Summer has Arrived
It’s the 1st June and the temperatures are certainly rising.
As I fell asleep at Stu’s I woke up late (no alarm clock or phone). Darting back to my cabin I chucked my uniform on and grabbed my camera before running up to the pool decks on deck 11. I was shooting pool decks and the rock wall (deck 12).
Later on in the day is the Make a Wish mile long walk which is to raise money for terminally ill children. I wasn’t going to be photographing the Make a Wish walk, Stu would be up later with Fede and do the honours.
At 9.30am there wasn’t a huge amount of people around and those that were there didn’t want their photo taken. The rock wall was different. When you are up on a climbing wall, 20 metres about the deck, you don’t have a lot of choice but to look and have your photo taken.
By 11am I only had 56 shots which is pure pants, if I’m honest. Fede had just arrived, did a lap around the deck and came back with 4 images. At least I wasn’t the only one having troubles getting people to have their photo taken.
It’s the 1st June and the temperatures are certainly rising.
As I fell asleep at Stu’s I woke up late (no alarm clock or phone). Darting back to my cabin I chucked my uniform on and grabbed my camera before running up to the pool decks on deck 11. I was shooting pool decks and the rock wall (deck 12).
Later on in the day is the Make a Wish mile long walk which is to raise money for terminally ill children. I wasn’t going to be photographing the Make a Wish walk, Stu would be up later with Fede and do the honours.
At 9.30am there wasn’t a huge amount of people around and those that were there didn’t want their photo taken. The rock wall was different. When you are up on a climbing wall, 20 metres about the deck, you don’t have a lot of choice but to look and have your photo taken.
By 11am I only had 56 shots which is pure pants, if I’m honest. Fede had just arrived, did a lap around the deck and came back with 4 images. At least I wasn’t the only one having troubles getting people to have their photo taken.
My number one Canadian fan, Daniel, kept walking past, doing a few rounds of the pool deck – strange. Doesn’t that guy ever sit down? He’s always on the go!
Later on I bumped into Luci in the Staff Mess, she said the Canadian guy had been talking to her and his parents are from Portugal. Therefore speaks fluent Portuguese. She said he was lovely and even though I’m not interested in any way, shape or form, Luci reminded me that there is a zero tolerance policy about relationships between guests and crew. Cheers Luci!
Later on I bumped into Luci in the Staff Mess, she said the Canadian guy had been talking to her and his parents are from Portugal. Therefore speaks fluent Portuguese. She said he was lovely and even though I’m not interested in any way, shape or form, Luci reminded me that there is a zero tolerance policy about relationships between guests and crew. Cheers Luci!
Tonight is the last formal night for this cruise – thank God! We have another sea day after Chania, Crete tomorrow. My day today is completely choca-blocked! Apart from 9.30 to 11.00 at the pool decks I’m working at 14.00-15.30 then again at 16.00 all the way through to 01.00 – no breaks. It’s going to be tough one. Mind you, I’m doing a stint in the gallery first so Paco might let me go for a quick 15 minute break for a drink. Apart from that it’s all systems go!!
**UPDATE**
During the break a few (Zoran, Jeni, Newman, Stu and I) went up to the staff mess for coffee/hot chocolate and cereals.
Stu asked me about what happened on tour yesterday with the Italian couple, so I repeated the story for the group. No one could believe it! Stu gave me some advice on what to do if it ever happened again.
Previously, Stu got annoyed with a table in the dining room when a man started raising his voice to him about not wanting his photo taken. He’d said “I’m sorry Sir, but it’s my job to come over and ask whether or not you want your photo taken. If you don’t, just say no thanks and I’ll move on but there’s no need to shout at me and be rude.” He then asked if anyone else on the table wanted their photo taken and one couple did.
Next time someone is rude I can either call security, tell my BM and explain it’s my job and that I don’t have to take their shit!
After I told them all about another Italian couple in the Jacuzzi. I called the couple and motioned to them to move closer together. They moved together and just as I put the camera to my eye the lady said, loud enough for me to hear, “fucking photographers”. What can you do? I walked off with my tongue clamped in between my teeth!!! I didn’t trust myself!
Stu asked me about what happened on tour yesterday with the Italian couple, so I repeated the story for the group. No one could believe it! Stu gave me some advice on what to do if it ever happened again.
Previously, Stu got annoyed with a table in the dining room when a man started raising his voice to him about not wanting his photo taken. He’d said “I’m sorry Sir, but it’s my job to come over and ask whether or not you want your photo taken. If you don’t, just say no thanks and I’ll move on but there’s no need to shout at me and be rude.” He then asked if anyone else on the table wanted their photo taken and one couple did.
Next time someone is rude I can either call security, tell my BM and explain it’s my job and that I don’t have to take their shit!
After I told them all about another Italian couple in the Jacuzzi. I called the couple and motioned to them to move closer together. They moved together and just as I put the camera to my eye the lady said, loud enough for me to hear, “fucking photographers”. What can you do? I walked off with my tongue clamped in between my teeth!!! I didn’t trust myself!
While working in the gallery I got a phone call from the office. It was Reuben asking me to go and see him. He called me "Lou" so I knew I wasn’t in trouble for anything I may or may not have done. When I walked in he gave me his hand, shook mine before saying “congratulations you are one step closer to becoming a Photo2” and handed me my checklist. He explained roughly what I’ve got to do which is show Paco and/or Ritesh that I can do everything on the checklist which is 4 pages long!!
