidity and hold my tongue!! All I wanted to do was tell the lady “I’m sure that 2,500 years ago, while building the Acropolis, the Greeks weren’t thinking of accommodating so many bloody tourists!! Mass tourism never crossed their minds!” Some of the things that get said are unbelievably amazing yet stupid. I need to write a book of all the daft comments I hear!! It’d be a top seller!!

On the schedule we were all supposed to be back at 11am. Fat chance! By the time I got back it was 13.00. Fabio didn’t get back until 14.00.

Sandra popped into my cabin to ask if I was going out for internet. Fede was port manning and therefore couldn't leave the ship. 

Quickly showering and changing we ran off the ship and to O’Connell’s Irish Pub to use the internet. Becks was online – finally we were both online at the same time! I really needed to speak to her, get a few things off my chest and in general I really miss speaking to her. It wasn’t long before she went offline. Just my luck!

There’s no word from Stu like he promised. Checking his Facebook we saw that he’d contacted the American family. That caused a few raised eye brows, rolling of eyes and shakes of heads. It didn’t seem right, the people that genuinely care about him, hear nothing from him yet those people… I won’t continue.

Heading back to the ship I jumped into bed for 1.5 hours before I starting work in the gallery. After a three hour stint in the gallery I had an hour shooting on Garden – a hideously ugly backdrop.

Breaking down the studio, I noticed some things hadn’t been set up properly. Jomar had put Sanela and Sandra to set up alone. It took two hours to set up two studios?? 

One of my studio lights hadn’t been attached to the clamp!! If it had been pulled or knocked, the results could have been lethal – mainly to Image’s bank balance. An auto pole didn’t have a rubber stump at the end so it wasn’t very secure. If someone had leaned against it, the pole would have simply slipped out of place. 

Speaking to Sandra I wanted to know who had done the set up out of the two of them. It wasn’t to have a go at them, just explain and point them in the right direction. Sandra told me the pin hadn’t been put into her backdrop so she had to resort to using a hair pin!! A flimsy hairpin to hold up a heavy backdrop!? What the hell was going on? Had no one checked the set up?

Finishing up, I went down to the cabin to get my camera equipment. Ritesh was doing another inventory list for everyone. Putting my key in the door, it didn’t work. Going to the lab I told Ritesh who said I could do the inventory tomorrow. Thank you!! 

Waiting for Luci, she tested her key when she got back to the corridor. It was the same. The door unlocked but the handle wouldn’t budge so we couldn’t get it open. I’d already called maintenance who said they couldn’t do anything about it until tomorrow. What the hell!? Instead we had to call security who weren’t best pleased. When they arrived their key didn’t work either so they had to use a hard key (rather than a card key) to let us in. We had to call maintenance tomorrow, first thing to get it fixed asap.

Originally I was supposed to be staying over at Zoran’s. The new girl, Camila, isn’t happy with the cabin she is in. Her cabin mate is reportedly being royal bitch plus her and her boyfriend are at it like rabbits, day and night. The poor girl can’t even go into her cabin without her cabin mate shouting at her. So I was going to stay in Zoran’s (Stu’s bunk) and Camila would sleep in mine. 

Jomar finally gave her permission to move into Sandra’s cabin, taking Jeni’s place. Jomar only got his arse in gear when Luci nagged him about it in the gallery. Camila was taking a nap in the back office, on the bench prop rather than go back to her cabin. It’s not fair and certainly not a great way to start a 6 month contract! She’s moving tomorrow.

Zoran and Sanela have had a uniform delivery sent to them. Sanela’s is fine from what I’ve seen. Zoran still has no uniform… he’s been sent girl’s clothes! He can’t even get his gallery jacket on… a size 8, girl’s jacket for a guy? It’s a joke and he was far, far from happy! He was fuming, refusing to pay for any of it. Still, poor Zoran, has no camera or uniform and has been borrowing from us for nearly 1.5 months!! Now, he’s got to continue doing so until Image send the right uniform for him… maybe he’ll have everything for his second contract?

White Tent

White Tent

19^th June 2011

Some people were saying we wouldn’t and shouldn’t be stopping in Athens due to the demonstrations and riots going on. Against what has been voiced, we still arrived in Athens as planned. More demonstrations are planned for today and people were expecting violent protests like there have been for the past few days.

While working on the gangway, Jorge from Explorations! (the tours department), told us to be careful if we go out into the city, just in case we get caught up in any of the riots/demonstrations. Previously, according to Lee (remember we are stuck in a bubble where we don’t always know what’s going on in the real world) the ports had been closed off. Jorge said it was something to keep in mind in case the same thing happens again. Although he doubted it would happen today, you never know.

