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Lensrentals teardown reveals the inside of the ‘Strong like Bull’ Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8 lens

10 Dec

Image credits: Images (and excerpts) shared with kind permission from Roger and the Lensental team.

Canon’s new RF 70-200mm lens is one of the most interesting lenses we’ve come across in recent memory—so much so we deemed it a ‘modern marvel’ in our sample gallery and crowned it the ‘Zoom Lens Winner of the Year’ award.

While we’ve shared our thoughts on the image quality and overall performance of the lens, we haven’t taken too deep a look into the construction of the lens. Thankfully, Roger and his team over at Lensrentalss have done a complete teardown of the Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8 lens to show off just what Canon has put into this compact lens that’s part of the ‘holy trinity’ in the photo world.

A look at the PCB in the rear of the lens.

To start off the teardown, Roger recounts a little anecdote wherein a Canon engineer tossed a box on his workbench and pulled out a mock-up version of the RF 70-200mm F2.8 lens. Roger admits he isn’t easily impressed, but when he laid eyes on the mockup, he said his jaw dropped and the only words to leave his mouth were ‘that’s going to sell you a lot of cameras.’ Now, a good while later, a full-functioning version of the lens was sitting on his workbench once again; and this time it wasn’t leaving without going through a little operation.

Before cracking open the lens, Roger first addresses the redesigned optics of the lens, pointing out the dual focus group design and the extending lens barrel, addressing the latter by saying:

‘Some of you HATE extending barrel lenses. That’s cool; don’t get one. Some of you like to call them dust pumps. That’s cool, too, although it’s incorrect. (We take care of over 20,000 lenses. The most common ‘dusters’ among current lenses all happen to be primes that don’t zoom at all.)’

The breathable filter (which lets in air, but keeps out dirt and dust) around the lens barrel.

From there, it’s onto the teardown, which starts with the hinged tripod ring. He notes it’s not the most robust tripod ring he’s come across, but when attached to the camera, it’s ‘quite sturdy.’ With the tripod collar off, it was onto the front of the barrel, which came off with a few external screws. Upon looking over the front ring, Roger discovered a foam sealing between the filter barrel and front element, as well as a new breathable filter, that will allow air to pass through the front of the lens without allowing particles to get in.

The front lens element was then removed with ease, which lead to the ‘reasonably large IS unit,’ which stopped the team in their tracks and lead them to turning the lens over and tearing it down from the back.

A close-up of the ‘reasonably large’ IS unit.

The rear lens mount proved fairly standard as far as Canon’s RF lenses go. It was packed tight with the PCB and ribbon cables, as well as a few springs to add the tactile feedback to Canon’s programmable ‘Control Ring.’

Eventually, Roger hit a point where the ribbon cables looked too fragile to continue, but he and Aaron persisted and eventually removed the rear lens barrel after carefully threading each ribbon cable through the maze of pieces.

A close-up of the meticulously-placed ribbon cables and sensors.

It was at this point Roger paused to ‘salute Canon’s engineers,’ saying:

‘The flexes are all beautifully laid out and organized, going directly to their appointed place with no wandering about allowed. Notice how all the switches just take up one small flex; there’s not a lot of electron transfer needed to signal ‘on’ or ‘off’ compared to the amount of information that IS or focusing requires.’

After composing himself, he and Aaron continued to the inner workings of the lens. Specifically, he draws attention to the elements Canon uses to secure the extending lens barrel. Roger says the Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8 ‘has about the most robust extending barrel mechanism I’ve ever seen […] There aren’t the usual three cams sliding about to move this barrel, there are three pairs of them, and each is very large and robust.’

A look at the components used to secure the extending lens barrel.

Roger and Aaron eventually strip the outer barrel of the lens and dig further into the most intricate components, including both focus assemblies and the image stabilization unit. Roger notes the focus assembly (motors and optics) will likely be replaced as a whole if any component breaks, so any issue on that front will likely prove to be an expensive fix. However, he does not that he ‘doubt it’s a part that will really ever need replacing’ as the lens ‘is SLB (Strong, Like Bull) engineering, and the area is well protected.’

