London - Trip of a lifetime? It’s impossible to tell from some of these images.
Awkwardly timed and often absurdly composed, they are the hilarious photos of cruise ship passengers that never made it into the holiday albums.
Former cruise ship photographer Ian Hughes, 45, has released the “reject” images he took of Italian and American travellers in the 1990s.
Many were unintentionally amusing – such as the couple posing by a naked statue and another with a life preserver.
One passenger was pictured wrapped up in layers of warm clothes while they were either taking a nap or simply sheltering from the chilly conditions on deck. Either way, it clearly wasn’t worth keeping as a holiday memento as the subject of the photo – like all the others here – never came to collect their snaps.
Mr Hughes, from Brighton, said: “You’d never tell from these pictures but on the whole they were happy to have their evening meals interrupted by pushy photographers like us.”
He said American passengers “loved” having their pictures taken most of the time. But many of his colleagues had a different experience working with travellers from the UK.
“I know a few photographers who worked on British-based cruise ships and that was a very different story,” he said. ‘F*** off, I’m having me tea’ was a common response, apparently.”
Daily Mail