Getting kicked out off bed at 06.30 I had to wear the new Greek Goddess costume provided by Image. I’d tried it on the previous night and Stu did a bit of handy work pinning it in certain places. The costume was like a white tent on me!! Stu even had me bending down, lifting my arms up and out to make absolutely sure that nothing could pop out. The others girls here are smaller built than me so if I had room to spare than they’d bw sporting great big gaping holes. Once Stu had pinned the costume it didn’t look so bad but I still preferred the dress I’d been wearing for the last two visits. 

Going into Luci, I asked for her opinion. She liked the dress but agreed with me, my outfit was better. As Image wanted sample shots of the dress I had to wear it. One of Luci’s criticisms was that the dress was far too long and added that maybe I should take it to the tailor to be pinned up… bit late for that. Going into Stu he pinned the costume up again.

Stu in many senses had struck gold. During formal night he’d got talking to a large (and I mean large as in numerous) American family. They were going on a private tour in Athens. As they were talking Stu suggested they take a ship photographer with them. They’d have a private photographer for the day. They thought it was a great idea and wanted Stu to do the job. Spending most of his breaks from the stuido in the gallery or manager's office, Stuart was desperately trying to arrange something. At the last hour, something was planned by the looks of things. Every time I saw him, he had a phone stuck to his ear.

Later on, speaking to Stu, I found out that they are a family of twelve on Honeymoon. For a private photographer for the day, it'd cost them a staggering $700. Money wasn't an issue to the family. I nearly fell over when Stu told me, but I couldn't help smiling. He'd done a great job to get a private tour (it's not something I've seen or heard of before). No doubt he’s got some extra kudos from the BM to go along with his endless list of good comments.

Things in Athens were a little different this time. Normally, when I’m the Greek Goddess, Luci shoots me but as she’s been promoted to AMS, it’s out of the question – she has to be in the gallery. David was the one shooting me. Stu is usually the God but he was going on tour to the job got passed onto Hernan who has played the part a couple of times before. Sandra was shooting the rail but ended up coming back from the lab with the ring.   

Heading out to gangway, Hernan wasn’t around and guests were starting to come out. Stu and Fabio usually go up to the tour exit of the ship where it’s a lot more fast paced before joining Luci and I at the slower end. 

We normally get around the same shots but use different techniques. Stu has the personality and charisma to get people to stop, people are automatically drawn and love him. I’m not that way, so Luci taught me to just grab people, slinging my arm around their back or shoulder to pull them in for a photo. It works for me. 

Today as Hernan wasn’t out on the gangway and we didn’t know where the hell he was. David and I had to take his spot at the tour exit. We couldn't afford to let the tour guests go. Hernan finally got onto the gangway 20 minutes late. He’d been staying over at Eve’s and no one knew her cabin number to kick him out of bed or hurry the bugger up.

Smudging the guests going on tour was a lot harder than I’d previously imagined. I couldn’t really put my arm around them as they were all rushing to their tour bus as if it was going to leave without them – which it wasn’t! You try telling that to guests though! David and I were smudging like crazy but our image count wasn’t really going up. 

Finally, someone had their photo taken with me and a steady stream of guests followed suit. It’s strange, when one person has their photo taken, others follow. If the pattern breaks, someone refuses, the next will. It’s a domino effect. Once that happens, you have to smudge like crazy again to get someone in for a picture.

Later on, when the tour exit was closed we headed over to join Hernan and Fabio at the forward gangway. The sun was up and the temperature rising. Obviously the people dressed in costumes can’t wear sunglasses if it’s not part of the outfit. Hernan and I had been standing outside for about two hours without sunglasses. It’s incredibly bright outside anyway but the sun was also bouncing off the white ship making it even harder to keep our eyes open. There came a point where we were seriously struggling to keep our eyes open and not squint. Finally it became unbearable. Both teams were soon working together to trying and get people in for a photo. 

Being able to speak so many languages helps so much during gangway. Between the four of us were four languages, mostly provided by Fabio. Hernan and I speak English and Spanish, Fabio speaks English, Spanish, Italian and Brazilian Portugese while David only speaks English… unless you include Afrikaans. We were taking it in turns go back onto the ship for drinks and to get out of the sun.

