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Originally from Jerez de la Frontera, Jesús Carmona has been first officer on the Abel Matutes ferry for three years. He joined Baleària in 2014 and has since sailed continuously as a deck officer on several vessels. With a degree in Nautical Science and Maritime Transport and a master’s degree in Port Management and Logistics, he also has an artistic passion for photography from the bridge, which he shares on his Instagram account.
Q. Where does your love of the sea come from?
A. When I was young, I spent my summers in Rota and always wanted to get on one of the sailing boats cruising off the coast. I wondered what the land would look like from there, how far I might be able to travel, or whether I would see dolphins and other marine animals... When I was 14, I finally persuaded my parents, who were very wary of the sea, to enrol me at a sailing school, and two years later I was already a sailing instructor. I spent my teenage years and early adulthood teaching people of all ages how to sail. When the time came to choose a degree... the decision was obvious: I wanted to become a captain.
Q. What do you remember about your first day at Baleària?
A. I joined the Poeta López Anglada as second deck officer at the shipyard in Seville, just before setting off for the Strait of Gibraltar. I was nervous and, although I had already worked as an officer on passenger ships, I had never sailed a vessel of that size on a river. I felt a certain amount of pressure and really wanted to do a good job. I had always seen Baleària as the Spanish passenger shipping company with the strongest prospects for the future. It was my opportunity to be part of it and I could not let it slip.
Q. What has changed the most since you joined?
A. The size and technology of the fleet. New, highly advanced vessels have joined it, from the Eco Series, with solar panels that help power on-board services, to the Eleanor Roosevelt catamaran and the sister ships Hypatia de Alejandría and Marie Curie.
Abel Matutes ferry. Photo: @fotografia_jesuscarmona
Q. When you hear the word Baleària, what is the first thing that comes to mind?
A. Innovation and change, which are essential in today’s world. Gratitude as well: it has been many years of professional and personal experience.
Q. What do you enjoy most about your profession?
A. The views! We are lucky enough to work in the offices with the best views in the world... What better balcony over the sea than a ship’s bridge?
Q. One major lesson you have learned at Baleària?
A. Sailing for many years means you inevitably face critical situations: medical emergencies, severe storms... It has taught me to put everyday problems into perspective. At home they say nothing ever gets me worked up!
Q. What would you say to a young person considering joining Baleària?
A. I would encourage them. It is a very good option. It is a shipping company with a strong future and, if you work in the fleet, the working pattern, with long periods of leave spread throughout the year, also lets you lead an exciting life.
A passion for photography
Q. When did your interest in photography begin?
A. I have always loved travelling, which I get to do often thanks to my profession. Four years ago I bought my first DSLR camera to capture the trips that lay ahead and... I discovered an entirely new world opening up in front of me! Most people have no idea what a camera in manual mode can actually capture.
Q. Sunrises and sunsets are your weakness... which style do you identify with most?
A. Yes, the rays of the setting sun are my favourite painter. Even so, I identify more with night photography and astrophotography. Behind the black night sky on new-moon nights lies an endless range of colours and shades that our eyes, clumsy in the dark, simply cannot perceive. There are galaxies and nebulae that appear larger than the Moon in the sky and that we cannot see because their light reaches us so faintly, not because of their size. What’s more, when you photograph the cosmos, you are also travelling through time, because the light captured by your camera left its source thousands of years ago. The Rosette Nebula, for example, even though we cannot see it, covers an area of the sky equivalent to five full moons and is 5,200 light-years away... yet my camera captured it just 15 minutes from Jerez, my home city. I still find that incredible!
Q. Is there any person or landscape you would like to photograph?
A. Namibia. It has so many things: the southern hemisphere, culture, completely different wildlife and plant life, desert landscapes and skies without light pollution... I’ll make it there on one of my holidays!
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