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.

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.