At about 10.30 Fabio, Hernan and Sandra had to go in for a drill. David and I were the only ones excused from the drill. YES! Rather than the usual “Bravo Bravo Bravo” fire/ship’s sinking announcement the ship was doing a Charlie drill. It doesn’t happen very often but if you hear “Charlie Charlie Charlie” it’s because there’s a bomb on board or terrorist threat! 

Apparently a fake bomb/package had been hidden on board and each department had to search their area to find it. If your area has the hidden package and you miss it, you’re going to get a little more than just a slap on the wrists! 

For the next hour and a bit David and I were left on our own on gangway. The guests stopped trickling out and the heat was becoming unbearable. It wasn’t so much the heat but the humidity. At every chance I had I was hoisting my dress up to cool down! 

The Image costume was awful to wear. At least with my cotton dress it’s much cooler than the huge white polyester tent I’d been given. As I was smudging one of the pins on my dress came undone. I carried on, a little worried that something might get a lot more exposure than intended. One eye was on the guests coming out and the other was on my boob!! The costume has a banana neck line and the lower part was a way too low!! David came over, made a joke about putting my bits and bobs away while pinning the dress behind my back again. It was the third time they’d had to pin the dress back… not good, especially if there's a rush on.

Just as the sun was becoming unbearable Ritesh came out to see how we were getting on. He checked how many passengers were on board and called it quits ten minutes before we were due to go in. I don’t think we’ve ever been so happy to see Ritesh!

Popping up to the mess for something to eat I bumped into Regina. She asked if I was going out, which I was, so she said we'd meet in the photographer’s corridor. 

Waking Luci up as I walked into my cabin, she also asked if I was going out. When I said I was going shopping she jumped out of bed and scurried around getting her clothes on. She’s been complaining for weeks that she needs shampoo etc. By shopping I meant supermarket shopping… we aren’t lucky enough to go clothes shopping… we didn’t have long. That’s one for Rhodes and maybe Istanbul. 

It was a Sunday too so we weren’t sure what would be open. Walking around for an hour we soon realized that not even the superstores would be open. Making out way back to the ship there was only one thing on  our minds – sleep! I was desperate for washing powder as I had a stack of laundry to do but that would obviously have to wait. 

After Greece is Israel and no doubt I’ll be on tour so God knows where I’m going to get detergent and the time to do my laundry! Soon I’ll be going commando!!

Waking up from a well-deserved nap I headed over to the lab to fetch the prints. We were all on display. I needed more sleep and was desperately trying to keep my eyes open. After two hours of display I ran upstairs to the staff mess to get something for dinner before rushing downstairs to change into my evening uniform. I was shooting LSP and working the gallery for the night.

While getting ready I popped into Stu to see how the tour had gone. He had so many images it was untrue. It’s easy getting the image count when you have people who want their photo taken. The trouble we have is that most people either don’t want their photo taken or have to be enticed. Looking through some of the shots, he’d done a cracking job. I told Stu I was on LSP (his studio), his reply “have fun” (remember Stu’s South African so there’s no sarcasm involved whatsoever).

We have someone representing Image from Miami on the ship. None of the ships in Europe are doing particularly well and Mike (England) was here to find out why. While shooting LSP he came over to ask me a few questions. I was a bit nervous to say the least. He started playing around with my studio lights while I was trying to shoot a couple. Kind of annoying.

At the end of the night, I jumped in to the shower and pyjamas before grabbing my laptop to start blogging. It wasn’t long before Luci came into the cabin in a foul mood. She was having a rant and rave, her voice getting louder and louder. She was tired and fed up. Paco had left her a lot of shit to sort out and she was cracking up, to put it nicely. 

It wasn’t long before she had a go at me for making too much noise earlier on. I was in the corridor with Stu and Zoran and just having a giggle. It had woken her up. She told me we had no respect for her as she was trying to sleep etc etc. As hard as it was, I gathered my stuff up, told her to just get into bed and buggered off out the cabin. 

Going into Stu’s, which is turning into my refuge cabin, I explained what had happened and asked if I could sit in his typing for a while. I’d return to my cabin once it was safe to go in… basically when Luci had gone to sleep. Even my typing wakes her up and I couldn’t be bothered with getting my head bitten off or arguing at some ridiculous time in the morning. It wasn’t long before sleep got the better of both of us and I ended up drifting to sleep at Stu’s. 

Tomorrow was another sea day (casual) before the ship arrived in Haifa, Israel.

Knight on Trial

Knight on Trial

9^th June 2011

Here we are again in Rhodes.

Stu was on the gangway first thing in the morning dressed as a knight in shining armour. This was the first time he’d dressed up as a knight (Crusader in Israel, with a different outfit) so it’d be interesting to see the image count he got.

