Elvis Has Left The Building!

Elvis Has Left The Building!

18^th April 2011

Civitavecchia, Italy

Last night was Elvis's leaving party… he didn’t stay long though. Why end the party because the main man’s left? All the photographers, except one, were up on back deck partying away until the small hours of the morning. When the back deck bar closed the few of us who were left, moved into someone’s cabin and carried on. I finally got to bed at 04.30h just as the ship arrived in Civitavecchia, Italy. Civitavecchia is our turn around port (new cruise) for now.

At 09.00h I had to drag my tired backside out of bed and get ready for embarkation. The guests would start arriving at 11.00. Once we’d got the equipment ready and out of the lab Lee, Rich, Hernan and I went out to port to set up. Rich, me and Hernan would be shooting while Lee smudges for us all. Basically we have to get a photo of all the guests as they are boarding the ship. It's their "Welcome Aboard" photo.

Most people have been travelling for long periods of time. By the time get to the Mariner of the Seas, they are irritated and ratty and therefore don’t want their photo taken. We’ve been telling them it’s so we can log their details in to our system. 90% of the boarding guests are then happy to have their photo taken. Every guest as a sea-pass card, like an ID card. We swipe their card and take their photo which is then logged into the system. From there on, every time they have their photo taken all the images will be stored by their cabin number.

Hernan and I had training today and bloody hell, was it boring! I was constantly nodding off to sleep. It was terrible. The worse thing is we’re going to have plenty of training over the next two weeks. Tomorrow we have nearly 4 hours of training, including what happens during an emergency.

Later on it was back onto the pier for another stint at shooting embarkation. This time it was me, Hernan and Stuart. We did a pretty good job and had a real laugh. Stuart is a real giggle, he’s constantly making everyone crack up, whether it’s with his impressions/accents, pulling faces or just generally being a ploker. Half of the time he’s holding onto my pony tail as if he’s taking me for a walk. Stu’s a freaking brilliant smudger! Most people will never be as good as him. He’s brilliant to watch.

Tonight I had two sessions of ressi. Unlike before there was a casual dress code. My first session went pretty well whereas the second didn’t go anywhere near as good. Still, I got as many photos as I could. I can tell I’m getting better: I’m quicker and more confident at speaking to people.

Also, it's payday today!! I got quite a bit of commission which was a bonus. Image haven’t taken any money out for my uniform, deposit or camera yet. That starts on the next turn around. When I think about it, it’s not a lot of money but then again, it’s all mine. There are no bills or rent. Best of all, no taxman will be buggering my pay cheque!!