Richard The Lionheart

There was a time when every young British boy wanted to grow up to be either a race-car driver, a soccer player or part of the Royal Air Force's (RAF) acrobatic team, the Red Arrows. These dashing pilots in their red jets are something of a legend in Britain. No air show or country fair is complete without a demonstration of their unique and daring flying skills.

Award-winning British photojournalist Richard Baker was lucky enough to gain unlimited access to the Red Arrows as the team celebrated its 40th anniversary. Baker spent around 100 days photographing the group through the course of one flying season, and the results can be seen in his new book, Red Arrows (Dalton Watson, 2006). Shot in bold colors and on medium format, Baker's photos reveal every aspect of what it takes to be part of this unique flying club: the pilots undertaking six flights a day as part of their arduous winter training and taking part in the post-flight analysis; the technical and engineering team maintaining the planes; the team meeting their adoring public; and, of course, the displays themselves, often shot from the vantage point of a spectator. The most dramatic images were taken from a pilot's-eye view, as Baker fulfilled a childhood dream by flying with the team in a Hawk jet.

Baker landed this once-in-a-lifetime assignment through a former colleague at his old agency, IPG (which has now closed down), who had a contact at the Ministry of Defense. Previously having worked on one extended photo essay on aviation and another on how the British Army recruits locals from Nepal for its crack Ghurka unit, Baker had the credentials to approach the flying team for access. Baker is also a plane enthusiast and speaks in somewhat clipped, military tones. All this worked in his favor, but he still had to convince the Arrows themselves that he was up to the job.

"At the beginning I very much felt that I was walking on eggshells. If they didn't like the look of me I would have been out very quickly," he says. "Yet slowly I gained their trust and each time I would shoot stuff I would edit it and then post it up for them to see. After a while they would never question what I was shooting, even if it was red stains on the tarmac."

The Red Arrows have been photographed before, but usually on 35mm with long lenses. Right away, Baker wanted to try something different. He felt that using Mamiyas 6 x 7 would offer a contrasting esthetic, giving the images an added depth and dimension. He also wanted to present as complete a picture as possible, and Baker realized he needed to really immerse himself in the club's routine. His original plan had been to follow the team for two months, but that soon grew into a nine-month, all-consuming passion, a passion that entailed shooting 300 rolls of 120 and 220 film and spending around $15,000 of his own money.

Baker says that the brief he gave himself was to fade into the background and to simply document what it takes to be a member of the Red Arrows. He also wanted to record how the Red Arrows entertain the British public. Many of his photos reveal a contrast between these macho, often quite serious men going about their business, and their ecstatic fans who gather at the seaside and at air shows. Baker photographs the audience members with amused affection in a style that suggests a gentler Martin Parr and a very English point of view.

Baker describes the project as a voyage of discovery. But the ultimate discovery, he says, both personally and professionally, was getting to fly with the team.

"I didn't push it at first, but as the weather got warmer I knew that it was a possibility," says Baker. "There is nothing quite like being crammed into a cockpit and the effects of 5 or 6 g-forces as you are pulling around a tight bend. It is also a huge photographic challenge. You can't change film in mid-flight and so you only have ten frames to get the shot. The flying becomes quite addictive and I ended up going up six times."

When Baker was about to take his first flight, word got around the squad, putting the photographer under pressure to pass "the test": emerging from the jet with your senses intact and your breakfast still lodged in your stomach. Baker passed with flying colors and a further bond was established with his subjects.

Once the project was completed, Baker, who shoots for magazines such as Life, Geo and Stern, realized that he had a huge body of work that potentially could make a gripping book. The Red Arrows Web site gets millions of hits a year, so there was already an established market for the work. Yet Baker did not just capture images of the fliers, he also documented his own experiences in writing that is full of humor and insight. The book also features mental agility tests that the pilots have to undertake, detailed engineering diagrams of the planes, flying manuals and a glossary of flying terms. All of this makes for a more absorbing read than your average photography book, and a big draw for aviation fans.

"I wanted to make it as interactive as possible and to appeal to a different sort of audience?people who might not necessarily buy photography books, but are fascinated by the Arrows and flying," says Baker.

Baker says that whatever the assignment, he always makes extensive notes and captions as he works, and the journal of his time with the fliers was just an extension of that practice. But it wasn't always easy.

If flying in a Hawk jet was the highlight of the experience, he says, "the endless nights spent writing up my notes was much more of a toil than the photography." All journeys have ups and downs, especially when your traveling companions are the Red Arrows.