I was free shooting the ring which along with the rail (which Jeni was shooting) didn’t get a huge count. To add fuel to the fire, I had completely lost my voice so smudging was almost impossible!! Everyone’s been joking I sound like El Padrino (the Godfather) and that soon got changed to La Madrina (the Godmother). To be honest, I don’t blame them… if I had a voice, I’d be taking the piss too!

After gangway Fede and Stu headed up to the mess for something to eat while I jumped in the shower. It was sunny out so I could finally give my new dress a whirl… I’m turning into a girly girl! Once they were back we headed out into Rhodes. Stu went into a bar to use the internet. I’d promised Fede I’d help him find presents for his numerous female family members and friends. He had no idea what to buy and he knows them! What chance did I have of being any help? We got some bits and of course I found another magnet. This magnet had nothing to do with Rhodes. It was a cow with dangly legs – I loved it!

Alright, so I know I promised myself that I wouldn’t but the picture I wanted from the armour shop until I was Photog2. Walking past the shop, my competencies and checklist completed, the urge got the better of me. After spending 20 minutes talking to the lady in the store, I walked out with the picture for 6euros less and a message for Stu: pop in next time you’re in Rhodes to say hi. The girl is lovely, it’s a real pleasure talking to her. There’s another picture that I want… that one will either have to wait until I’m promoted to Photog2… or maybe even Photog 3!

With just over an hour and a half to go before we had to board the ship, Fede and I went to join Stu. Fede hated my picture! As soon as I walked into the bar where Stu was, and he saw the carrier bag I was carrying, he smiled. Jokingly, I slipped the bag behind my back and put on a sheepish face. He knew I’d bought the picture and laughed when he pulled it out the bag. Like me, Stu thinks the picture is awesome. It’s two against one… therefore, the picture is awesome! I’ll get a photo and post it on here as soon as I can.

Heading back to the ship it was time for a quick snooze before set up. During set up we had LSP set up training from Stu. He’s fed up of people not setting the studio up properly so Ritesh the AMP gave him permission to show us how it’s done properly. Originally my studio was supposed to be set up on Deck 3 along with LSP. Halfway through set up Ritesh decided he wanted it up on Deck 5. So Zoran and Hernan (I was helping the new girl Sandra) set up her studio.

Tonight I was shooting on the black backdrop. It wasn’t the usual poses, Reuben wanted close ups which wasn’t a problem. Rather than having people simply standing I was swapping between a dining room chair and a prestigious looking, purple arm chair. Following Stu’s previous advice and training I was tipping the arm chair in all directions. Some turned out brilliant where others didn’t work so well. It wasn’t really a problem, it would give me more of an insight as to what to avoid for next time or a night where it’s busy such as formal night.

The biggest challenge was trying to pose guests with a fading voice or none whatsoever. Some people were quite easy going and understood the hand gestures while others didn’t. Just as I was closing down the studio, a Scottish guest I’d previously photographed popped in. He handed me four Strepsils for my throat and wished me well. Grateful wasn’t even the word. It wasn’t long before my pain in my throat ebbed a way a little. My voice didn’t quite return though but I could live with being silent for a few days. No doubt the others could do with a break from me talking too.

After my break I asked David if he could swap with me. He’d shoot in my studio and I’d take his place in the gallery. I’d need my voice far less in the gallery and could quite easily busy myself condensing or displaying prints.

Although the head cold has faded a bit since Athens, it seems to have passed down to my chest. I’m starting to worry in case it turns into a chest infection. Not what I want or need so I’ll have to play it safe for a while and keep wrapped up.

On a brighter note, from what I displayed in the gallery, the knight in armour was a success on the gangway! Unfortunately for Stu, his gauntlet investments are “falling apart” and he’s having to super glue the metal onto the glove... maybe they are more for show than gangway!

Stuart as the Knight in Rhodes, Greece

Quasimodo’s Sister

Quasimodo’s Sister

7^th June 2011

Okay, so as predicted I woke up at 6.30 with a face that resembled Quasimodo’s sister. Not only that but I felt like someone had given me a good hiding!! Seeing Luci, I showed her my face, the only advice she gave me was a shrug and “lots of makeup”. Still feeling like death warmed up, I had to get onto the gangway and work, there wasn’t anyone who could fill my position so early in the morning and the schedule was already set.

