Have you ever wanted to travel the world while getting paid to do what you love? Michelle Hanson of mhphotoco spent 3 years at sea as a cruise ship photographer. She’s been to 6 continents and 83 countries which is hard to imagine for someone like myself who’s never left the States! I stumbled upon her work while searching for photos of Alaska since my husband and I are moving there soon. The more I learned about her the more intrigued I became, which inspired me to create this post, Cruise Ship Photography & Traveling Tips by mhphotoco.

Seeing the world through Michelle’s lens is delightful! The more I toured her images, the more I felt like I had been to other countries before!

Cruise Ship Photography & Traveling Tips by MHphotoco

After Michelle agreed to an interview, I toured her website some more and was shocked to find many stories that answered most of my curiosities about mhphotoco. Therefore, my interview with her was brief, but later in this article, I will link to Michelle’s cruise ship photography stories and traveling tips!

1. How long have you been a photographer?

I always owned a camera as a kid, but it was hard to find the balance of how much film I could use. I always took pictures of sunsets, rainbows, and animals. Then, when my brother was born, I went pretty wild with that too.

I never went to school for photography. Ultimately, I learned the most through my time working on ships. I hadn’t even owned a professional camera until I got that job and arrived on location and I wasn’t sure how to use much of any of it. But I got thrown into the deep end and learned very quickly!

The easiest way to learn is through trial and error. Experiment with different settings and see what the outcome looks like.

2. You've been to 6 continents and 83 countries! Was that all via cruise ship?

Pretty much! I had only been to other states and Canada before my time on ships.

3. On your website you list a few of your favorite destinations. If you had to narrow it down to one favorite place, where would it be?

If I am limited to only choosing one, it’s Norway. I am a sucker for mountains and waterfalls and it has plenty of those, Plus I just love the Arctic and come to find out Norwegian is my strongest Heritage so it makes sense. I really felt like I had Viking Blood when I was there.

4. You are an adventurous person! What's the craziest thing that's ever happened to you while on a cruise tour?

Good question! The first thing that comes to mind was when I was in Brazil and almost got mugged. Not sure if you saw that story but it’s in there! It was just unexpected and scary but I stayed calm and worked through it and didn’t lose anything in the process.

5. On your website you mention some of the hardships of cruise ship life. It sounds like a challenging yet liberating experience. What was one of the worst memories you had on the ship? What was one of the best?

The hardships come down to things you don’t realize you will miss when you aren’t living on land anymore. I didn’t have a relationship, kids, or even pets at the time, so that was pretty easy, but I would imagine that would be the biggest struggle for most people.

For me, the best thing was meeting lots of different people from all sorts of countries and continents. But with that, I would say the worst thing was having to say “goodbye” to them because, in all actuality, you will probably never see them again.

But there are little things that you don’t think twice about like season changes, holidays, being able to take a road trip, go to a concert, etc. when you are bound to life at sea.

6. You mentioned working on a cruise ship as a "transformative experience" in a spiritual and personal growth kind of way. I would imagine "cruise ship photographer" looks fantastic on a resume as well. Is that right? Has the experience helped you score work on land?

Yes and no. If I was promoting myself to other companies as a photographer then I’m sure it would work wonders but I really didn’t approach the job field the same after that.

I had to get a job after I finished the ships just to pay bills and at that time I was dealing with my DUI, so I needed something for work release, so I didn’t have to sit in jail the whole time. That job was supposed to be temporary but it lasted 3 years and ended up teaching me a lot about packaging, shipping, and logistics that I’m using now.

But after I left there I made a vow to never go back to working for anybody but myself so I haven’t really needed the cruise ship experience for a resume.

Cruise Ship Photography and Traveling Tips by Mhphotoco

Are you interested in working as a cruise ship photographer like Michelle? If so, you probably have a lot of questions!

What better way to learn than by asking a seasoned sea-lady? Check out Michelle’s amazing website which offers tons of traveling tips and useful advice on cruise ship photography. She is even kind enough to answer your specific questions! Click here to read her tips and shoot her an email if you have more questions.

Beautify Your Home With Cruise Ship Photography by MHphotoco!

Beautify your home and office with gorgeous photography by mhphotoco like:

Paper and Canvas Prints
Brushed Metal Art
Mugs
Tumblers
Coasters
Mouse Pads
Puzzles
Ornaments
Keychains
Magnets
Stickers

Thanks for Reading!

Check out more amazing cruise ship photography photos by mhphotoco on Michelle’s website, Instagram, and Facebook!

Thanks for reading! If you liked this post, please share it! Need flower photoshoot ideas for spring? Check out this post!