How important are photos to you

[babywewe]

i'v seen some gallerys of other cruises and photos dont seem to be that important to them. I love taking photos and a good photo is my pride and joy.

How important is this to you...?

[Jolimont]

Not all-important but I care about my photos. We bought too many on our first cruise and toned it down the next. We take pretty good shots ourselves and put them in a leather-bound album that I buy on the ship. So far I have a Carnival album and a Princess album, plus a couple of family cruise photos on the wall. I hope to get many more! I don't do scrapbooking, but some folks love that. For me that's over the top. But we enjoy looking at our cruise album once in a while. We also have home videos of our cruises, but we never watch those, so I'm not sure what good they are!

[worldsbestcandles]

Jolimont,

Do they have cruiseline scrapbook albums available as well? that would be nice too...

Thanks,
WBC

[cruisinquestions]

I take TONS of pics. I love my digital camera and bring my lap top so when I take the whole 250 pics the card holds, I can transfere and start again.

However, posed for pics do nothing for me. If I'm going to pose, I still want to keep it natural, by grabbing a stranger and having them snap it while I stand by a piece of art I like or where ever.

I have never brought my kids or family to a studio to put them in wash tubs, or around a fake tree or fake mountain background. My yard in the fall with natrual 'real' trees turning colors, or their pool with clear blue colors, or around my real tree at Christmas is my way of making memories. I don't think I know anyone who doesn't go to the studios, though.

I looked through the ship's pics. There were ones of just my husband and I at dinner, the whole family at ports, and boarding. And some I'm forgetting. Not one did we all look good. (Some shut eyes, or strange expression) And they all look so posed, so stiff to me.

I know I'm not exactly helping sell ship pics with this post, just sharing an opinion, and Hey - maybe some will think twice before posing and waiting and then spending money on something they could've snapped themselves at their own time and for almost no $$.

Either way- Make memories folks!
Jules

[tribbs1]

Pictures are important to me because they chronicle the history of my family. They help us the remember all the fun and important events in our lives. They will stand the test of time (hopefully) and help our kids, grandkids, and so on know the history of their family. One thought though. As I was pulling together pictures for my MIL's memorial I found that I did not have many pictures of her and thus my kids won't have many pictures to remember her by. As I thought about this I realized that there are not many pictures of me in all of our stockpile of pictures. Why? Partly because I am usually the photographer and partly because I don't usually like pictures of myself. As I thought more about it I realized that I was being somewhat selfish in depriving my children and future grandkids, greatgrandkids of knowing a part of their history because I don't like photos of myself. I have since allowed my daughter to take more photos of me and let my husband take more photos of me w/the kids. Hopefully someday they will be glad that I have subjected them to all sorts of photo opportunities.

[GottaLuvCruising]

We often buy the cruise line portraits because they are usually done well and is a chance to have a shot of us together. But it annoys the daylights out of me that they don't sell smaller photos. I am not going to paper my walls with 8x10 portraits. What I'd prefer is 4x6 photos and I would spend so much more money on photos if they would sell smaller shots that I could actually use.

[GottaLuvCruising]

Hmmm....posted twice. Sorry.

[tomc]

On cruises, I try hard to take photos that (a) will remind me of the ship, the cruise and the activities, (b) will be the sort of thing that other people will want to see. I'm truly an amateur photographer with an amateur camera (Nikon aim and shoot), but I think composition is 90% of the battle; therefore, I spend a fair amount of time looking at the subject and figuring how to form the picture before taking it.

Same goes with my camcorder. Steady as she goes, usually leaning on or against something, slow zoom, slow pan; every shot having meaning even for people who weren't there.

I don't spend the cruise looking thru a viewfinder, but I'm ready when the scene is ready. "Luck," as someone once said, "is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

[Jolimont]

Originally Posted by worldsbestcandles

Jolimont,

Do they have cruiseline scrapbook albums available as well? that would be nice too...

Thanks,
WBC

I can't answer that for sure (since I don't scrapbook), but they sell so many things, why not? Check online too if you can't find it on board. You'd definitely find cruise themed scrapbooking supplies around, although probably not on the ship.