On the gangway I felt so sluggish it was untrue. Luci was bugging me to put my arm around the guests to stop them to have their photo taken. It’s what I usually do without a problem but this time my body was aching. The bright sun was making my eyes sting and water, keeping them open started to become impossible. I’ll have Chinese eyes in some of the photos – and those are the photos I have my eyes open!!

Stu was dolled up in his Greek God costume and working the opposite end of the ship where the tours were exiting from. Both he and Fabio later came up to join us. We took it in turns to have breaks. I was downing water as if it was going out of fashion!

Paco our AMS was signing off today and Luci would be taking over. She was looking forward to it but seemed a little nervous about things. She was more pleased about never having to wear the Image “scarf” (evening wear) again.

The rest of the day was a blur of sleep, sleep walking and working! Whatever happened, I really don’t remember.

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!

Down Time... Finally!

Down Time… Finally!

30^th May 2011

These past couple of days have merged into one. Since embarkation, eight days ago, we have been on the go, working pretty much nonstop. Getting down time is hard at the moment, again, not just for me, but for everyone. Tempers have been flaring at little but it’s to be expected. As this is the first proper chance to sit down and type, I’m just going to type a review of the past few days, rather than a new entry for every single day. I can’t even remember what I did on certain days – it’s crazy!

Naples was obviously great, as usual. I went out with Luci for something to eat – pizza, pasta and cheese of course! Every time we are heading to Naples we fast, practically starving ourselves. When we arrive, we binge on pizza, pasta and cheese. What else would you do in Naples? Luci showed me another place that she goes to and I have to admit, the food was better than the regular place we go to.

Beforehand I had gangway. Reuben is letting me dress up in the costumes more and more – I love it! The shooter and I always get great counts which is a bonus. This time, I was a sailor. 

Rolling out of bed at 6 was hard, I was shattered and hadn’t been sleeping well. Things have been getting to me and everything is mounting up and getting on top of me. I need to do something about it, relax a little. Easier said than done.

Anyway, the outfit was pretty ridiculous. It was way too bit for me and Hernan’s hat was slipping off my head. Taking the hat off, Stu later came over and told me what I looked like – an idiot. Thanks!

During my 15 minute break I tied my hair up and put my sunglasses on before heading out for my last stint. Stu’s outfit was by far the best – Italian pizza chef. He even had a silver platter with a photograph of a pizza selotaped to his hand. He certainly looked the part which was more than what could be said for me! Anyway, Fabio and Stu were teamed up and David was shooting me. Altogether we got a good image count.

Pizza Chef - Naples, Italy

Cousin IT Sailor - Naples, Italy

Naples Sailor with my favourite Canadian guest, Daniel

 After lunch with Luci we did a bit of shopping and had a mooch around the shops. I needed to get a pair of sandals/flip flops for Athens gangway in case I'm the Greek Goddess again. I managed to find a lovely Greek style pair of sandals for 15 euros. I could wear them with anything – result. Luci also found a large, golden wrist clamp bracelet for 6 euros. Well, that's the Greek Goddess props sorted.

Just before heading off to use the internet I saw Fabio and David. Luci went off to use the internet near the port while I stayed with the lads for a beer. All in all, it was a great day – it’s days like this, that I love my job!

Fabio, Naples (Italy)

The Dave

Beeeeeeeeer!

On the third day of the cruise we had our first formal night which went pretty smoothly. My manager gave me two different studios to shoot in, the first two sessions were on a backdrop. The final stint was up on one of the centrums on Deck 5. I love the promenade centrum. The photos look absolutely fantastic – I wish I could post some on here for everyone to see. Shooting Ressi didn’t go as bad as usual, I got a much higher count than normal so it’s a sign I’m improving.

Here come the Greeks! Athens gangway was a royal laugh!! Stu was the Greek God and teamed up again with Fabio. I was the Greek Goddess and teamed up with Luci. Luci had to keep popping off for training so Paco, the AMS, would stand in for her.

We were just cracking jokes and having a laugh the entire time on gangway. I was first on gangway and getting most of the shots. Stu then changed with me so he was first but it didn’t have the same effect. Stu put me first in line saying “it’s the tits – people are stopping to have their photo taken because you’re a girl”. Basically as I was a girl, the guys were coming over for their photo and the girlfriends and wives were sometimes reluctantly joining them. After they’d stopped to have their photo with me, it was easy to smudge them onto Stu and Fabio. In all fairness, although we didn’t hit the almost impossible target, we got approximately 900 shots. We nailed it!!

Everything in general was improving and I was feeling better about myself. Everyone on the team noticed there was a chance and that I was generally happier. 

