British air power

Contrasting the raw power of high-tech military jets against scenic Snowdonia

Aviation has been in my life from day one; it runs in the family in one form or another, so naturally I am draw to the skies above. Over the past 21 years I have increased my knowledge of the Royal Air Force, its history and realizing how incredibly important it is for our forces to train day in, day out for different scenarios.

History shows us that training has saved lives and helped to achieve the aims of operations with far greater efficiency. My aim has been to photograph the RAF in its current training capacity at a series of locations, but the one that really catches the eye is in the Snowdonia National Park, Wales. LFA7 – otherwise known as ‘The Mach Loop’

– is one of the most beautiful locations you can find in Britain to photograph aircraft.

I use a Canon 5D Mark III and EF 300mm f/2.8l IS II USM with an Extender EF 1.4x as my standard setup for aviation. It gives me the reach to capture the action.

Photographing up in The Loop is like fishing; you have to have a great deal of patience and a dash of good luck. The light can change in an instant, so you have to check your settings and take test shots every so often because here is the killer bit; you have one shot to get this right and you only have a couple of seconds to do it. I have been photographing aviation for a long time now so I know precisely what to expect and roughly when to take the photographs that will work the best.

Weather conditions can be somewhat adverse, so correct clothing is incredibly important as the wind will cut through nearly everything up there. At the end of three cold days I had produced a body of work that emphasized the skill needed to undertake this kind of flying and to give the viewer a small sense of what it is like to be in a pilot’s seat.

Photographing up in The Loop is like fishing; you have to have a great deal of patience and a dash of good luck