Robert Griffiths
Since I can remember I have always been fascinated with anything even remotely
related to aviation. From its history, the engineering and science, its art, its creativity
and the way it has shaped and moulded the world into what we know today.
I was taken to my first ever air show at 18 months old, on a family outing to RAF St
Athan. From that point on something gripped me and become my life. Everything I did,
everything I created was, and still is, related to aviation. In 1993, my family and I
attended International Air Tattoo (now the Royal International Air Tattoo) after my father won some free tickets. That year, if anyone who attended will tell you, was not a good year with the mid-air collision of two Russian Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrums. This didn't put us off though and have attended every year since then (bar 94 and 97) and have done FRIAT since 2007.
I took photography at College, much to the amusement to my father who said I always
got my fingers in the way of my little 35mm compact. He wasn’t lying, my early days
were pretty embarrassing but finally I would learn how to do photography properly,
learning initially on film and saying I would never ever go to digital (oh, how wrong I
was!). By the end of the course I had learned the basics and had transitioned to using
digital. Over the years my kit would go from basic to more advanced, but I would not be
utilising it as I should, after many years of having to relearn what I had every year.
In April 2016 I attended my first Centre of Aviation Photography workshop and have
started doing more photography than ever before. This has not only kept my skill up but
has meant that I have tried different subjects and techniques along with different editing
as and when I get a bit of advice from fellow photographers. As a result of using my
camera more and more, I have maintained my skill and ventured into other areas that I
once thought I would never try.
So here is my story, one that I will keep adding chapters to from the UK side of things
and hopefully travelling a bit more. Very happy to be a part of this crew and can not wait
to meet up with them in the future.
“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned
skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” ―
Leonardo da Vinci
