David Moore

I’m writing the first draft of this post at sea, on the way back to Los Angeles after a week’s cruise to the Mexican Riviera.

Cruising wouldn’t be my first choice of holiday, but family obligation dictated we go, so I brought along my camera stuff, and thought I’d share with you what I learned from my experience – some tips and advice for the keen photographer on a cruise.

1: Bring all your gear

Unlike the holidays I normally take, once you get to the ship, you’re not going to have to lug your bags anywhere. So pack as much camera stuff as you can, so you’ll have everything you might need.

In my case that was a Canon 5D, an EF 24-105mm f/4L, an EF 17-40 f/4L, an EF 50mm f/1.8 II, and an EF 85mm f/1.8 USM. I also brought a laptop, an external drive with my Aperture library on it, a second drive for backing up the vault, and even a mouse for easier computing.

2: Go long

As we were sailing away from San Pedro habour, I realised that with all my gear, I’d made a mistake. I should have brought a longer lens as well – which in my case would be my 70-200mm f/4L.

There’ll be a lot of times when taking pictures of things from the ship that a longer lens would really help. There’s a chance you’ll see some wildlife (whales, interesting birds . . . ), or want to get tight on something on shore as you come into port, so if you’ve got a big lad with you, so much the better.

In my case, when my daughter played with dolphins at an adventure centre in Puerto Vallarta, cameras were restricted to an area a long way away from the pool (at least partly so the centre could make tons of money from the (not very good photos) they shot. If I’d had the 70-200mm with me, I’d have done well.

Now the dust has settled from my opening in a local cafe, here are some details on how I sorted out the practicalities – in case they’re useful for other folks facing the somewhat daunting task of organizing your first show.

1) Find your location

I was very lucky in this regard. I go to Java Joe’s North pretty regularly (especially for a Friday morning latte and breakfast burrito), and have enjoyed looking a bunch of the artwork they have up, which changes every month.

I asked them how you get a slot, and it turns out all you do is ask. I showed Dave the owner some of my Moo Cards as I didn’t have my portfolio with me, and he said that was fine. I was signed up for the next free slot – a few months in the future.

Your experience will vary of course, but cafes, restaurants, public libraries and even supermarkets (Whole Foods do exhibitions, for example) are all places to try outside the full-on art gallery circuit (which is not an option anyway in lots of places).