FotoFlite
FotoFlite is the world's largest ship aerial photography company.
history
The company's roots go back to 1947. The photographer Ronnie Gott took advantage of an order to take aerial photos of an industrial area at the Thames estuary, for some additional photos of passing ships. He sent samples of these recordings to the ship's owners and crews and was able to sell a number of prints. Then God founded the company Skyfotos . With the first airplane, an Auster Autocrat , Skyfotos began regular flights along the English Channel . Later the aircraft fleet was expanded to three Piper Seneca and the work area to overflights in the area around Gibraltar. The company held an almost monopoly position in this segment of commercial ship photography for the next three decades.
In the early 1980s, Andrews Professional Color Laboratories began offering aerial photography of ships under the name Fotoflite. In January 1990 Fotoflite took over the former competitor Skyfotos, creating a joint archive of over 800,000 photos. The two company names were initially both continued to be used, with Fotoflite covering the commercial sector and Skyfotos addressing collectors and enthusiasts. Today the company offers over half a million ship recordings and related services.
literature
- Ian Spashett: Photographers in Focus: Skyfotos / Fotoflite - How it all began . In: Roy Fenton (Ed.): Ships in Focus Record . Ships in Focus Publications, 1996, ISSN 1363-1675 , pp. 106-109 .
- Keith Goss: Fotoflite Update . In: Robert Shopland (Ed.): Ships monthly . Vol. 29, No. 3 . Waterway Productions, March 1994, ISSN 0037-394X , p. 20/21 .