Welcome back….

Morning in Porto Venere, Italy

This is my first week back at Sea, in 20 years. When I was younger, I was working as a Ships’ Photographer for 4 years. It formed a lot of who I was, how I shot photos, and it cemented my love for travel. The opportunity to do it all again was one that I could not turn down.

I will be spending the summer months, traveling throughout the Mediterranean region, visiting most of the countries in the area. It’s been a very long time since I’ve been in Italy, Greece, Turkey and France (and others), and I am looking forward to returning. When I was working on Ships in the 80’s and 90’s, we were shooting with film cameras, and I have very few photographs to show for it. Now that we work with digital equipment, it will be easier for me to retain my work.

My first week back on a ship was challenging, of course. Getting to know how the ship works, who is who, adjusting to the work schedule, and retraining myself on how to shoot photos of the guests…it was a fast and steep learning curve.

I’ve been instantly welcomed into the ship family. All the people that I’ve been meeting are genuinely nice, and happy to include me on the ship. Oddly enough, since I’ve worked on this cruise line 22 years ago, they’ve retained my original employee number, and reissued it to me. Most crew onboard today have a 5-digit crew number, while mine is only 3 digits. When I sign for a purchase or recite my number to anyone, they are invariably confused. They know I am ‘new’, but my crew number suggests otherwise.

After my first week aboard, I’ve realized that I will need to keep my thoughts and opinions to myself, a lot. Cruise ships are similar to the Navy, in that the more stripes you have, the more rank and authority you have. It’s a lot of ‘Yes, Sir’ and very little ‘No, Sir’. I suppose all of that has a good reason, but since I don’t often hold my opinions in, it’s a difficult adjustment. I think I am a fairly intelligent person, so how and what I think is usually sensible. Of course, I am not suggesting that those ranked above me are unintelligent. But discussion and debate are not part of the culture. I just need to adjust myself to not expressing my thoughts so openly.

I will do my best to post some stories about my travels throughout this beautiful part of the world, and give you some insight into what it’s like to work on a ship as a photographer. For those of you that enjoy photography, I will also be posting photos of the places I visit, and describe the process of the photo, if it is unusual or special in some way. I look forward to your feedback, so please post your comments here, and I will be happy to reply to you.