Airfix Aviation Photo Awards in Focus

When the Airfix team announced the launch of our first annual Aviation Photo Awards last summer, we were a little unsure of how a new initiative of this kind would be received and how many photographers and Airfix enthusiasts would actually want to be involved. Because we were asking people to actually commit to sending us a selection of their pictures, taking the time to liberate images which were languishing on their hard drives, send them into us with some supporting details and potentially allow us to share them with our worldwide audience, we weren't entirely sure how many of you would respond, but we need not have worried - you all rose magnificently to this photographic occasion.

Having spent the last seven years producing blog and social media content across the various Airfix channels, we were only too aware of the impressive levels of photographic talent amongst our readership, but as we can all be guilty of being a little protective of our hobby and indeed of the images we take, would people be happy to share their images with other like minded enthusiasts? In order to try and encourage people to get behind the project, we enlisted the support of a photographic powerhouse, a man who not only combined his love of aviation and photography to produce hundreds of iconic images, but who also took his beloved camera into the cockpit of the front line RAF aircraft in which he was flying. 

Former RAF pilot Ian Black is something of a legendary figure amongst aviation enthusiasts, a published author of some repute and a photographer with a portfolio of work which is quite literally unique. Ian joined the Royal Air Force as a navigator and initially flew in that role in the back seat of a Phantom based in Germany during the latter stages of the Cold War. With his passion for photography and unusual working environment, when safe to do so, Ian took the opportunity to document this period in his life, gradually upgrading his camera equipment and obtaining ever more spectacular imagery as a result, pictures which he has since shared with the world through the many books he has had published and the numerous magazine articles and newspaper submissions he has been involved with.

An aviation photographer of international repute, we are grateful to former RAF Lightning pilot Ian Black for agreeing to be our expert judge for the inaugural Airfix Aviation Photo Awards.

Ian went on to train as a pilot and would become the last English Electric Lightning pilot to be posted to an operational RAF Squadron, following in the footsteps of his father who had flown Lightnings 25 years earlier. With credentials such as these, could there possibly be a more suitable adjudicator for an aviation photography competition?

Unfortunately, we presented Ian with an unenviable task, as we were fortunate enough to receive thousands of entries and he assessed each and every one - he told us that it actually took him an entire week to look through all the entries and to make his decision, clearly adopting the same military precision which has served him so well throughout his flying career. We are extremely grateful to Ian for his help and expertise with this project and for helping to make it such a resounding success. When asking for a comment on his involvement, Ian told us that "It has been an honour to come from behind a camera himself and to be asked to judge the work of other photographers, particularly as he is fully aware of the many challenges enthusiasts face in obtaining that perfect aviation image. Taking into account technique, composition, originality and presentation, this proved to be quite the challenge, as the standard was impressively high". 

Once again, the entire Airfix team would like to thank Ian for his expert input and for helping to make this such a successful undertaking.

Inaugural Airfix Aviation Photo Awards - Our winners

As mentioned earlier, we were fortunate enough to receive a huge number of competition entries and we apologise for being a little later than intended in announcing our winner, but with Airfix range launch and the sheer number of images to get through, we really were up against it. We also wanted to thank everyone who supported this initiative and sent in their pictures, as you all helped to make this such a resounding success and allowed us all to look at some truly spectacular images. With so many exceptional pictures to admire, we intend to feature a selection of the best within a future Airfix Club magazine publication and in a special edition of our Aerodrome blog in the weeks ahead, so please keep an eye out for these and to see if yours is one of the featured images. We will also be releasing details of this year's Photo Awards competition in the very near future, so don't be putting those cameras away just yet.

So without further ado and in traditional reverse order, here are the two pictures selected by Ian Black as the winner and runner up of the Inaugural Airfix Aviation Photo Awards competition. 

Runner up - Sunset Lightning, by Kris Christians.

Well, we suppose if you ask a former Lightning pilot to judge an aviation photography competition and then present him with an evocative picture of this British aviation icon, you might just get what you deserve, but in this case, the image Ian selected as our runner up is certainly deserving of official recognition. This beautifully lit image of one of the Lightning Preservation Group's aircraft at Bruntingthorpe was captured by Belgian photographer Kris Christiaens on one of his regular visits to the UK and we were delighted to speak to Kris following his success.

Kris told us that he has been a keen photographer for as long as he can remember, but mainly just documenting holidays and his love of travelling. He decided that he wanted to take photography a little more seriously in his late teens and enrolled in a photography course, where he learnt about the art of photography and the digital post processing of images. It was whilst on this course that Kris decided he wanted to specialise in a particular area of photography and combine his love of aeroplanes with his improving camera skills. Attending his first Airshow in Belgium proved to be an important development for him and since that time, he has become a passionate aviation enthusiast, attending Airshows, spending time at airports and at military airfields all over Europe. His passion would also lead him in an exciting new direction.

