RAF Photo Exhibitions Hot Stuff
The winning images from the Royal Air Force’s Photograph of the Year Competition will be on view to members of the public at the Service’s London Museum from 10th January 2009.Consisting of 12 categories ranging from “The RAF Experience” to “Technical & Engineering”, this exhibition gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse of RAF Personnel at work, rest and play both at home and in the field.
The Royal Air Force trains and employs a large number of photographers who deal with day to day technical and operational photography. Their bread and butter is the recording of aircraft and equipment damage, technical manuals, military incidents and accidents, media work and ground intelligence gathering, as well as administrative work such as photos for ID cards. But as photographers, they also get unique access to their service colleagues and equipment and they bring their creative eye to this environment.
With varying categories for professional and amateur photographers, this annual competition gives Service personnel the opportunity to showcase their talents by encapsulating in a single image the strength, character, dignity and humour of the Royal Air Force.
The reward for the successful photographer is the recognition of their talent with the successful photograph selected from all 12 categories as “PR Photograph of the Year” being used in official communications by the Chief of Air Staff, the highest ranking officer of the Royal Air Force.
Striking images range from the Engineering Category’s “Hot Stuff” to the visually stunning studies of nature in the competition’s Open Category, and the playful images of service personnel interacting with local children in Afghanistan. In total over 60 photographs will be on display in the Museum’s Milestones of Flight Gallery until mid April after which the exhibition will then relocate to the Museum’s Cosford site in Shropshire.
Rebecca Dalley, Group Business Development Manager for the Museum and Competition Judge, stated: “I was highly impressed with the standard of photography. I have long thought that the RAF training for photographers is one of the best around and this was confirmed by the excellent submissions to the competition. Knowing that many of the photographers are operating ‘in theatre’, it was great to see that they were able to take the time to prepare their submissions. There were many moving and well-thought-out images and it was a really hard choice to narrow down to few in each category. I was also delighted to see the excellent amateur photographs which were a credit to their originators. ”
Entry to the Royal Air Force Photographer of the Year Exhibition is free; as is entry and parking to the Museum. The exhibition will be shown daily from 10am to 6pm until April 19th. For further details please visit www.rafmuseum.org/whatson or dial 020 8205 2266.