The aperture diaphragm inside the Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8 lens.

In all, Roger concludes that a ‘LOT’ of engineering progress has been made in the RF 70-200mm F2.8 lens compared to the likes of the Canon EF 70-200mm F2.8 lens and the Sony 70-200mm F2.8 lens. He states clearly, ‘this lens was a new design from the ground up,’ adding:

‘There’s no ‘that’s the way we’ve always done it’ holdovers [compared to the iterative updates of past 70-200mm lenses]. That’s a lot more work for the designers, but the result is a beautifully engineered, fully modern lens. It’s clean, functional, and straightforward.’

Roger further addresses the build quality of the lens, saying:

‘It’s obviously very robustly engineered from a mechanical standpoint. The internal composites are strong as hell. There are double cams, rods, and posts everywhere. There’s no play in any moving parts. We can’t imagine there will ever be play in the moving parts unless you run over it with a truck. You could describe it as ruggedized, but I’m going to stick with Strong, Like Bull, and suggest we refer to this as the RF-SLB 70-200mm f/2.8 from now on.’

In the end, Roger summarizes the teardown with six simple (paraphrased) words: ‘This is how you do it.’

To view the full teardown in all its glory, head on over to the Lensrentalss blog.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Here are the winners for Red Bull Illume’s Image Quest 2019 competition

28 Nov

Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2019 Winners

At the beginning of this month, 260 semi-finalists were selected out of nearly 60,000 entries for Red Bull Illume’s photography and videography contest. The 5 finalists for each category attended the Winner Award Ceremony hosted at the LUMEN – Museum of Mountain Photography on November 20th. The Overall Winner, 11 Category Winners, and Top 60 finalist images were revealed at the ceremony hosted by Italian sports journalist Zoran Filicic.

Ben Thouard was this year’s Overall Winner.

This year’s Overall Winner is Ben Thouard for his underwater image of surfer Ace Buchan riding a massive wave in Teahupo’o, Tahiti. Here is Thouard’s story behind his winning image: ‘I‘ve dedicated the last few years to shooting underwater, looking for new angles and a new way to shoot surfing and waves. Shooting surfing from underwater is a whole new world and I love it! Tahiti has some of the clearest water in the world so it was easy for me to take advantage of it and explore it as much as I could. This photo was shot during a freesurf session right before the WCT event in Teahupo‘o. This is Ace Buchan kicking out from the barrel through the wave, a technique to escape a close-out wave.’

He continues, ‘luckily I was right below, breathless with my [underwater housing] waiting for this moment and I was able to capture the whole sequence of it; this frame from the beginning of the sequence is the most powerful one because of the water around his face and body.’ Thouard was a Red Bull Illume semi-finalist in 2013 and a finalist in 2016 before becoming the Overall Winner this year.

60 finalist images were on display outside the LUMEN.

Once all the winners and finalists were announced, attendees were able to view the 60 finalist photos illuminated with 2mx2m lightboxes outside the LUMEN. The winners for each category are:

Overall Winner 2019: Ben Thouard, French Polynesia

Category Winners 2019

Best of Instagram by SanDisk: Baptiste Fauchille, France
Creative by Skylum: Denis Klero, Russia
Emerging by Red Bull Photography: JB Liautard, France
Energy: Ben Thouard, French Polynesia
Innovation by Sony: Laurence Crossman-Emms, United Kingdom
Lifestyle: Alexander Wick, Germany
Masterpiece by EyeEm: Lorenz Holder, Germany
Moving Image: Rupert Walker, Canada
Playground: Lorenz Holder, Germany
RAW: Noah Wetzel, USA
Wings: Philip Platzer, Austria
Best Mountain Sports Image by Salewa: Kamil Sustiak, Australia
SanDisk Extreme Award: Philip Platzer, Austria

For those interested, a Limited Edition Red Bull Illume Photobook featuring 260 semi-finalist action and adventure sports images submitted to the competition is now available to order. 4,000 copies were made, each individually numbered and stamped, and they come with a SanDisk Ultra SD Memory Card containing the Moving Image Category videos plus the full Luminar 4: Creative Photo Editor suite from Skylum.