My BM certainly noticed the change as he pulled me into the office later on that night. As I was in a better “state of mind” he felt he could talk to me and ask what was up. To be fair, he didn’t get much of a reply. I didn’t want to talk about any of it.

Anyway, I’d had two bad comments – not one, but two! One came from the Naples gangway where I was dressed up as a Sailor. Apparently, the lady who complained (an American) didn’t want her photo taken with me as I looked too tired, shattered. She also said my outfit was way too big and swamped me leaving her confused as to what I was supposed to be dressed up as. Someone dressed in white, standing next to a ship, saluting – what could I have been dressed up as? 

The second bad comment said “Louise the English photographer was very rude and unhelpful”. Who the guest was, or the occasion, no one knows. I was left, not only baffled but almost let down. I hadn’t been rude to anyone. The main problem I have is that most Americans do not (strangely enough) understand my accent or my sense of humour. Although I try not to be sarcastic like I am to the English, I do try to have a joke with them when they are in the studio. It stops the guests from being ridged and feeling uncomfortable. So that could have been the case. 

Another could have been, sometimes people try and walk through my studio when I’m taking portraits. It’s incredibly annoying but I do ask people to walk around the studio, some people do not like this at all. 

The last thing I can think of which is when I’m in the gallery. Guests cut the line and pretty much tell me to serve them while I’m serving someone else (and there’s an obvious queue behind them). I point out the queue and say “I’ll be with you in a few minutes but there is a queue and I’m currently helping this guest”. To me, it’s not rude but the manager said that certain people would see it as rude because I’m not putting them first. What am I supposed to do? 

Anyway, Reuben told me to buck my ideas up and that I’m doing a good job. All I needed to do was carry on working hard, improving and “not fuck up”. That was the advice I was given. Reuben said he didn’t want to say anything during the last cruise as I’d been down in case it affected me or my work in any way.

Kusadasi was the next stop. During the morning I was on tour at Ephesus. It was a lot shorter than the previous but I was still dreading it. Having said that, although there were problems, it went much better than expected.

The tour guide told me to stay at the back of the group and keep everyone together. I explained that I’d do my best to keep everyone together but my main job was to take photographs of the guests as I’m the ship’s photographer. His reply: “just stay at the back”.

A little while later one of the Ephesus “photographers” came over. I say “photographers” because they are simply given a camera, not knowing how to use it and take over exposed or ever completely burnt photos which they try to flog at the end of the tour – somehow they managed to sell a few.

The tour guide introduced him to the goup. “This is our photographer so if you guys want a photo, this is who you come to”. I wasn’t best pleased. I got a couple to stand together for a photo and the bugger stood beside me and took the picture. The couple then walked off. I’d missed my shot – I was shocked he did it but then why should have I expected anything else? They were like pappazzi! He did it again, but this time he got in the way of my shot, partially blocking me. That was it! I was pissed! 

Leaving my group and went and stood by the library. There were three groups coming from our ship so I stood and waited. When they arrived I started smudging quietly and getting the shots. The “photographer” didn’t look too impressed. Good!

Ephesus Library

Later on he was taking a photo of someone, I don’t even think they were from our ship but I walked straight in front of him, and pressed the shutter release button. Whether the photo came out with the correct exposure, I didn’t know or care. He looked at me with a face of thunder – now he knew how it felt and how annoying it was. I did my “cute smile” as Luci calls it: a little closed smile where I tilt my head to the side slightly, before walking off. Needless to say I didn’t have any further problems there. 

I carried on walking to the areas which caused the most interested and simply waited to pounce. A lot of people said no, but I did get lot of good shots.

Once back at the ship I explained what happened. Ritesh also went on the same tour and only came back with 6 shots. I came back with 45 – although it’s not great, we normally have a tough time on tours, especially Ephesus who have their own photographers. It was great poking fun at the AMP for getting less shots than a P1. His excuses were so lame, you couldn't help but see the funny side  – including the AMP.

Knight in Shining Armour

Knight in Shining Armour

28^th May 2011

Today was one of the best days so far and we did relatively little. Rhodes is growing on me more and more. It’s moving up the list and becoming one of my favourite places to go along with Naples. 

Stu, Fede and I headed out for our free time. Fede went off to use the internet while Stu and I were on a mission to improve the knight gangway costume. Stu had an idea in mind, it was just a case of finding the necessary goods to pull it off.

The sun was shining and the place was a busy as ever. We walked down the main strip heading to one of the few shops which sell armour, knives and unique ornaments. Stu spotted a gauntlet which he loved and had to have. 

