I’ve been a pilot since joining the Air Force back in 1982, but I’ve had an interest in photography since well before even then. I was fortunate enough to attend a high school in suburban Philadelphia where one of the shop class offerings was photography.
Mr. Johnson, our photography shop class teacher, took a classroom and converted a utility closet adjoining the classroom into a makeshift darkroom. In there we learned to develop the black and white film we’d shoot with one of the several Canon SLRs he had for loaners.
I eventually cut enough lawns to afford my own Fujica SLR and never looked back. My first assignment as an Air Force pilot was to Okinawa, Japan, which afforded several trips to Hong Kong where I upgraded my camera to a Nikon FM2.
After several iteration of Nikon SLRs, my first digital camera was a basic Sony point and shoot followed by an upgraded Sony with a Carl Zeiss lens. This camera served well for years until I returned to Nikon purchasing my first DSLR back in 2011.
When I began carrying a camera full time on my airline trips it quickly became apparent that I needed a camera with good performance but in a lightweight package. Technology has improved such that the new crop of mirrorless cameras fit the bill perfectly. I moved on to a Fuji XA-2 followed by a Fuji XT-20 which I now carry on all my trips. The Nikons, which now include a D-750, stay at home for ground duty.
In a sense, I have the perfect job for photography because an integral part of photography is travel. I am able to capture some of the beauty which is simply the wallpaper in an office many thousands of feet in the air. As they say, the journey is the destination, and I am gratified to be able to share some of my journey with you. Please enjoy!
-Robert Graves