Energy & Overall Winner: Ben Thouard, France

About this photo: As the quotes in the introduction to this series illustrate, Thouard was in the right place at the right time, underwater, when he captured athlete Ace Buchan kicking out from the barrel through the wave in Teahupo’o, Tahiti.

Category Winner, Best of Instagram by SanDisk: Baptiste Fauchille, France

About this photo: This is a shot from a buddies trip with a business goal showing biker Alex Bibollet’s shadow in the bowl of Fillinges, France. In Fauchille’s words, ‘We were a team of riders, photographers, and videographers, leaving for the very first trip of the new BMX clothing brand linked to the BMX: ‘Unicorn, we are legends’. We travelled for 5 days in the middle of summer, through different spots in different cities; it was a buddies trip with a business goal.

This photo was taken at the bowl of Fillinges. I remember the heat was insane like it rarely had been in the Alps. When I arrived on the spot the first thought I had in mind was to make a top- shot video with the drone: a fixed plan with a rider who makes his line with the intention of creating a loop. Then I realized that the bowl was really clean: no tags, no dust. I was able to have the rider and his shadow to come out well. I asked Alex Bibollet — one of the riders — to do what he did best, and I immortalized this moment!’

Category Winner, Creative by Skylum: Denis Klero, Russia

About this photo: In Klero’s own words,’last year‘s trend reports have shown that as soon as the first snow starts falling the social media community bursts in excitement and instantly shares videos and photos showing the first flakes of the year. I didn‘t want to miss out on the trend and started working on a concept to show the change of seasons. To attract the attention of the social media world it had to be something that would make one stop and stare. Consequently, I developed an idea of a series of three main pictures with some supporting detail shots, which had to be visually strong and inherent to the world of Red Bull. This picture with Pavel (Alekhin, the athlete in this photo) is one of those.’

Category winner, Emerging by Red Bull Photography: Jean-Baptiste Liautard, France

About this photo: ‘Two things that I love when it comes to photography are silhouettes and reflections and I wanted to use both in a single frame for a long time. After a lot of drawings, I knew what I wanted but it took me six months to get the perfect conditions and final ideas.
Jeremy‘s trail is a piece of art and this jump is definitely a highlight. I knew I wanted to shoot it from the side and get that reflection but it was really dry at this time of the year and of course there was no water around,’ says Liautard.

‘When I saw a wheelbarrow hanging around by the jumps, I had the idea to fill it up with water to create a mirror. We didn‘t have any water hose that day, so I had to do round trips with water cans to a little ditch by the road. After spending a lot of time adjusting the wheelbarrow and cleaning the water in the afternoon, my mirror was finally ready for the evening shoot.’

We were lucky enough to have a few friends helping us with the fire that night and adjusting the smoke just as we needed. The hardest job was Jeremy‘s as he had to ride the trail almost blind. Riding bikes at night is so scary and I can‘t thank the athletes enough when they are in these kinds of conditions. After a few attempts, we got this one, just as I imagined it at the very beginning, and it was a great feeling to finally see the image I had in my head for months, displayed on the back of my camera.

Category Winner, Innovation by Sony: Laurence Crossman-Emms, United Kingdom

About this photo: In Laurence’s own words, ‘Blaenau Ffestiniog was once described as the wettest place in Wales, this is no lie. Even when the sun shines, the puddles are plentiful. I’ve always been attracted to their animations when struck by a bicycle at full steep. The tyres of Katy Winton making the perfect parting of this muddy sea. The combination of dynamic action and the silk-like curtains made me try each time more determined. There are always challenges when shooting bikes and water close up … don’t get run over and don’t get wet.

