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Report on Song of America by CHRISTIAN FOURNIER
-I do ALL 35mm printing, reprints, D&P, mixing print chemicals, key chains. I also tidy the darkroom, although not as fast as they can mess it up. I repaired rep pump, broken belts. I help with stores, gallery, processes, shoots... I got two times one hour off for the entire first week. -Broken dryer: Trevor thinks this is normal on all Durst 1480, so he does not even inform me of it. When I tell him that the dryers work very well on the Sovereign or Majesty he will not believe me, saying that he has been on these ships before me. I could not convince him. He is stubborn beyond comprehension. The only communication possible is: -"Yes you are right Trevor". So we must turn the drive on 15 minutes before putting a roll through, otherwise we loose the first prints, because they are wet. This problem should be looked at ASAP, before a complete breakdown of this dryer. I have not seen a spare dryer assembly anywhere. -Durst 5000 freezes about twice a week and we must switch it off quickly to restart it, then recalibrate it using Kodak reference neg. And all previous data is lost, so you have to retest the color and all your reprints are off too. Apparently it is a power supply problem and cannot be solved except major rewiring of the lines to the darkroom. But it is costing us money and major time and aggravation. -Exposures on Durst 5000 are much too long, printer is not in "dead heat": we get blur when the ship rocks. Eventhough I was told that the aperture was already at maximum, I looked at it and reduced it two stops, 3 weeks ago. It all goes better now. Of course I did not tell Trevor, of he would have a fit, saying that the prints are all out of focus. -Sleep is hard to get: very noisy Jamaicans near our cabins: they never speak to each other, they shout, night or day. They earn a lot of money and all buy large stereo equipment: (see pic enclosed) They have parties in the corridor instead of the crew lounge. Plus cabin inspections every Saturday 10 to 12 am, after an all night printing session: we must be out of the cabins. This is not fair. Peter went to sleep in the crew bar. I can never get a full night 's sleep. Plus Trevor bursting in the cabin at 3am because one print is too light, or some other unurgent matter. It is a nightmare. -There are crossed curves in the negs (I see it when I make a ring around), they are not processed properly. The chemical mixer is not rinsed enough, mainly because there isn't enough water. Not enough agitation in C41 bleach (they say the first second is enough). Not enough aeration in C41 bleach (the air pump are not even used). There is not enough water to the darkroom to rinse the films. We get the mixing water only from the film rinse tank with a 2L jug. The water is also too cold: reticulation looks bad, specially on portraits from 35mm to 10x8". There is not enough water to rinse the prints properly. This is important. Negotiations should be started with the right people. I will do that when I am in charge. Or can you also help from the head office? -The negs are under exposed (flashmeter readings at F8, shoot on F11) and over developed (3.30 min. instead of 3.15 min. in dev): bad for semi tones. -The Durst 5000 neg clamp is broken: blur pics. Very annoying when you print 13 000 pics a week. -Filters get stuck in Durst 5000. We must make some empty exposures to clear them. We need a technician when ever possible. -Trevor is too hyper: he bursts in the cabin like a furry, at any time of day and night to shout at me or Martin (Example: at 8am, after my usual all night printing, because he found 15 key chains damaged, because of the dryer problem, shortening our sleep, not good to face the next day's work) -All printing on FXFF, even D&P!!!! This is really ridiculous. See report on Majesty. Thin negs come out very green. All black passengers come out green, since you must reduce print exposure to get correct density. A slope is essential. -Trevor's idea of time off is: 50 rolls of dinners + gangways to print overnight so you do have all day to play in Bermuda. -Format changes: very outdated check lists on walls, wasting a lot of time for new comers. See previous list enclosed: nothing is valid. -No up-to-date, clear, adjusted to our tanks, mixing instructions anywhere, only Trevor knows, Peter didn't even know. -3 pots of paint, on top of each other, with the top one open, were left on the darkroom floor for my first night printing. I kicked it in the dark to get to the processor and paint smeared all over the floor. -As usual (same as Sovereign and Majesty) there are no feed spools for the trimmer, so trimming is painful. Can you send us some feed spools for the trimmer. -The gallery office is a giant garbage bin: food, toys, all sorts of pics, notes, obsolete reprints orders all mixed with the current work: results: some reprints never make it to the darkroom, creating frustration for me and for the pax. -Flags in gallery are not being used. (even though Mike B. spent his Sunday labelling them) -Dancers are still