IMAGINARIUM CRUISE
A photographic guest experience designed for expedition cruise environments — operating seamlessly onboard and ashore.
Step into a world of memory and imagination, where each journey becomes a cinematic visual record.
Imaginarium Cruise offers a refined portrait experience that integrates naturally into expedition voyages, creating distinctive, story-driven images shaped by place, atmosphere, and the people who experience them.
HOW IT WORKS
A flexible photographic setup is installed onboard using minimal, portable equipment, allowing a compact studio environment to be created within existing ship spaces.
Guests can opt into portrait sessions throughout the voyage, either onboard or during selected excursions ashore, depending on conditions and itinerary.
Each session is designed to be fluid and unobtrusive, working within the natural rhythm of the ship while producing refined, cinematic portraits.
Final images are carefully edited and delivered as distinctive visual keepsakes of the journey.
There is no single way to step into the scene — only different ways of experiencing it.
VISUALIZATIONS
AI-generated images to illustrate portrait ideas, approach and direction.
Let's Imagine
Guests Imagined
against a photographic sweep/infinity curve
Guests Imagined
in their favourite apparel advert
Guests Imagined
on the cover of their favourite magazine
Guests Imagined
saying something inspirational
Guests Imagined
appearing on their favourite adventure TV show
Guests Imagined
as Expedition Fashionistas
From here on all images are photographic.
Now let's make this real.
Ashore & Environmental
From excursions to encounters, each moment ashore is captured with care.
Landscapes, activities, and interactions with locals are documented as they unfold, while guests may also choose to have individual or couple portraits created throughout the day — a personal, cinematic record of their journey.
Onboard Refined and Cinematic
From quiet moments aboard ship to composed, studio-style portraits, each image captures guests with elegance and presence.
Whether in casual attire, adventure gear, or formal wear, portraits range from intimate close-ups to striking, graphic compositions — a cinematic record of life onboard.
Ceclia
Model, Influencer, Traveler
Nancy & Francesco
CEO's & Entrepreneurs
Victor
Engineer & Adventurer
Sasha, Graham, Ulrike and Wes
Itinerant cruiship travellers
Hugo and Anna
Turophiles Extraordinaire
David Thompson
Chef
Environmental Portraits on and off Ship
Ajmal Samuel
Entrepreneur, Para-Athlete & Adventurer
WALL PORTRAITS
Simple portraits created using natural light and walls on board or off ship.
Quick, unobtrusive, and adaptable — perfect for documenting guests wherever space allows or time is short.
The Conch and the Nautilus
Plant Life
Every cruise relies on the people working behind the scenes — organisers, volunteers, medics, mechanics, and cooks who keep everything running.
Using a simple portrait approach, these individuals can be documented with the same care and attention as participants, highlighting their character and contribution.
EVENT MAKERS
Chef Proletariat
PLAYFUL PORTRAIT CONCEPTS
Life on an expedition voyage is defined not only by the places visited, but by the experiences shared — moments of reflection, discovery, and connection between guests.
Alongside documentary-style coverage, Imaginarium offers a series of optional editorial portrait concepts, designed to elevate these moments into refined, collectible images.
Portraits can be created both on location during excursions or within a controlled onboard setting, where guests are photographed simply and naturally, then placed into carefully constructed photographic environments.
These concepts draw from a visual language familiar to a well-travelled audience:
• expedition and travel journal covers
• outdoor apparel-style imagery
• broadcast and documentary poster aesthetics
• minimal, text-led compositions using literary or inspirational lines
The result is a set of portraits that feel less like staged photographs, and more like fragments of a larger narrative — personal, cinematic, and enduring.
Each image is designed to stand alone as a finished piece, offering guests something considered and distinctive to take away from their journey.
COMPOSITE PORTRAIT CONCEPTS
Portraits in this Blade Runner Inspired series were created in Hong Kong through a fully photographic process, combining location imagery with carefully lit portable studio portraits.
Backgrounds are first captured during the journey — landscapes and environments, observed along the route.
The light, atmosphere, and direction of each scene are studied and documented.
Guests are then photographed separately in a simple onboard cabin studio setup, with lighting designed to match the original environment as closely as possible.
These elements are brought together in post-production, where each subject is precisely integrated into the scene, followed by the addition of typography and graphic elements to create a finished, cinematic composition.
All images are constructed from original photographic material. No AI-generated imagery is used — only real locations, real light, and real people, brought together through a considered visual process.
Blade Runner Buddies
BEYOND THE SHIP - VISUAL JOURNEYS
Alongside the onboard portrait experience, Imaginarium Cruise allows for independent photographic exploration at each destination.
Working unobtrusively and without the need for coordination, I produce a series of carefully observed images that respond to the landscape, light, and character of the places visited.
This work forms a parallel visual narrative to the voyage — quieter, more reflective, and rooted in a documentary sensibility.
These images can be offered in two ways:
For guests
A selection of museum-quality prints available as meaningful keepsakes — allowing guests to take home not only a portrait of themselves, but a visual memory of the places they experienced.