This concept had always been in the back of my mind but finding the perfect location and it aligning with both the weather and sufficient puddle depth was tough. This breathless day at Antur Stiniog with Katy proved ideal. You can never guess how water reacts when you hit it with force, sometimes the results exceed your expectations … this was one of those times.’

Category Winner, Lifestyle: Alexander Wick, Germany

About this photo: In Wick’s words, ‘Together with my boys Phil and Chris I went on a US West-Coast climbing trip. Obviously Yosemite is a must and so we tested our very humble European crack climbing skills right away on El Capitan‘s Salathé Wall. A climb I‘ve been dreaming of for quite a while.

The first Ascent of this line was a master piece way ahead of its time. Climber and photographer Tom Frost was part of the three man team back then. His photography of the same climb is just breathtaking. The picture of Royal Robbins napping on a rock atop El Cap Spire with loads of exposure is one of my favorites, so of course I planned on getting a tribute shot to the old masters once we reached the spot. As we got stuck behind another climbing party just up on El Cap spire I used the moment, aided my way up the next pitch and took the shot as the boys and our new friend Luke actually took a nap.

No old hemp ropes and linen haul bags like in 1961 but modern nylon and Dyneema this time. No uncharted terrain but a well known and established route. Having a rest amidst a sea of granite: probably almost as amazing as back in the days.’

Category Winner, Masterpiece by EyeEm: Lorenz Holder, Germany

About this photo: ‘The first time I saw this location was when I was watching Game of Thrones and I was blown away by the pure magic this road generated in me. First, I thought that it‘s of course a CGI composition, but after a little research I found out that this place is actually real and located in Northern Ireland. A year later I was actually standing there with Senad Grosic and trying to get a bunny-hop-tailwhip on camera.

It was early in the morning with the first sun rays hitting the road and we managed to get a pretty cool shot, but somehow I knew that there was pure potential in the spot. So, we decided to stay a couple days longer and waited for some kind of rain, fog or other particles in the air, so I could use one flash from behind and create a white background to make Senad stand out a bit more and get the focus a bit more on the action. The rain came on our last day and I still remember the goose-bumps I had when I saw the image appearing on the screen of the camera. That‘s when I felt the same magical feeling I got when I watched Game of Thrones for the first time.’

Category Winner, Moving Image: Rupert Walker, Canada

About this photo: This is a still from Walker’s award-winning video. Here’s his explanation for getting all the key shots: ‘It was particularly challenging because it required extreme precision from the FPV drone pilot, Jonny Durst, and during this shoot, we experienced very heavy rains, which caused the track to be nearly unrideable. From the moisture, the track was riding much slower than anticipated and caused the athletes to struggle at performing their best. The dig crew was all hands-on deck with tiger torches and shovels to dry up any wet spots and dig out any soft spots. With hard work from all, a solid shot plan, and great coordination between the drone pilot and the athletes, the shot was accomplished.’

Category Winner, Playground: Lorenz Holder, Germany

About this photo: Lorenz Holder’s reputation as a stellar location scout continues (he was a winner in this year’s Masterpiece by EyeEm category). Holder talks about his latest find: ‘The Ouse Valley Viaduct is pretty cool old railway bridge in the South of England. When you approach it from the side, you can‘t really see the secret this bridge has to offer, but once you get underneath of one of the arches you can‘t believe your eyes. You are caught in a place that could easily be in the movie Inception. The arches create a very surreal visual effect – when you are taking a picture, you don‘t understand if you are looking down into something or at least you get very confused about what you‘re actually seeing. I was blown away by this fact, but also blown away that this looked like a pretty good spot for skateboarding.

When I showed Vladic an image of the viaduct, he was on fire to try it out. To be honest it was super hard to ride and Vladic‘s quote that got stuck in my mind was: “This is so hard, when my brain is going down in the transition, my body is already going up again – this will be difficult to get something done here.“ A couple of hours later, when his brain and body came together, he landed this kickflip while the sun was just at the perfect angle as well.’