shot on first night, against Mike Brinkhurst' s order. -Trevor could not tell whether a video camera was missing or not: stock check is a joke. -Trevor, Mike B. and myself discussed my expenses on 9th May. It was all clear that I would get $250+$250+$500 for my three weeks. On 15th May, Trevor says he has phoned the office: I can only get $500. All solved after a big argument. Mainly Trevor wanted to give me a hard time, asking what those expenses were. I said it was none of his business, he just had to obey the head office and give me the money. -Neon light in darkroom/tungsten in gallery: you have to print cold in the darkroom for the pics to look OK in gallery. Not accurate enough. -The #3 got his wage on Wednesday: just a stack of bills: no envelope, no breakdown, %?, uniforms?, charge card?, bar bill? -After a heavy night of printing, I have just made it to my bed, I get a call from the gallery: I must bring more folders immediately. So I get all the calls from pursers, passengers, other photogs, officers, crew. Why is the only photogs' telephone in my cabin, not in Trevor's? -My letter from Sue Ellen on the Sovereign, opened by Paul Wilkinson (he told me during N. Empress dry docks) never got to me. -My wage was $418 this first week. -$15 for dining room stewards and $15 for cabin steward =$388. At 15 hours per day, 7 day a week = 105. $3.70 an hour for a #2. Lowest pay on board, apart from cleaners, and #3 photogs. -The cabins are really bad. We did not get any towels for 4 days. I had to sleep in Trevor's sheet for the first 4 days. The hygiene is pathetic. Dominic has spots all over his body. I spent three hours, taken off my sleeping time, to clean after the last photogs. Why do most photogs live in their own excrement? Is the only way to survive on here to live like pigs? Why do most photogs spend all their time off drinking? Is it to numb all feelings of dignity? The toilets always block. The shaver socket is broken. The Jamaicans next door are very noisy, night and day. They shout back at you, very rudely, if you complain. Plus loud P.A. announcements for no emergency reasons. -Drive is weak on the Durst 1680: we often have to give it a "pull start". It might break down soon completely. This is important: we only have one. -Trevor does not shoot (except some portraits, and pier to escape boat drills, when there is one). He does not print. He does not clean darkroom or gallery. He makes me count all stock. What does he do? All other photogs are exhausted and overworked. -It seems that Trevor's aim is to increase the neg figure, regardless of quality or salability or pax saturation. Pax get photographed 5 times on the first day: emb, boat drill, sail, dancers, New York backdrop. Results: 30 bad comments last week, mainly: too many pics. This would work on Majesty or Sovereign or Monarch with young pax, but all we have here are retired or honeymooners. -The hand shakes are pathetic because the captain refuse to stand in the right place, no enough room for the photog, his back against the rail. The line is poorly organized by the cruise staff. The captain goes too fast and does not even look at the pax. So 50% of the shots are backs of heads. There is no point in shooting these. We should only shoot when the pic is decent. Waste of neg, process, paper, time, and pax get angry for bad pics and blame us for bad pics. -Between gallery until 11am, the stores, Coast Guard drills, late clearance, emb and back on board at 3.45pm, the photogs do not get much time in New York. -Using strange diffuser boxes on both Durst 5000: we need the 35mm horizontal neg diffusion boxes: since we use the 126 format ones, a lot of light is lost, which explains why the exposure times are so long, creating blur. Does Durst make a diffuser box to fit 35mm exactly? -The printer bulb blew, I had to replace. There is only one spare now. The last one was changed by Peter the day before I arrived. So this is a dangerous situation. I told Trevor, but 2 weeks later he still had not ordered any. So I phoned Sea Cruise and Alan sent us some immediately. -The smoked perpex covers for the reflex viewing boxes on the Durst 5000 are both missing, which means that I get blind after an all night printing session of thin negs, because I stare at a too powerful burst of light 2000 times per night. Why have the covers been removed????? Where are they? -The channel in use for portraits is: EMB 35MM KODAK GLOSSY. Very strange that I could not guess that, even though I have been printing for 12 years. "Why make simple when you can confuse every one" seems to be the general philosophy around this darkroom. -The "Dust Buster" is broken. Can we get a new one. It is badly needed. -Trevor insists that the man's hand should be exactly in the middle of the lady's arm when posing a portrait. It really makes no difference to the general aspect of the picture, or to the sale. (What matters is the expression of the pax.) It just annoys the pax and slows down the line. With all the bad comments that we get every week, this is important. -During printing the Durst 5000 on board sometimes jumps from