As more of his pictures were published, Kris' work started to attract the attention of Belgian Air Force officials and he was given the opportunity to attend various military exercises and open house events in an official social media capacity, which helped him to obtain many more unique and interesting images. As a reserve soldier, Kris has gone on to become an official photographer for the Belgian Ministry of Defence, in addition to also becoming one of the photographers of the Belgian military magazine 'Wings'. Kris told us that he is always searching for images which are just that little bit different, using his experience to be creative and produce pictures which are unlike any other he has seen. Even though he is afforded some special access opportunities in his role, there can still be long periods of waiting, followed by a few minutes of frenetic activity, but when everything works out as planned, he can often come away with some special images.

We couldn't let Kris go without asking him what equipment he uses and he told us he is a Nikon man, using a mirrorless body, which helps him to get the quality he needs without the weight of a DSLR.

Congratulations on your runners up position Kris and thank you for telling us your photographic story. 

Winning Entry - A Mission in Time - Russell Powney.

As a photographer, if you ever see a picture you wish you had taken yourself, then you know you are looking at something pretty special, something which is most definitely out of the ordinary. If that picture is the winning entry in a photo competition and meets with the approval of the vast majority of people admiring it, then you know you have selected a worthy winner and we think Ian has chosen extremely well with this very special image. Many photographers are looking to find opportunities away from traditional Airshows these days, photo events which offer a more intimate photographic experience, may have less available subject matter, but arguably the promise of much greater creative potential. 

It was an event of this kind which attracted photographer Russ Powney and his camera a while ago, a late afternoon photoshoot with a restored Lancaster bomber on a former RAF bomber station, with a group of suitably attired reenactors, all gathered for a special photography evening for a limited number of photographers. The groups arranging these events are now expert in staging atmospheric photographic scenarios for their clients, but even so, in order to secure the perfect image, everything from atmospheric conditions to photographic technique, along with lots of additional factors in between which must all align, and as always, a little bit of luck never goes amiss. Anyone who has tried to get a shot like the one featured above will know that it isn't that easy, but however he did it, Russ has managed to capture arguably the perfect representation of this scene.

When speaking to Russ about his Lancaster picture, he told us that he was rather taken aback by the attention and for a man who describes himself as being strictly amateur in photographic status and just someone who loves taking pictures, he can't quite believe that he won. Russ told us that he has enjoyed photography on and off for around forty years now, but as his father was a former member of the RAF Police, he was always around aircraft and air bases during his youth. He was hoping that this picture could serve as a tribute to Bomber Command and how he is rather pleased with how it turned out.

Because we know just how difficult it is to take an image such as this, we asked Russ about his settings and indeed the gear he used. He said that at the time, he was still using his Canon 5DS DSLR, complete with a 24-70mm lens and in order to gain the maximum clarity of image, was using a base ISO setting of 100, an aperture of F8 and a long exposure of around 30 seconds. We all know that at such a long exposure, the possibility of introducing movement blur into the resultant image is much increased and even though the Lancaster will be clear, the crew figures may 'ghost' on the final image. When looking at this magnificent image, the aircraft and crew are all clear, whilst the clouds and smoke all appear to be moving. Add to this the way the light picks out the colour of the fuselage roundel and is illuminating the starboard side of the cockpit and you have to describe this image as stunning, almost ethereal in its appeal. In describing his winner, Ian Black said this image was emotional and evocative, a beautiful image which he thinks is a worthy winner. Praise indeed from a man who knows.

Russ told us that he has recently traded his DSLR gear for a Fujifilm mirrorless system, mainly for reasons of weight saving, but also to allow him to take his new gear to many more locations by virtue of its compact nature. He is currently engaged in retracing some of his previous photographic experiences with his Canon gear and capturing similar pictures with his mirrorless system. Something tells us that there might be more aircraft pictures to come from Russ in future competitions.

A worthy winner indeed, we would like to congratulate Russ on his success and his position as the first ever recipient of the Airfix Aviation Photo Award - nobody can ever take that title away from you Russ! We would also like to extend our congratulations to our runner up Kris Christiaens and to thank Ian Black once again for his help, support and photographer's eye in selecting our winning entry - you helped to make this a really special initiative.

Finally, please keep an eye out for details of our 2023 competition and your chance to be the next winner of the Airfix Aviation Photo Awards.