I luckily had the pleasure of my birthday at sea during a transatlantic crossing, from southampton to New york.
With the hours going backwards (gaining an hour of sleep every night but one) - it was really the start of my social life onboard. I shared the birthday with another photog - a chap who was a thoroughly nice guy but genuinely hated the job and wanted to go home more than you can imagine, the team did a very readable "oh we aren't doing anything special" routine. The thing was - rather funnily - my birthday sharing colleague didn't see it at all, even at the end of the night, why my manager was running away from the lab through some watertight doors - clearly carrying something. We were both asked to get rid of the lab rubbish (empty chemical bottles, cardboard boxes) - I laughed because I could see it in everyones smile what was happening. My poor colleague thought this rubbish run was a kick in the teeth and proceeded to get very upset because after that, we had a team meeting. He was almost in tears and I tried to explain what was going on - but he didn't want to hear it.
SURPRISE!! Birthday cake, lots of drinks, presents - it really made my first month end well. It really showed what a difference it can make when the team appreciates one another. Fun was had, cake generally got everywhere. I started to regret spending my first months evenings in my room.
At the end of May, we had a well titled Booze cruise. It was a 4 day thing, really just a way for people to experience what it was like on here without paying the huge dosh. We went to Zeebrugges, Rotterdam and then Cherbourg, all in 4 days. No sea days - which is of course what I'm used to. This is what most other cruise ship photogs are doing all over the world - The QM2 being special because its built for sea days, rough sea days in the atlantic.
If you start to think about any business that provides a service, the more time we have, the more opportunity we have to make money. Days or weekends don't mean anything on ships - its just day one or day five. But imagine how much a company would make given one extra day a week - an 8 day week if you will. Or how much they would lose if the week was 6 days long - inc 2 weekend days. So longer cruises = more opportunity. Shorter cruises = we need to make sure what we shoot sells.
So, we had to get everything right. I had no idea if I was doing everything right or not. It was a crazy time, we had no time off in ports - I was starting to require sleep a lot - especially because the previous transatlantic had the mandatory hours forward (lose an hour of sleep a night). The universe kind of owed me sleep.
Anyway, to cut a long story short - we did everything right that cruise. We made a bundle. Essentially, when you think about a booze cruise and the very bizarre nature of posh photos on a ship - what do people really have money to spend on. The spa, yes but once. Souvenirs - yes but when people saw the photos - the quality is genuinely fine. Frames, albums, display folios flew out.
I also go the chance to shoot a rather creative studio called Lifestyle Photography - pure white background. Because there was always slower sessions, me and sam both got to have a go with that one. Cue jumping shots, silly ones. Bryan Petersons tricks of the trade come into play now - I always tried to change my perspective in terms of height - every shot. I was still nervous but I have always been able to get the shot when it comes to kids, ever since my first job photographing a friends daughter. I'm not particularly good with children but I find its down to patience, always being ready to frame for eye-lines etc. Make the parents comfortable as well and you'll get some good shots. Going that extra mile etc. We were shooting 125/f8 so really, it was relatively easy in terms of technical photography. In terms of booze cruisers, there were some families - and $25 dollars for a print is almost a bargain when you compare it to a a shoreside studio, especially with that white background stuff.
There was, I'm afraid some drama behind the scenes though. We had two Noritsu printers, each worth a quarter of a million dollars. One had broken down. The lab manager, who joined a week after me, was experienced but with this company, I found that different lab managers knew different things. We had a noritsu tech support guy flown out, he twisted one piece of metal and we were back to two printers.
The day before this cruise finished, the other printer goes down. Now, we were taking a hell of a lot of photos. We have to print every single one. The lab managers job is to wait until every photo is printed, shut down the printers, leave the trays in water in preparation for the next day, make sure everything is in place for tomorrows photos - then lock up and sign out with the purser. This poor lab manager was still up at 8 in the morning some days. He was trying but, in retrospect - I saw it coming a mile off. The night before Southampton, on June 1st, about 2 in the morning, the lab manager tells the business manager he's walking off the ship tomorrow. He's getting no help from the company and more importantly, IMO, he was getting no help from the business manager - who knew more about the printers than most. The Business manager was a good guy but his approach to learning/teaching was - sink or swim. If its broke, fix it.
I'm not judging the guy, it worked with me. He even gave me the cunard assignments, so much so as I became the goto guy to shoot special occasions - a Juliard Jazz guitarist, a special performance of an orchestra INCLUDING, the head of cunard. I loved doing that by the way, its like any event - its all a bit unpredictable and vision of what makes a good shot is just as important as being able to get the best out of your equipment.