Category Winner, RAW: Noah Wetzel, USA

About this photo: ‘After weeks of preparation and creative conception, I loaded my Subaru and headed North to Wyoming for the Total Solar Eclipse in August of 2017. Arriving a couple days before the eclipse, I linked up with athletes Chris Brule, Evan Grott, and Blake Sommer. The imagery goal was to capture the Eclipse and showcase mountain biking utilizing an in-camera double exposure – a very complex process.

The morning of, we loaded our packs well before sunrise with light stands, powerful flashes, extra camera gear, and two magnum bottles of champagne to celebrate. After capturing the first image successfully during two minutes of totality, all we had to do was endure the midday sun, waiting for twilight and the attempt at the second frame.

Unfortunately, I was unaware I had damaged the hot shoe connection on my camera four weeks prior while shooting fly fishing, preventing me from triggering my flashes.
Our only option required athlete Chris Brule to hit the feature in near darkness at 9pm, allowing me to set the camera to a 2.5 second exposure, manually firing the flashes and freezing Chris mid-air. Nearly escaping complete failure, we hiked out in darkness while sipping on champagne, truly in awe of the total solar eclipse and thankful we were able to capture something special.’

Category Winner, Wings: Philip Platzer, Austria

About this photo: Here is how Platzer captured athlete Marco Fürst flying hot air balloon swing in Austria: ‘Together with the Red Bull Skydive Team, I did this crazy Project called Megaswing back in 2016. After my assignment I already knew this had to be a tricky one: Two hot air balloons, one with a long rope attached and the other one to jump out with the swing, and of course the skydiver with his parachute.

After the first couple of jumps I realized that I wouldn’t get the perfect shot by simply shooting from the inside of the basket they where jumping out of. Lucky me, I had my monopod in the car as well as a pair of radio-triggers. My solution to get the right angle was to hold the camera, that I had attached to my monopod, as deep under the basket and just hope to get the perfect framing.

Another thing, I asked the athlete Marco Fürst to turn a little bit towards my direction to avoid getting an ass-shot and to get this playful mood in the image. In the end it was the very last try which gave us the moneyshot.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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These are the Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2019 semi-finalists

02 Nov

Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2019 semi-finalists

The fifth edition of Red Bull’s Illume contest attracted a record-breaking 59,551 submissions from around the world. It’s an increase of 72% compared to the number of entries from the last competition in 2016. Partnering with Sony, SanDisk, Skylum, COOPH, Red Bull Photography, EyeEm, and more, the latest Illume offered up 11 categories for adventure and action sports photographers and videographers to submit their work.

260 semi-finalists have been selected and will all be featured in a forthcoming limited-edition coffee table book. A panel of esteemed experts representing top news publications and digital photography brands will judge each entry and narrow the pool to 60 finalists. Those finalists will be invited to the Winner Award Ceremony that takes place from November 18th-20th, and their images will be on display in the Global Exhibit Tour that will commence immediately afterward.

5 finalists from each category, 11 category winners, and 1 overall winner will be crowned during the late November awards ceremony at the LUMEN – Museum of Mountain Photography on top of Kronplatz – a mountain of the Dolomites in South Tyrol, Italy. Winners will receive a set of prizes from sponsors, mentioned above, valued at €100,000 ($ 111,644 USD). Looking at the past winning galleries, it’s clear that Red Bull hosts this competition every three years. Maybe this will change as the competition has made significant gains recently and the promise of a special announcement at the awards ceremony has been made by conference organizers.

We were given the choice of 200 semi-finalist images to feature and narrowed them down, representing at least 1 image from every category, excluding Moving Image which can be viewed in the video above. Anyone interested in developments on winners and future contests is encouraged to follow Red Bull Illume on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube.

Semi-finalist, Wings: Sergey Shakuto

Semi-finalist for the Wings category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Sergey Shakuto, Russia

Location: Russia, Kolomna, Aerograd DZ

Biography quote: ‘Inborn craving for experiments.’