FXFF to Integrate without reason and warning: major aggravation. There are some major problems with this printer and a technician's visit would not be money wasted. -The reason why I cannot fix every thing myself right now is because I am working 15 hours a day and do not get a chance. But I will when I am in charge. -Trevor makes the photogs dismantle the lenses and flashguns from the cameras every end of shoot and put them all in the cupboard. So every thing has to be reassembled at the beginning of every shoot: for what reason, what gain? All I see is more work and more wear on the cameras. -Meeting with Trevor in darkroom: Trevor is not a good team leader, he only knows one thing: to insult photogs in a nasty way when there is a mistake, even a very small and irrelevant mistake. He never helps, or shows how, or encourages. So photogs hate him and do not work in a happy mood. Trevor, who is very insecure, got to panic with such tension. He called a meeting and said: you must love me or else I will make a bad report about you when I get to Miami. -Trevor had a fit because I fasten the 10" clips onto the belts of the Durst 5000 the opposite way than him, the "wrong way", he says. The truth is: it make absolutely no difference which way they go. -We cannot eat any more in the Veranda Café. Since the only place left is the Main dining room, where service is much too slow for us and we have to dress up and there are not enough chairs for all the staff, it is a very poor situation. It does make a difference when you work 15 hours a day. For a cup of coffee, the only choice is the pantry, where you are asked for one dollar tip to get it. -Trevor never helps, even in an emergency: the printer lost all data again last Friday, so I had to reprint all dinner pics and also attend the boat drill. Trevor could have helped printing or have me instead of him excused for the drill. -I arrived on board Song of America at 2.30 PM Sat 8th May, I was wearing my jacket & tie uniform. I met the photogs, they were in bed. The cabin was a huge mess. I put my luggage in, unopened. Trevor said there was plenty of room in the storeroom. I ask for a cash loan on my expenses: he said no problem. Trevor told me to come back at 5.30pm, so we could meet Mike Brinkhurst at (quote): "his expensive hotel, eventhough a pax cabin was booked for him on board". No sign of Dominic, the new #3. I showed up at 5.30 back at their cabin: they were not ready. We left the ship at 6pm. In the Lobby, Trevor said bluntly that he would tell Mike it was my coming late that delayed them, he was not joking. Mike took us for dinner & cabaret. At 2 am Mike went to his hotel, the photogs went to a disco. I was tired and went back to ship. But Dominic had arrived, so there was no room for me because the previous photog Gordon was still here. I had to search for the hotel manager ar 2 am to get Mike' s alleged cabin. I could not get to my clothes or toiletry bag, for I had not gotten any keys. I met Mike at the gallery, still in my yesterday's uniform, at 9am. We put signs on the flags, reorganized the shop, set up emb. I started emb at 12 noon. I had not been able to eat or change. At 4.30pm I finished emb, finally got to the cabin (an absolute pigsty) but did not have a key to open it. I shot sail away. I got 4 full rolls the other three photogs got 5 between them. I was still in my Nordic Empress clothes, without a drink or food since previous night. Trevor told me I could not eat for I had to process emb, print emb (24 rolls, must be ready by 8pm), then print dancers (26 rolls), decks (12 rolls) and key chains. There was no log book for the Durst 5000 printing, no starting filtration. I got angry, why do I do everything? Trevor told me that because of me, Peter, the previous #2, has to go back one peg. I argue that it would be for everybody's benefit in the long run, so the #3 did the process, but the atmosphere was tense. No one told me that the dryer was broken, that the printer looses data and freezes. So it was hell. I still did not get to eat. I went to bed at 5am. Trevor burst into the cabin at 8am, shouting like mad, saying all the key chains were ruined, because I failed to switch the dryer on 15 min. before using it, like every one who has printed before should know. I went to the darkroom, only 15 key chains out of the 700 were damaged, and only just wrinkled anyway. I reprinted them and they stayed in the darkroom for the next 3 days. When I asked for my cases to be stored in the storeroom on deck 4, Trevor said that there was not enough room. When I asked for my expenses, Trevor said he would have to check with Miami. -I only put up with this very painful situation because I have been told I would soon be #1. As a #1, I will get full night's sleep, rationalize the organization, prepare the equipment (as much as possible), make the team happier, reduce the bad comments, decrease the negs and increase the revenue (these two figures are not always linked the way most people think: I have proved it many times during my 12 years as a manager). |
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