Richard Souza
I am an air force B.R.A.T from the cold war. The C-5 Galaxy wasn't in service but a few years when my Father took me to the flight line of Maxwell Air Force Base to see the largest aircraft in the world. That image was developed for posterity in the dark room of my mind. I still see the USAF Thunderbirds in their massive Phantoms tearing up the Alabama Sky over Craig Air Force Base. Both the Phantom and Craig AFB are now a thing of the past. But my love for aviation lives on.
It is hard for me to say where my interest in photography began. I want to say that it was when we built pinhole cameras in the 4th grade, or maybe when I got a "job" as a camera caddy when I was 12 or 13. What I do know is that it was in a world where film was king. A time when it took weeks if not months to polish off a roll of 12, 24, or 36 shots. I would run the roll of film down to the town shop and waited anxiously for a week to see the results. It was a time when my camera of choice was a Kodak Instamatic 124.
I never really put the two interests together until I enrolled in Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. It was there where I had the opportunity to buy a Yashika 35mm with 3 lenses for $100.00. A few weeks after my acquisition, I shoot my first air show. The year was 1986.
The decades that followed have been of evolution. It is during this period that I developed a "Dare to be different" approach to Photography. I shoot by instinct and from the heart. I have been fortunate to be affiliated with Airmuseumnetwork.com and, as a journalist, have been able to tell the story behind the photograph.
Full Disc Aviation is a new episode in what has been an interesting photography career. I am proud to be associated with such young talent. I only hope that I can teach them half of what they have taught me.
