Photography on a Cruise
Before embarking on our cruise, I did a decent amount of research, watched several YouTube videos of other photographers and their cruises, and asked others on a few photography boards what they would recommend as far as equipment, expectations, etc. And since I was going to Alaska, I watched several YouTube videos on wildlife photography, related lens, and camera settings. It was all useful. but in many ways, it was also too specific. And that was the best lesson to learn of all.
Stay Open Minded and Observant
What I discovered along the way was that if your photography goals on a cruise consisted solely of shooting your usual genre of photography, you would likely come away disappointed. If you are a landscape photographer, you will almost never get the time you needed to research the best spot or set up the perfect shot. If you were a street photographer, you would also be disappointed because, frankly, many of the main tourist streets were all the same. And, regardless of what kind of photographer you are, it is almost a guarantee that you will never be able to shoot during golden hour or blue hour except when on the ship. Excursions are in the middle of the day. And, when you are on the ship, you are constantly moving in relation to your subject. In other words, you’ll need to work at making the shot and that means shooting in ways you may not be used to.
In my opinion, if you want to be happy with the photos you captured while on a cruise, you need to assume the mindset of a candid photographer. Have your camera with you at all times, be open minded and observant, and take photos of everything that catches your eye. That’s what I did, and I’m very happy with the results! Follow these links to see my Alaska photo gallery or read my other blog posts about the cruise.
Meeting Other Photographers
I’m not a particularly social person. I tend to be the quiet observer sitting off to the side watching as everyone is having fun. But that is also why I like photography. It gives me a reason to observe, and occasionally, it gives me a reason to interact with others. If you do as I suggested earlier, and carry your camera around with you everywhere, you are also likely to meet other people who share your passion for photography. Unfortunately, you also may meet others who just want to see if their equipment is better than yours but at least that helps inform you of who to avoid for the rest of the trip.
Michael, seen in the photos below, is a fellow photographer and Nikon shooter who I met while on the cruise. We kept running into each other on the deck while others were partying, eating, or sleeping. One of the reasons we both came on the cruise was to experience the beautiful nature of Alaska. The mountains, trees, and wildlife were more alluring than dancing and drinking.
Based on my conversations with Michael, in the last photo above (severely cropped and grainy), he is likely one of the people on the raft who took an excursion that brought them up close and personal with Mendenhall Glacier.
If you are curious, the cropped photo above is a small section of the bottom left-hand of the photo below.
Sure, Michael and I talked briefly about gear, but mostly we talked about photography, what we shoot, why we do it, and why we love it. Gear is simply a means to an end, not the end itself, and it is always nice to find other photographers who understand this.
Angry People
One thing that was completely unexpected, and it still baffles me to this day, is the number of people I ran into who were angry about the kind of photo gear I brought with me. This was primarily when boarding busses to travel from place to place. The number of angry glairs, angry shaking heads, loud rude comments to the person sitting next to them, was simply astonishing. I even got an angry, “Why on God’s green earth would anyone bring all that crap up here?” And that was from someone I spent 5 seconds walking past. I kept all of my gear contained in a backpack and inconvenienced no one. To ensure I would hit no one with by backpack, I always held it securely in front of my when walking down the aisle on the bus, and always held it in my lap when no empty seats were available or when I got on the bus early, so I never took up any extra room. Anyway, you can never control the behavior of others, so I just nodded and smiled and kept walking.
If you come on a cruise with one specific photography goal in mind, you are likely to end up disappointed. However, if you come ready to be in the moment and take photos of anything and everything that catches your eye, you might just come away with something you’re proud of.
Oh, and Michael, if you ever see this blog post, using the form below, send me an email along with your Instagram. I would love to see your photos!
If you would like to see my other posts related to our Alaskan cruise, see Cruising Alaska with Norwegian Cruise Line.
