ROBERT YARNELL RITCHIE ( 1908 - 1984) is well served by archives and scholars but I suspect his reputation is not as high as it deserves to be. He approached the medium as a hobby, then as an earner, achieving his pilot's licence in 1928. His sense of adventure and technical proficiency made him one of the most successful commercial photographers in America. He worked for advertising companies, for manufacturers (annual reports)and for LIFE magazine. Yet I would claim that FORTUNE seems to me to have consistently offered him his best shop window, and particularly in 1941 (see menu above). On location for the magazine in Columbia he began making films, the total of which rose to 300 in his lifetime, later in conjunction with his son, Chip. I have added links to various archives and sources in the Curtiss-Wright screen.His archive is held by the Southern Methodist University.

Richie often expressed a personal preference for making images of the Oil Industry. "There’s drama in steel, but there’s more romance in oil," he said, "oil has so many different angles to it as an industry. Oil really has a story to tell in pictures."