For the cruise line
A bespoke visual library created during the voyage, suitable for marketing, editorial use, or future brand storytelling.
IMAGINARIUM CRUISE is a travelling portrait studio — a mobile photographic practice designed to operate within expedition environments, both onboard and ashore.
It offers a considered, experience-led approach to documenting life on a voyage, focusing on the people who shape it — guests, crew, and the shared moments of exploration, reflection, and discovery.
Working with lightweight, portable equipment, spaces onboard can be adapted into simple photographic setups, allowing for refined portraiture within the practical rhythm of the ship.
Portraits are created across a range of approaches — from environmental and documentary-style observations to more constructed, cinematic compositions — each grounded in the atmosphere and character of the journey.
The intention is to produce images that extend beyond traditional cruise photography: photographs that feel personal, enduring, and connected to the places experienced.
IMAGINARIUM CRUISE appears by invitation — a temporary photographic presence onboard, contributing to the visual narrative and memory of each expedition.
RICHARD MARK DOBSON is a British photographer whose international career spans nearly four decades.
Born in Bradford, England, and raised in South Africa, he trained in graphic design before beginning his photographic career in London assisting leading advertising photographer Duncan Sim.
Since establishing his first studio in Hong Kong, Dobson has lived and worked across Europe, Africa, and Asia, photographing people, places, and communities for corporate, editorial, and advertising clients, alongside long-term personal and documentary projects.
Throughout his career, he has combined observational, documentary-style work with conceptual and staged photography, producing a wide-ranging body of work across multiple genres and disciplines.
This diversity and adaptability make him particularly well-suited to creating flexible portrait experiences like Imaginarium Expedition, where participants can be photographed in a variety of styles, environments and disciplines.
Published Editorial
GEO (Germany), GEO (France), GEO Special (Germany),GEO (Russia) GEO Saison (Germany), Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung, Financial Times (UK), National Geographic Adventure (USA), National Geographic Traveler (USA), Toyota Infront Magazine (UK), Landrover ONELife Mag (UK) Guardian (UK), Restaurant Magazine (UK), Guardian on Sunday (UK), MERIAN Magazine (Germany), 100 Ideas Jardin (France), Conde Nast Traveler (USA), Air France Madam (France), Outside Magazine (USA), World Traveler (USA), New York Times, Departures (USA), International Herald Tribune, New York Times, Asia Inc (Hong Kong) Discovery (HK), Expression (Amex Publishing), Islands Magazine (USA), Forbes Magazine (USA),Travel & Leisure (USA) Town & Country (USA),Orient Magazine (Hong Kong), Morning Calm (Korean Air), Silk Road (Dragon Air) Business Traveller (Hong Kong), Business Traveller (UK), Mandarin Oriental (HK), Outside Magazine (USA) Lufthansa Magazine (Germany).
Published Advertising
Couldrey Jones (Hong Kong),Thompson’s (HK), Thompson’s Megacom (HK), Couldrey Jones (HK), Couldrey Jones (HK), BATES Advertising (Thailand), Old Shanghai Firecracker Factory (South Africa),Grey Advertising (SA), BLGK BATES Advertising (HK), Ogilvy & Mather (SA), Mc Cann Erickson (SA), Network (SA), Saatchi & Saatchi (SA), SMLB Leo Burnett (SA), The Agency (SA), Grey Advertising (SA), DMB&B (SA), King James Advertising (SA), Ogilvy & Mather (SA), TBWA Fusion (SA), TBWA Paris Nissan Z350 ‘cops’ Cannes ’05 TBWA Paris Spontex Cannes Silver ’05,TBWA Fusion, Jupiter Drawing Room (SA), Joe Public (SA).
Published Corporate
Business Enterprises Dong Fang Hotel Brochure China, HKTDC (Hong Kong Trade Development Council), Hill & Knowlton H.K. Ltd, Re-Act Communications Credit Lyonnaise, Hilton Hotel Hong Kong, Dalat Resorts Inc, Dalat Pine Lake Golf Course, Island Shangri-La Hotel. Hong Kong, Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel Hong Kong, Park Lane Hotel Hong Kong, DWC Tang Development China Club-Peking, International Herald Tribune China Summit-Beijing, DWC Tang Development. China Club Peking, Shanghai Tang Hong Kong, International Herald Tribune-Korea Summit, Stocks Leisure Resorts. Bakubung, Kwa Maritane, Andersen Consulting (SA),TheYamu Thailand, Movenpick Jordan.,Abu Dhabi Golf & Equestrian Centre, PearlValley golf estate Cape Town, New World Hotel Saigon, Ramana Hotel Saigon, DWP Saigon, Veolia Water Systems, Ale Heavy Lift UK, Strategic Marine Australia.
NGO’s
Greenpeace Africa, Medicine Sans Frontiers, British Red Cross.
Books
Karoo Moons ‘A photographic journey’.
Films
Pendulum Control. Winner Palandino D'Oro Sports Film Festval 'Best Extreme Film' 20205
Awards
Cannes Lion festival and D&AD for his advertising work, and has been included in the prestigious London Association of Photographers awards 2007 & 2008 and SILVER 2009.