Ahoy! Lessons learned at sea.

November 30, 2010 at 9:05 am

There’s been a nautical theme over at EG Headquarters lately. From the postcards some of you received lately, to the recent Outlier shoots, and even some of the photos from my tumblr there’s been a definite attraction to the water. Man I miss summer already! But my point isn’t about talking about the weather or lamenting sickly skin color, it’s Tearsheet time people!

Back in June, I spent five days on Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas for Budget Travel on a voyage to Bermuda. My assignment was to photography families on vacation together. Having fun, enjoying the ship’s entertainment, etc.  You may be saying to yourself, “Shit, Emiliano, how the hell did you hook that up? Did they, like, pay you to do that?”

You bet! But let’s concentrate on the first question. How did I hook that up? Facebook of course! It’s pretty simple actually. Apparently, the editors at Budget Travel were pretty psyched about the first feature I shot for them.  The writer and I stayed in touch via Facebook and we started brainstorming ideas for the next feature. My first idea was a cruise, of course.

Amazingly, she wrote back to me after a couple weeks saying the main Editor had also been thinking of setting sail and that it looked like it was really going to happen. WTF? Really?! My excitement is pretty evident in my response:

OK. Several lessons to learn from this story.

1) If someone gives you an assignment, KILL IT. There will be more. The magazine was really happy with the Summer Camp Story.

2) BE EXCITED. If you’re not excited about what you’re shooting, who’s gonna be?! Don’t just shoot your assignment. Overshoot the shit out of it! I’m convinced that part of why I was hired again is because I was really, honestly, genuinely excited to go to camp as a 33-year old.  Forreals.

3) Facebook is your friend. Well, this might be a stretch. But stay in touch with people. The personal relationships you build with people will get you work. People hire people they want to be around. Period.

4) Have a crystal ball that can read Editors’ minds. Seriously, luck is part of the game kiddies.

Enough of my babbling, on to the photos.

  • ZA

    sadly tedious images on this page , lets hope there were some better ones not shown here.

  • http://www.sparkyhub.com/ akhil k a

    Awesome shots….Great!

  • Pingback: Emiliano Granado

  • Reed Rubey

    Emi,
    Nice shots. That fruit kowala is pretty funny. Have limited experience with cruises. Would love to go on one.
    Reed

  • http://www.emilianogranado.com emiliano

    Hi Ray! Thanks for the very interesting look back at Miami’s Mad Men era! Pretty fascinating!

    I remember the SS Norway growing up in MIami. When we first moved to Miami in the 80s, we had this big ole’ purple Pontiac Parisienne with purple crushed velvet interior. Pretty amazing! But all my friends would call it the Norway cuz it was so damn big! Similar to the one below:

  • Ray Allen

    Emiliano!

    Your work is amazing. It IS a dream assignment to shoot a cruise. During the 70s and early 80s, our old ad agency in Miami, Caravetta Allen Kimbrough, always had a big cruise client, and my partner, Fred Caravetta (the art director…who designed the RCCL “crown and anchor” logo, by the way) was always rounding up models for a big cruise shoot…usually one week. We always had to have the hip young couple, the older but good looking couple, etc. etc. Our accounts were Royal Caribbean, NCL, and Premier Cruise Lines over the years in that order. Your assignment is more interesting—real people! It looks like great fun.

    Premier (now gone) was “The Big Red Boats”–first out of Port Canaveral, then the official cruise line of Walt Disney World….we invented the “Cruise and Disney Week” for them, and then, of course, Disney built their own ships and took it all over.) For RCCL, we designed the logo, and also welcomed their very first ship, Song of Norway, into Miami….now we’re talking the dark ages (early 70s.) We worked longest for NCL, and it was great. We named them “First Fleet of the Caribbean,” and they were No. 1 for all those years. Most fun was when they purchased the SS France from the French Govt, and refitted it (in Bremerhaven)as the SS Norway. It was then the biggest ship in the world, so we introduced their seven day cruises on the Norway as “The Biggest Week in the World.” The beautifully refitted Norway sailed out of Miami every week for over a decade. (This was just before the big ships we all know now were being built by all the lines.)

    I always loved cruises, and got to go on many. However, it wasn’t cool when we had to present to them in the theatre on the year’s marketing plans, commercials, ads, etc….and then get off in Nassau or Port Antonio and fly home….while everyone else cruised on. Of course, we did plenty of full cruises too. These were the years when “contemporary cruising” was new, and the informal way of vacationing on a large ship was being invented.

    Of course, Carnival was there, but always we called it “the K Mart of the Caribbean” since they were always cheaper than RCCL or NCL. But of course, the Arisons were the smartest of them all. As their marketing guy said to us in one of the conferences in those days, “You all want to be Cadillacs….we’re going to be the Chevy. We’ll see who wins.” Of course, they’re far and away No. 1 today, and even own Cunard! They are Chevy’s AND Cadillacs!

    Nidia sent us some great photos from your wedding!! How happy you both looked! Thanks for the email, and keep us posted. We hope to be in Miami in March and see your fantastic mother!! We miss her.

    Best,
    Ray Allen
    FLVT123@gmail.com
    Blue Ridge, GA

  • Anonymous

    amaaaaaaazingggggggg!
    buena webas, te felicito
    d