(1945 - 2018)

Richard was an extraordinary action and location photographer specialising in exciting and unusual images covering a wide range of subjects. He was as enthusiastic about the process of his photography as he was about the end product, often claiming he was an ‘ideas man’ rather than a photographer. His driving passion was being able to capture an image that had never been seen before.

Best known for his breathtaking aerial photography, particularly his pioneering air-to-air, head-on work with the Red Arrows, he developed similar innovative techniques for stunning pictures of all the RAF fast jets, civil aircraft, cars, motorbikes and other fast moving subjects.

Richard Cooke, Red Arrows — Richard Cooke, *Red Arrows*

Richard’s creativity also led to his work being featured in several Royal Mail special issue stamp collections. A commission to photograph the British coast from the air for a set of ten special issue stamps expanded into a book, Coastline UK, (published by Thames and Hudson) and a major exhibition of his most spectacular aerial images of the British coast in conjunction with WWF–UK in London at The Association of Photographers Gallery in 2005.

He also shot campaigns around the world for, among many others, the Royal Navy, Smirnoff, Rolex, Lloyds Bank, British Airways, British Aerospace and the English Tourist Board, as well as for the Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Express magazines.

The Richard Cooke Memorial Trophy has been designed specially by Jane Roberts and Sue Watson, using some of Richard’s photographic filters. It will be presented at the 2020 open photography exhibition by Gilly Cooke in memory of her husband.