Biography: I was born and grew up in a small town in Russia, but since childhood I was dreaming about traveling the world and doing extreme sports. As soon as I made my first money as a graphic designer, I started to realize my dream. So more than 16 years I’m doing all kind of sports from freediving to skydiving and capturing it with my camera.

My super-power is my insider knowledge about sports and it helps me to speak same language with all the athletes I’m shooting.

About the photo: In Shakuto’s words, ’it was one of the first photos that I took in free fall. I was completely new in skydiving when Eugene [Tarakhomin] suggested taking a picture of him. One day he called and said “Hey Serge, you are a cool photographer, let’s make something together.” I wasn’t sure about that, because had no freefly experience. But I bought a special helmet, took the cheapest camera which I had (Sony A6000), and the cheapest and lightest Sony lens (SEL16F28).

I spent about a month for preparing and training. In total, we took about 10 beautiful photos in two jumps at sunset. This project is a perfect example what can be achieved with a wealth of experience in action photography and good technical skills, professional athlete, and at the same time the cheapest equipment and little experience in sports.’

Gear and specs: Sony A6000; Sony 16mm f2.8 lens; ISO: 100; F-Stop: f/6.3; Shutter Speed: 1/1250 sec.

Semi-finalist, Wings: Tino Scherer

Semi-finalist for the Wings category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Tino Scherer, Switzerland

Location: Titlis/Titlisgletscher/Engelberg/CH

Biography quote: ‘My goal is to capture a moment so that each image fully reflects the energy expelled by its subject!’

Biography: I grew up in a little village in the heart of Switzerland and now call the beautiful city of Lucerne my home. I am a sports and lifestyle photographer who has worked with many brands and customers both in Switzerland and around the world. One of my first jobs was a project for Monster Energy. Since then I have completed multiple larger projects for renown Swiss and international customers such as Audi, Adidas, Leica Camera AG, and Schilthorn Piz Gloria.

The personal and direct exchange with the people I work with is something I highly value about my job. I always strive to understand and implement my clients vision and am fueled by my passion to master the technically more challenging side of photography. My goal is to capture a moment so that each image fully reflects the energy expelled by its subject!

About the photo: Fabian Bösch, from Engelberg, has long wanted to build a kicker at home and reflect the panorama and beauty of the Swiss Alps to the world. Around this time, almost everything is closed with us in the central Switzerland. I mean, in May nobody goes skiing with us any more.

Fabian was able to collect snow through the winter in cooperation with the Titlis railways to organize a shooting after the season, which has never been done before.At 3’020 m.a.s.l., Kobi Würsch, the Freestyle-Pak-Builder of SaasFee as well as of the Corvatsch course, built a kicker that was more than just a show-off. Perfect landing – “I’ve seldom seen such a long landing” – exactly aligned so that the sun disappears just before 9 pm directly into the Alps and an event where riders from all over the world were invited to spend a great session together.

The Titlis glacier was the Mecca this week and I was there spontaneously as a photographer. I had a lot to do during this time and could “only” participate in one day. But exactly this day was the best of the whole week and I took pictures throughout the day looking for my favorite spot.

From 20.00 [8:00 pm], the sunset shooting began and the boys banged out one hammer trick after the other. The light got better and better and I took pictures with 2 Leica Cameras. I had Studio-Broncolor flashes with me and wanted to take some flash pictures with the medium format camera with 1/1000 central shutter shortly before sunset. As it is, it gets more and more great and the atmosphere was really breathtaking.

So I went down and adjusted my flash, which was behind the kicker, but I hadn’t thought about the small radio transmitter not triggering over such distances. So Fabian came and I knew, with that camera i got no series, there are only single shots. Click – No The Flash has not triggered…then everything went so fast and the sun was only about half an hour there and the riders now skimmed out their stylish tricks.