[conrad]

I have photos of my cruise on Costa Europa 8th-18th June 2007.
How can I adding them?
Many thanks!

[Cotton]

Originally Posted by babywewe

i'v seen some gallerys of other cruises and photos dont seem to be that important to them. I love taking photos and a good photo is my pride and joy.

How important is this to you...?

I think I know what you're talking about. Composition, lighting, background interest, etc. Yes, I am very careful about framing my shots to get excellent and interesting photos...both on and off the ship. I'm a big photo buff, and I take a digital, a 35mm, and a camcorder on cruises.

I don't buy the ship's photos, except the boarding shot. That way, I have the ship's name, homeport, date of cruise, and 'moi'...and that photo goes on the title page of my scrapbook for that cruise.

One of my sisters is much like me w/her cameras. The other one, alas, is hopeless. She swings her camera around and shoots...period. No thought at all goes into her photos. (And then she wonders WHY hers are not as good as ours. LOL

[miami]

My pictures are very important. I brought my camera everywhere because you just never know when you will get that great shot. I also brought several memory cards. I have used Photoshop Elements to do digital scrapbooking instead of traditional. I did buy several pictures they took in the ports this time.

[Peaceful]

Taking pictures is one of my greatest joys. I can take 200 pictures sitting on my dock watching the fish and birds...imagine what happens on a cruise! I may delete half of them, but I sure do enjoy the possibilities as I am taking them. Camcorders are not for me, but give me my digital and I am set.

[SqueakyDust]

Tribbs1 - that is a very valid point. I too am the one taking the picutres and it's my main excuse for not being in the photo. We have often joked that I'm obviously not on a particular family holiday as there are NO pictures of me! However, I will try to remedy this a little on our next cruise.

I lug my camera everywhere with me on holiday. I'm no professional, just a basic point and shoot person. But I do try to compose the shot if I can. I find this hard with digital because of the delay - it's terrible when trying to catch a whale coming up for air.
I also agree with the natural is best opinion, opposed to posed.

I have seen some truly awesome pictures listed by other posters.

[crystalblue0610]

Pictures are very important to us. We have an album for every birthday, event, concert, play, vacation, etc.

But we take our own. No need to purchase the ships version of what we can take ourselves

[beauxdammit]

Our photos are very important to us. On our last cruise, Alaska, I shot nearly a thousand photos. Of those, I kept about 600. In addition, I got about three hundred from SIL. After Photoshopping to get the best out of them, I organized them into a really nice DVD with music and voice over. Now we have a chance to relive these great memories with very little problem.

Actually, I have done this for every year my BW and I have been together, (eighteen) and for all the big events of our time together. For me it is a great hobby with a super payoff.

[Skywench]

I like buying the pictures taken on the ship, They're a great souvenir and we get some great group shots that we wouldn't get otherwise and I've been really pleased with them.

[GORDONCHICK]

Not only are the photos I take of our vacations (and everything else), I love to look at others' photos. It gives me a small sense of who they are and what's important to them.

I am more selective about the photos I buy on the ship now. The last formal photo we bought we ended up copying (with a release from the line) and sending in Christmas cards. Plus, the family (mainly DH) doesn't complain about having to go get photos taken, just do it on the way to dinner and be done with it.

[CaptData]

I love taking pics. I lost all my photos prior to 2003 in a fire . I take pics of my H/C room and tell others on here I have them. I have some from Summit and Hal Massdam. I also try to take pics of the pool area with stairs showing so those who have problems can see before hand. I also take shots of fish and other things that I find fun. I keep them on my computer and look at them whenever I need a boost.

[chasetf]

Originally Posted by babywewe

i'v seen some gallerys of other cruises and photos dont seem to be that important to them. I love taking photos and a good photo is my pride and joy. How important is this to you...?

I take lots.... around 200 per day while touring. Maybe only 20-50 on sea days. I carry an inexpensive laptop for downloading and checking how they are coming out.

I have slide shows for the family (after culling them down). Plus loading them on my home computer, I select a few of the better to add to my screen saver file. I constantly go back and relive a specific trip. I look forward to going through the tens (or maybe hundreds) of thousands of pictures I have when I am too old to travel....