Stu's usual knight gangway pose is balling his fist up and either pointing it towards the camera or holding it up to his chest (as if protecting himself from a punch). He normally wears a black glove but it doesn’t really look very effective. Putting the gauntlet on, he did his two usual poses and even though he was dressed in his usual clothes, you could imagine how it would look on gangway. The guests would love it!! Instead of getting one gauntlet he decided to get both! The Australian-Greek lady working in the shop gave him a good discount too. 

While looking around the tiny shop we spotted a shield. Stu could have used the shield with one hand while wearing the gauntlet on the other, pointing towards the camera. It must have been quite funny for people walking passed, seeing us imitating gangway poses! We were deciding on what the hell to buy when Stu remembered a chained head piece (he told me the name and I’ve completely forgotten). The piece goes over and covers the head, leaving a small area of the face exposed. The knight’s helmet then goes over the top. One thing is for sure, Stu certainly knows his stuff when it comes down to armour! Again, Stu loved it and decided he wanted it straight away. 

The funniest bit that made my day was when Stu got the head piece stuck on his head. It slipped on easy enough – getting it off was another story. There was a technique to it – slip your chin out first before sliding it off your head! It took us a good 15 minutes of trying, fits and giggles to work out that technique. 

Now it was case of deciding what else to buy. For some reason my opinion was highly valid… and so was my debit card! We could have quite easily bought the shop. Stu had only bought a certain amount of money with him as he only intended on buying one or two gauntlets so I was lending the difference (which wasn’t a huge amount). Finally, after much deliberation, we waltzed out the shop with two gauntlets and the chain head piece. The lady working in the shop took a large chunk off the price when we said we worked on the cruise ships. Crew member discounts - another bonus to ship life.

She was interested in the idea we had for the costume but worried we wouldn’t get the money back. We knew we wouldn’t but Stu wasn’t fazed – he saw it more as an investment and he had a valid point. If everyone dressed in a costume, looked the part and different from the others featured on cruise ships the more people would have their photo taken and buy more. In the long run, the more photos the guests bought, the more money we’d earn and to be honest, Stu would get his money back, plus extra on top, very quickly. Both Stu and I were like kids at Christmas – we couldn’t wait to come back to Rhodes to try out the entire costume and see the results. Without a doubt it’s going to go down a storm!

One question that was playing on our minds was whether we’d be able to get the armour through security. If push came to shove, it’d be taken off Stu and he’d have to collect everything each morning we docked in Rhodes. After gangway he'd have to hand it back into security. Either way he wasn’t too fussed. In the end he managed to get the armour through without a problem.

In the armour shop were gothic paintings wrapped onto black scrolls. It may sound odd but they were stunning! One in particular, featuring a girl-cum-dark angel. She reminded me a lot of Amy Lee from Evanescence. It was 26 euros which I didn’t think was a bad price, especially as I loved it. I was thinking of where I could hang it on the ship. I was too tempted to buy it and Stu was constantly telling me to get it. Instead, I decided I’d buy it for myself when I finally made it to P2. It's my incentive.

Leaving the shop we headed to our new local internet place, Four Seasons. Reuben took Luci and I there after the team lunch. The people are friendly, decent prices and fast internet. For some reason I can’t get on Skype to talk to my parents but Stu could. Luci and Fede were already there surfing the net. 

Before anything I logged onto ImageU to start my competencies. I had two left to go. Again I failed one buy one question so I had another crack. I was determined to own that painting!! On my second attempt of the day I passed it with 8 out of 9. The final competencies was much harder so I needed a little help from Fede who explained a few things to me. Having another go, I passed it! My competencies were sent off to Image. I did my little jig while Luci, Fede and Stu cheered that I was soon to be P2. All that's left to do is wait for Image to send a checklist to for Reuben and the other managers to sign. Once Photog 2, more money will start rolling in and I can make a start on up the ladder to Photog 3.

To be fair, I wouldn’t have been able to do my competencies as quickly as I did without the help of Stu and Fede explaining things and helping out in general. Stu is more like my trainer and was almost literally kicking my arse to get my competencies done. Thanking Stu for helping me out he said if I was P2 by the next time we come to Rhodes he’d buy me the painting as it was a fair deal for helping him out with money for the armour. Result!

I was absolutely over the moon – you cannot imagine it! The day couldn’t have got any better!! I’d finished my competencies which was a huge weight off my shoulders, Stu and I had a great laugh shopping, the sun was out and everyone was in a fantastic mood. We were enjoying the day and spending time together as friends rather than colleagues. What more could we ask for?

