Imagine this. You’re on a dream cruise and you’ve taken some great pictures that will keep the magic of your holiday alive for the rest of your life.

Though you don’t want the cruise to end, you know when it does, there’ll still be something to look forward to . . . those special moments when you can bring out the holiday snaps and impress your friends.

Then the unthinkable happens. Your camera falls overboard.

New York to Southampton

That’s exactly what happened to South Africans, Dennis and Barbara Gregory, two years ago during a Cunard cruise from New York to Southampton on the QM2.

The couple had already damaged one camera on the trip so were trying to be extra careful with their other one.

Barbara takes up the story. “Dennis had the second camera strung around his neck because he didn’t want to drop it.

Dolphins in the water

“Everything was fine until he sat down on a lounger on deck and took it off his neck. Somebody spotted dolphins in the water and the two of us jumped up. That was it.

“It literally bounced off his lap, across the deck and into the water. With hardly a splash it was gone.”

In an instant their precious holiday images had been consigned to the bottom of the ocean. It was a devastating blow.

One in a billion

But then a year later something extraordinary happened. Through a one-in-a-billion stroke of luck the camera was caught in the nets of Spanish trawler man, Benito Estevez, while fishing off the coast of Western Europe.

Amazingly the device still worked. To cut a long story short the photos were shown on a BBC local news programme where one of the couple’s friends recognised them. Dennis and Barbara were duly informed and reunited with their missing property.

A miracle had taken place in the Atlantic.

Fond memories

This story reminds us just how precious cruise holiday photos can be. Long after the event they can rekindle fond memories and allow us to regale friends with tales of our escapades at sea.

But there’s just one problem with this.

While you may find your own snaps fascinating, others may regard them as deadly boring. Ask yourself, at what point during the display of 173 near identical pictures would you slip into a coma.

Creative techniques

Wouldn’t it be better if you could keep your audience awake throughout the whole presentation? Luckily there are some simple ways to do this – creative techniques that will breathe extra life into your photographs and make it impossible for anyone to drift off.

Just to get you started here are three strategies to consider, though once you begin to think along these lines, you’ll be generating lots of ideas of your own.

1. Tell a story
Rather than taking loads of random and seemingly disconnected shots, try to focus on images that tell the story of your holiday.

Right at the start why not capture the scene where your partner is trying to cram a container load of non-essential items into a single suitcase? Or a close-up of the luggage when it’s finally sealed, labelled and ready to go.

Then you’ll need a pic of that first glimpse of the ship before you board, followed by one of your cabin’s interior. As the holiday proceeds simply take as many photos as you can that are self explanatory and help to move the narrative forward.

If you’re feeling brave, you might want to bring along some A4 sheets and a felt tip pen. These can be held up to camera at appropriate moments with legends such as: ‘Atlantic Ocean this way’ or ‘Day Three: Spain’.

Using this technique your holiday snaps can convey the story of your voyage, without your having to keep up a running commentary.

2. Add a recurring motif
This is a device employed by artists of all kinds from painters and movie directors to musicians and novelists. I see no reason why we amateur cruise photographers can’t join them.

Find a small, unusual object – perhaps one that has some special association with you or your companions – and aim to place it in as many shots as you can. This could be anything from a cuddly toy to a hideous ornament that’s been in your family for decades and no one has the heart to throw it out.

Use your imagination to think up creative ways of working it into each photo. Place it full on, centre stage in one shot and off to the side, partially obscured in another.

In one picture it could be peeping out of someone’s pocket, in the next it could be balanced on someone’s head in the background.

3. Introduce a theme
This is where the possibilities are endless and you can truly unleash your inner creative tiger.

Think of a theme you can relate to and try to weave it into as many shots as you can. For example, it could be that in each picture you try to recreate a well known scene from the movies.

Or you could go for sporting or dancing themes. All you have to do is persuade the people in each shot to mime an action or step from a different sport or dance.

Look for props that can help you convey your theme. Indeed the props can even become the theme. For example, every time you see someone dressed in uniform you could ask to borrow their hat or jacket and wear it in your photo.

Variety and creativity
With all these ideas, variety and creativity are crucial.

Use a mixture of landscape and portrait shots, featuring people and objects, both from a distance and close-up. Take advantage of digital technology to experiment. Shoot as many pictures as you can of the same scene from different angles and using different settings.

Also remember to come equipped with extra memory storage and batteries. The last thing you want is to run out of space and have to start deleting earlier shots to accommodate newer ones.

That would be almost as bad as letting your camera slip overboard. And of course this time there’d be no Spanish trawler man to come to your rescue.

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