Vow Renewal

Vow Renewals

5^th October 2011

At midnight I was handed my schedule and told at 15.45 I needed to be at the ship’s chapel for a vow renewal. Why hadn’t I been told before? Leandro knew about this wedding and Zoran his vow renewal 3 or 4 days ago.

If a sea day and formal night weren't bad enough, the clocks also went forward an hour too! In total, I had two hours and forty five minutes free time today!

Feeling nervous about the vow renewal was an understatement! I’d never been to the chapel and even had to find out where the hell it was! Of course, I had no idea about the lighting available inside the chapel or good spots to get photos. I had no idea what to expect.

I arrived at the chapel 15 minutes before the ceremony was due to start. Literally a couple of minutes later, the bride and groom waltzed into the chapel with their two witnesses. They wanted to start the ceremony early. One of the witnesses had a Pentax DSLR (digital single lens reflex). The other was running around snapping on her compact camera.

The vow renewal ceremony lasted approximately 10 minutes. It was short and sweet. I came into some troubles while the ceremony was going on. The witness with the SLR was darting everywhere with his camera and snapping an awful lot. Where ever I’d go with the camera, he’d be there or standing in the spot I’d previously been shooting at. Trying to get him out the way or past him became frustrating when you’re trying to do your job.

Afterwards the couple agreed to go spend some time posing for more photographs throughout the ship. However, they were only prepared to have their photo taken in certain areas: Helipad, Dining Room Deck 3 stairs, Deck 6 internal balcony and the Savoy Theatre stairs. I managed to persuade them to have photos taken in two other places but it was hard going. They were stubborn about where they wanted to go.

It was supposed to be just the bride and groom coming around the ship with me. One of the witnesses had gone back to her cabin. The witness shooting with the Pentax camera was following us around the ship and taking photographs over my shoulder. I didn’t particular know where I stood in this particular case.  Of course you aren’t permitted to take pictures with your own camera inside our studios but what if you’re taking pictures on location? As I didn’t know where I stood, I had to keep my mouth shut.

It wasn’t long until the couple wanted to call it quits. They were fed up of having their photo taken. The groom then asked me know many pictures I had, so I replied 125 but they’d be edited down etc. He pointed to his friend and said “this photographer has 3 times as many photos as you. He’s a better photographer”. Smiling, I pointed out two little facts. 1. Quality always overrides quantity and 2. Of course “his photographer” will have more photos if he shoots on “Continuous”… but he will also have numerous shots of the exact same thing. All said, with a big smile, of course! With that, I shook their hands, said my goodbyes and let them know I’d be calling tomorrow with a time and place to meet to view the prints.

There was no way I had time to edit photos now so I went back to the cabin and laid down for a bit. I had 30 minutes to have a snooze… and I was completely shattered. Hopefully tonight will go quickly.