When I was young, yes I know I’m still young, but
I’m talking about REALLY young, I worked on cruise
ships.
I spent almost a year cruising the
Caribbean as a photographer; shooting, printing
(in the days before digital) and selling
photographs of families, couples and fine young
things out for a good time and the four ‘s’ words,
sun, sea, shopping and s…let’s just say love!
The sun shines most days round the islands; they
donned the latest beach fashion and strutted their
stuff on the ship’s promenades, the pool, casino
and restaurants. They were beautiful, young men
and women with sun-cream oiled skin basking in the
glorious sunshine.
The sea is bluer than you can imagine, rich and
deep and inviting, with the occasional appearance
of smiling dolphins riding the waves of the ship
passing and flying fish soaring by as we moved
between the islands.
Each island greeted the ships with offers of
shopping excursions, somewhat reluctant and
grim-faced locals selling their wares to the
holiday stricken passengers out for the best deal,
something different that proved they were really
there!
And the final ‘s’ – let me tell you a story.
One evening I was invited to the ship’s library to
take a photograph of a group of people who wanted
a special token to remember their cruise by. They
were a group of young couples who were celebrating
theirs friend’s upcoming wedding. A kind of joint
bachelor and hen party over the three days of the
cruise and they wanted a group shot that they
could all take home from the trip. I entered the
library and saw that they were in the middle of an
intense conversation. I cleared my throat to draw
their attention and introduced myself.
Are you ready to take the shot? I asked.
Sure, yeah, let’s do it, they replied.
Then one of the guys nudged the other and said “I
bet she has the best answer. Let’s ask her”.
Then a third piped up, “we’re wondering what’s the
wildest place that anyone has done it.. you know
Dave here reckons that maybe you would have a good
story to tell, I mean you have that cute Irish
accent”.
As I set up the group photograph, I joked with
them about how much fun it was to think about the
answer to the question. They were a handsome
group and it was easy to take a good shot. Once I
had finished they reminded me that I owed them an
answer.
So I described a beautiful castle in the west of
Ireland, a hike up a windswept hill and the mist
lifting to reveal the breathtaking view of wild
cliffs and the fierce drop to the pounding waves
of the ocean below.
I described how we had walked up the hill with
the soft rain (a truly Irish phenomena) caressing
our faces and how at the very top of the hill,
we had entered the ruins of the castle.
He had taken my hand and led me up to the
second floor of the broken down, burnt out
building?.
Each person in the group, probably like you, was
leaning forward in anticipation of the next words
that I would say.
I smiled.
I sighed.
And I said “there is nothing in the world more
powerful than love, except perhaps, a really great
story!”
I have yet to meet someone who does not like to
hear a good story. Stories Empower. Stories
Sell. Stories are the way we live and breadth in
the world!
Next time, you need to deliver a message in a
powerful way, simply tell a good story!
