We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Robert Griffiths a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Robert thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

If it’s one thing that the recent pandemic taught me, is to take the opportunities or risks if you will, when they arise. I got wind that the French Air Force were due to train at a local beach to me back home in Wales, UK. I knew the area well, having witnessed and photographed the Royal Air Force training there several times before. The beach is used for natural surface training for pilots and crew so that they can use what they learn in real world scenarios.

Checking the weather forecast showed some pretty rough weather and a high chance of cancellation. I took a risk in driving the 40 minutes to the beach, followed by a 90 minute, 5 mile, brisk walk across a beach to the landing area for the transport aircraft. the walk was in driving rain and some very soft sand, compounding the fact I was on a fruitless task at hand. Out of breathe and pretty damp i noted the Fire tenders which was a good sign. I sat, watching them do their checks to ensure the beach could support the very heavy aircraft and was encouraged by this work. after some time and aircraft arrived on the horizon heading to us. My sadness turned to elation when seeing this, however listening to the radio chatter between ground crew and those in the air slowly nullified this. From the numbers given, the pilot reported back that the sand was simply over the threshold for landing.

By this time a second aircraft had appeared, this being the French Air Force aircraft due for training. There was some back and forth radio chatter and the prognosis really wasn’t good. With the elation dropping through the floor and the sadness from not being able to witness this moment increasing I decided to pack my gear away as the RAF aircraft was only going to do a fly past and then return home. About 5 minutes after the RAF had made its last past and myself just passing the end of the designated runway I noticed another aircraft and my elation quickly returned. The French crew were going to give the beach landing a go. I quickly scrambled to unpack my gear again, trying not to drop any of it into the wet sand, and proceeded to spend the next hour taking photos as the only photographer on the beach with them military in a first for them and myself.

Since then, I have made sure to take the risk, because you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My parents started my love affair with aviation back when I was around 18 months old in Wales, United Kingdom. Since then, aviation has had a huge impact on my life, especially during my early years. This manifested itself in anything creative that I did in school, whether it was art, history or my hand-drawn doodles during classes. In my senior years of high school in Wales, I went from art to photography in my education, and naturally, aviation called out to me to be documented and creative look.

From 2016 that’s when I started taking my photography seriously, learning new techniques, editing styles, and keeping my skills up to date to ensure no degradation. In 2017 I was approached by a group of like-minded aviation enthusiasts with a love of photography and was asked if I would like to join their group, Full Disc Aviation. From there that has pushed my skill set even further, along with doing interviews, airshow reviews, and improving my writing skills for the audience. I’m still with that group today, and we’ve all become great lifelong friends as a result.

Full Disc Aviation is a collective of aviation lovers who want to capture the draw and mystique of flying, both past and the present. For generations now, we have collectively turned our eyes to the skies for flying machines. Whether it was in awe of the first powered flights, in fear of the first bombing raids, or in wonder as we powered our way to the moon, each recent generation has a deep well of aviation legend. As we stand on the shoulders of these warriors of aviation past, our diverse group of pilots, photographers, writers and mechanics have come together under the Full Disc Aviation banner to bring our passion for aviation to you. We strive to fly, maintain, and capture the brilliant living history of these magnificent birds to inspire the future generations of fliers, but to also memorialize and remember the sacrifices of those pioneering greats before us.

In 2017 I met my now wife in Michigan. We started dating in mid-2017 and that progressed ultimately in our marriage in 2022 after waiting two years (because of Covid) for my paperwork. Finally, in February we married and started out life together after 5 years of long-distance, and late nights with the different time zones involved.

I’m now hoping that I can bring my photography to new heights in a land of opportunity.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Something I had to unlearn was using high shutter speeds on propeller driven aircraft. Whilst they are great for fast jets and other jet powered aircraft, if you use high speeds on props it makes it look like engine failure. It has taken some time but learning to pan with your subject as smoothly as possible is not as straight forward as you first think.

For this I have to thank my Full Disc Aviation brethren who strive to get that full disc on a propeller driven aircraft. This can sometimes mean shooting as low as 1/60th normally to ensure this. We even challenge ourselves to go lower with some going as low as 1/15th and lower (although when I try this I fail more than achieve)

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My goal for my aviation photography is to share the love I have for it with the world and hope that it might inspire younger generations to get involved with aviation in some shape or form. For me, aviation is a love, something that has fueled my creative side since I was a child. It helps in my darkest times to bring joy to myself.

To tell the story of aviation, those who are involved with it from maintenance, to crew, to pilots, military or civilian, modern or historic. It is a rich history from beginning to end.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://robertgriffithsphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robertgriffithsphotography/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RobertGriffithsPhotography
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertgriffiths1989/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/RIGPhotography
• Other: www.fulldiscaviation.com https://www.instagram.com/full_disc_aviation/

Image Credits
Portrait by 3.61Media (James Woodard)