Talking to Stu I commented that I was nervous about shooting LSP (Lifestyle Portraits). You can do what you want on the white background. It sounds easy but you can’t take forever thinking of how to position guests and some are wooden at posing. LSP is Stu’s studio, it’s where he’s normally working, especially on formal nights. He gets the best results and his advice: “think outside the box that the box is in”. To give me a hand or train me up a bit, he suggested I popped around to his cabin later and he’d help me with a few simple but effective poses.

Later on at Stu’s he was showing me a few poses using the white stool. He made it look so simple. It was funny watching him posing as a lady doing dainty hand positions. 6'7 and dainty don't go together too well! 

There was a question I’d been meaning to ask Stu for a while but hadn’t wanted to. As everyone was in such a grand mood and we were having a laugh posing I didn't want to spoil anything. Having said that, the "why are you so hard on me?" question was niggling away in my head.

To be honest, Stu doesn’t have to train me the way he does anymore. Zoran, our Croatian new hire has finally arrived. Shouldn’t Stu be concentrating on him? Still, after nearly two months, if I do something wrong, Stu tells me about it, sometimes coming down quite hard on me. Other times, before I even do something he’ll make sure I know how to do it or tell me a way to improve. Although I’m grateful (and I’ve said it a hundred times) he seems to come down harder on me and get on my case more than he does Hernan. Sometimes you can't help but feel that you’ve done a really shit job. 

In the end, the question popped out my mouth. Stu simply looked at me and smiled before shaking his head. Stu said the reason why he was on my case so much was for a number of reasons, one being because I could take his criticism and that he means it constructively. He also said that he can see the images I produce and how I go about it.  Apparently, Stu thinks, along with the others and BM (business manager) that I have real potential to be a great photographer. All I needed was more time, experience and training. Because of that he is taking it upon himself to train me. The others help out too, don’t get me wrong but Stu will spend as much time as he thinks necessary to go through things until it’s engraved in my brain. In all honestly, I was amazed people thought I had potential to do well at what I love doing. It was a massive confidence booster to say the least!

Later on LSP, I was so nervous and it showed in my cropping. The poses weren’t too bad but the cropping needed to improve. I needed to calm down. I asked Luci to come over and have a look at my work. She said the images were great and not to worry so much. Taking the camera she got me to go onto the scene and started posing me. Stu had shown me how to pose using the stool. Luci showed me a few floor poses for singles and couples. 

A lady and her son came over so she stood with me while I posed them and even added a few poses to give me a hand. I'm so lucky to have people like Luci and Stu around to help me. The gallery was dead so Stu came over to see how I was getting on. Trying to pose on LSP with both Luci and Stu watching was making me more and more nervous. At one point Stu saw I was bricking it. Luckily he jumped in and positioned the last shot for me. I was about to lose the ability of speech!

Afterwards I had a 30 minute stint in the gallery with Stu and Luci. Both were telling me to calm down. Stu's advice was to relax and have fun. 

A couple came over who wanted their photo taken on LSP. They thought Stu would be in his studio so he turned around and introduced me to them. They were all joking that the pressure was on and not to cock up the shots as they had high expectations. My face must have been a picture as Stu took one look at me, burst out laughing and gave me a hug!

Back in the studio the couple came over, the guy said he wanted something original. His wife laughed and told him to lay off a bit. When he asked why I looked so worried I explained it was the second time I’d been on LSP and the first I could work freely, without doing the usual formal poses. I was nervous I was going to bugger it up and everyone is so used to Stu being there I’d automatically be compared. 

Stu’s work would win hands down without a doubt. Like the few couples that I love, they were patient, let me experiment, gave me their ideas and on a shot or two posed themselves to give more ideas. Some of the shots were absolutely fantastic. I loved it! They were pleased with the photos too - bonus!

Luci came over later and wanted Stu to pose with me so I could get some extra poses for couples and see the photos. Unfortunately although the gallery was quiet the guests were trickling in so he couldn’t leave and there wasn’t anyone else to pose on the backdrop.

All in all it’d been an absolutely fantastic day! My BM was pleased I’d finally finished my competencies and said he’d let me know once Image sent through my check list. Hernan saw on my Facebook profile that I’d finished my competencies and came over to give me a huge bear hug and congratulate me… he’s becoming more and more like a big brother brother. An Argentinian step brother. 

Today really couldn’t have been any better and it’s all thanks to the team I have around me!

The Knight in Shining Armour of Rhodes, Greece