Aerial view of the Cunard cruise ship Queen Mary 2 arriving in Liverpool, England, with tugboats assisting and a ferry boat in the foreground.

Queen Mary 2’s first Liverpool visit

In 2009 I was commissioned by Cruise Liverpool to photograph the first visit of QM2 to Liverpool. Previously I had photographed QE2 visits for them, but the QM2 was a major event. The day started with a helicopter flight to photograph the arrival, turn and docking of the ocean going liner. Afterwards, photos of the cruise team at work followed by the departure of the ship with a firework send off. As it was such a big event I suggested photographing the fireworks from an apartment overlooking the waterfront instead of from across the river. 2009 was before drone photography took off, so this was the only real way of getting an aerial like viewpoint. The team did a great job at securing a spot and we had an incredible evening watching the ship sail away.