So anyway, the lab manager was walking off. The BM decided that a photog3 - a girl called Mel who Sam replaced in the team and was in a relationship with an officer onboard, would be a good quick replacement. So, 3am phone calls were made, she got on just before the ship left. The team, aside from the business manager, understood the previous lab managers situation. But, it hardly instilled confidence in the company - if they were so unwilling to help someone that it'd drive them to leave?
I found out the morning after, I thanked him for his help and it was a sad day but Mel, the incoming new lab manager was a particularly sarcastic and hard to read human being - somebody I now appreciate all the more for that. She was scheduled on there for 2 weeks, just until we could get a full trained replacement - but she was due to come back in a few weeks anyway.
After all the drama, we set off for New york after making target for that booze cruise, despite the drama. As for the transatlantic themselves, they were ok. 5/6 days at sea, not much time off, it was becoming routine although I was progressing in terms of company expectations.
And then - we reached New york, one very special new york, my first day off in port in New York.
We had a mandatory drill at 10, essentially it was a pain in the bum. U.S coastguard come on, pretend something is going on and we have to react. Its usually a fire. And its usually far away from my emergency section (I was a stairway guide in a crew area). Not today, the fire is at the bottom of my stairway. However, they decide to employ actors this time. I'm hungover, I'm not in the mood to lose my day off in New york. A "passenger" comes into my area, tries to walk down the stairs, i politely tell them there is no access to anyone. I politely ask them to leave. They ignore what I've said, saying that there is someone on deck 2 they need to get to. In a mixture of annoyance and understanding that this is probably an actor, I move towards them, at which point they start getting a bit upset. Me and my stairway guide pal physically get in their way, which seems enough for them, we once again re-iterate that there is a fire down there - they say that we've just allowed someone to burn to death because we didn't let them through. We, in a moment I'll be proud of, say "Sorry sir but there is no way you can know that and you going down there will probably just ensure that you burn to death - the emergency teams are doing everything required now please go back to your muster station" (or something similarly eloquent). Thank you rum and coke from the night before.
The ships company passed the drill, we finished at 10:45, we all rushed downstairs and met at the bus. Me and Sam both had the day off, it was going to be good. Not as good as expected because normally, New york means you get at least 9-3:30 off, the drill putting a spanner in the works.
We followed friends into Brooklyn, I cannot describe how exciting it was to enter New York like that. Like escapees or inmates, we were allowed to enter this famous place for a few hours before we had to be back. We got into central manhattan for about midday - we had maybe two hours before we needed to start thinking about heading back. It was still ace, it was my first New York, after all.
Brooklyn atlantic Avenue MTR station, not a great shot but I just looked through my Lightroom catalogue and it says I was there...
Sam and her camera
Amit, my Sales manager and a taxi
The Mac Store Manhattan, somewhere I immediately knew i wanted to buy a macbook pro (using one now)
Sam with truly awesome pizza
Me with slightly more awesome pizza
Tourist shots a go go
One of the saddest photos i've taken - the moment we have to leave New york and get back onboard. A genuine heartbreak.
So that was my first New york. The team was fine, Mel was learning to be a lab manager at the same time as doing it. The team was ok. The business manager was also beginning to lead a spinning class, something I wanted to do. We did it at 11:15pm every other evening, I did it because I got on well with the manager and I also wanted to get fit in these 6 months.
Apart from the same old work, same old studios, the drama of the previous lab manager leaving escaped quite quickly. The printer was fixed in New york, maybe the company sat up and took notice.
We were going back to southampton to start an 11 day Norwegian cruise. Hopes were high, I was going 71 degrees north, it was going to be fun.
Personally and socially, life was alright. Me and Sam often had a few quick drinks in the officers bar and we were always chatting, getting as close as you can be without ever being more than friends. She had her very own emotional moment at one point on this atlantic (similar to my one in my first New York). I walked past the shop and smiled at her - you know that smile someone gives you which is a painfully polite/holding back the tears smile. Oh I felt ever so sorry for her. She missed her family, her boyfriend and the job wasn't turning out quite how we expected. The highlight of New York followed by the horrible hours forward meant the lows were very low. The team, although it was better, was still not rock solid. i didn't feel like i'd made many friends, I'd pinned quite a lot of my hopes on sam being there, a familiar ace from training etc. She did the same I think.
So were were stuck in a weird situation, with odd people who either loved or hated the job, a team changing every few days apparently (with mel leaving in the next southampton). At least we had eachother to moan to.