Some questions are ridiculous like how do you insert a memory card into a camera. Others aren’t so straight forward. It’s going to be hard to show Paco or Ritesh that I can do things like smudge or how I work on the gangway when they are never there. Normally they are busy doing something else, even if they are gangway manager, they don’t bother coming out to see what’s going on.
Some questions are ridiculous like how do you insert a memory card into a camera. Others aren’t so straight forward. It’s going to be hard to show Paco or Ritesh that I can do things like smudge or how I work on the gangway when they are never there. Normally they are busy doing something else, even if they are gangway manager, they don’t bother coming out to see what’s going on.
There was one major cock up for the night which got blamed on me. In the morning I was shooting decks and Fede who is the lab assistant took my memory card to print. I had one out of two of my memory cards. Ritesh called me before I opened my studio and said the card was empty and to show him the photos. He even asked “did you even check your photos while shooting?” My reply “No, course not? Why would I check my photos? Of course I checked my photos, I had to keep checking the exposure of the shots, didn’t I?” Sometimes he talks to you as if you are an idiot! It’s not just me either.
Later on, I went into the office to pick up my memory cards to shoot Ressi. Neither were there, Ritesh hadn’t bought them up from the lab. I rang him and he said he only had one of my cards which he was formatting and that I should have the other. I explained that one was from Decks and the other from the Haifa tour from the previous day. He was adamant he didn’t have it. All of a sudden he said “oh, wait. I have the other card here, it was on the (lab) desk”.
I was late enough as it was for Ressi and couldn't run down to the lab. Ritesh wouldn't bring my card up. Instead he suggested I go into the dining room, find another photographer and see if they have a spare card I could borrow! This of course meant a photographer would be a memory card short for second session in the studios.
Running into Ressi I ran over to Hernan and borrowed a memory card. He asked me not to give it to Ritesh as he has personal photos on the camera. Ritesh always formats the memory cards once he’s done printing so if you have any personal photos on there, they’ll get deleted.
I was late enough as it was for Ressi and couldn't run down to the lab. Ritesh wouldn't bring my card up. Instead he suggested I go into the dining room, find another photographer and see if they have a spare card I could borrow! This of course meant a photographer would be a memory card short for second session in the studios.
Running into Ressi I ran over to Hernan and borrowed a memory card. He asked me not to give it to Ritesh as he has personal photos on the camera. Ritesh always formats the memory cards once he’s done printing so if you have any personal photos on there, they’ll get deleted.
Paco and Reuben came over to me in the gallery afterwards and asked me what had happened and why I wasn’t prepared for ressi. I explained why, and Reuben for once saw my point of view, telling me he’d fix it before walking off.
A little while later Ritesh came over with both my cards and asked for Hernan's, which he wasn’t getting. I’d downloaded all the photos from Ressi to the drop zone for printing so he didn’t need it.
A little while later Ritesh came over with both my cards and asked for Hernan's, which he wasn’t getting. I’d downloaded all the photos from Ressi to the drop zone for printing so he didn’t need it.
My studio (Moon backdrop) was situated nearby Stu’s LSP. At one point he shouted over to me. He asked if a couple were the Italian’s that were rude to me on tour. It wasn’t. As the couple were walking past LSP, Stu said hello and asked whether they'd like their photo taken. The guy had done the exact same thing the other Italian did while I was on tour, sticking his fingers up at him.
Stu walked over to me and just one look at him, you could see he was highly pissed off! He reminded me that if anyone does it to me, to not take any shit (but be polite) and if needs be, call security. With a quick arm around the shoulder hug, he disappeared back to his studio. Previously he was fuming when I told him what had happened on tour, now he was just being protective and reminding me what I had to do.
Stu walked over to me and just one look at him, you could see he was highly pissed off! He reminded me that if anyone does it to me, to not take any shit (but be polite) and if needs be, call security. With a quick arm around the shoulder hug, he disappeared back to his studio. Previously he was fuming when I told him what had happened on tour, now he was just being protective and reminding me what I had to do.
Normally this sort of thing doesn’t happen to Stu. His height is intimidating enough (6’7) so people tend to do what he asks. I guess being a guy helps too – not that you find many 6’7 females! With me and Jeni, the two shortest, we tend to get a lot more shit. Jeni gets away with a bit more as English isn’t her first language. For me, it always seems a little harder.
Other than that incident, the night went well. I closed my studio before everyone else on Reuben’s request and started breaking down. By the time everyone was finished shooting I joined them in breaking down their studios. It speeded up the process.
We also had to move everything down from the store room on Deck 4 onto Deck 3 – Captain’s orders. The store room on Deck 3 is far too small for all our studio equipment so it’s going to make set up and break down much harder and time consuming.
There were too many of us aimless milling around the store room as we couldn’t get close to pass things to Stu who was inside the store room. Because of that, Hernan and I headed up to the Promenade Café kitchen to grab the pizzas and sandwiches.
By the time we were finished it was 1.30am. A few of us headed up to SOB for a drink… we needed to wind down. Nowadays we are too tired to go to SOB so it made a nice change, even if we were knackered.
We also had to move everything down from the store room on Deck 4 onto Deck 3 – Captain’s orders. The store room on Deck 3 is far too small for all our studio equipment so it’s going to make set up and break down much harder and time consuming.
There were too many of us aimless milling around the store room as we couldn’t get close to pass things to Stu who was inside the store room. Because of that, Hernan and I headed up to the Promenade Café kitchen to grab the pizzas and sandwiches.
By the time we were finished it was 1.30am. A few of us headed up to SOB for a drink… we needed to wind down. Nowadays we are too tired to go to SOB so it made a nice change, even if we were knackered.
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