I let the flash completely away and continue photographing and let the silhouette speak the picture. This picture with the very special flare was taken after a run with the same camera but faster shutter speed and I am super proud that I decided against the flash. So the picture has a very nice dynamic and fits perfectly into the scene.

Thanks Fabian for making this shooting possible!

Gear and specs: LEICA S (Typ 006); Hasselblad HC 3.2/150N lens; ISO: 200; F-Stop: f/3.2; Shutter Speed: 1/3000 sec.

Semi-finalist, RAW: Gaston Francisco

Semi-finalist for the RAW category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Gaston Francisco, Spain

Location: Barcelona, Spain

Biography quote: ‘After 25 years of shooting skateboarding photography, Gaston finally got the covers of the two biggest magazines in skateboarding, TWS Skateboarding and Thrasher.’

Biography: Gaston Francisco was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1978. A self taught photographer, he got his first camera in 1995 and hasn’t stopped shooting ever since. He attended the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) for five years where he studied Media Science Communication. This was complemented by a year of Journalism.

In 2002 Francisco moved to Costa Rica where he founded and directed the first ever Central American skateboard magazine, FLOW. After living there for a year he moved to his present home in Barcelona, Spain, to work as a freelance photographer. His work has been published in the most important skateboarding publications worldwide, getting to the peak of this industry when he shot the covers of both TWS and Thrasher magazines recently. A passionate traveller, he has visited more than 70 countries and plans to visit even more in the coming years.

About the photo: In Francisco’s words, ‘this photo was shot during the filming of a video about Optical Illusions. We did about 8 different optical illusions and even though this one was not one of our favorites for the video, it did come out really good on the photo. The secret for the success of this picture was having [athlete] Vladik Scholz doing the trick over and over, and having an artist like Julian Lorenzo painting the stairs on the ground and shooting the photo from the right angle given that the optical illusions only work when seen from a very specific angle.’

Gear and specs: Nikon D800; Nikon Zoom lens 24-70mm, f/2.8 (this shot is at 56mm); ISO: 4000; F-Stop: 3.2; Shutter Speed: 1/800 sec.

Semi-finalist, RAW: Robert Garo

Semi-finalist for the RAW category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Robert Garo, Germany

Location: Duisburg, Germany

Biography quote: ‘Follow your passion, work hard, and never forget your dreams.’

Biography: My story as a photographer is probably more directly related to the Red Bull Illume competition than many others. After being thwarted by a shoulder injury, I bought a camera and started taking snaps. Nothing was safe in front of my lens. I think my environment was happy, and that changed when I got my hands on the second Illume book at the end of 2013. Exactly those pictures I wanted to do too!Every single image fascinated me and I burned for sports anyway. One thing led to the other and so it happened that in 2016 I was fortunate enough to win the worldwide photo contest of Red Bull Photography by 500Px. It was inspiring to be a guest at the winner’s ceremony in Chicago and meet all the other photographers. Now it was 100% clear where my way should lead. I wanted to be part of this community.

Since that time, a lot has happened. In 2017, I decided to quit my regular job and shortly after that, I became part of the Red Bull Photography Team. I was able to get to know many inspiring people and my job takes me to other countries again and again. I was allowed to work for some small and some major companies and share their passion for the sport. I am very grateful for that!

In the end, the Red Bull Illume has changed my life.

About the photo: ‘The shot was more complicated than you would think at the beginning. It started with the fact that there was only one angle to take the picture. The camera position was not allowed to be a millimeter farther left or right, because otherwise the sculpture was not fully in the picture or had parts in the picture I don’t want. As a result, Frank had only a very small flat surface available for the trick.After everything had been prepared and set up, we could not get started because to our astonishment many people visit the Tiger and Turtle even late at night. In the end, a time frame of under 10 minutes resulted in getting the shot in the box. To capture the triple spin that makes up the trick and expose the background right, I chose an exposure time of 3 seconds and the flash trigger on the second shutter curtain to freeze Frank sharply. Fortunately, the timing was already right on the third try,’ says Garo.

Gear and specs: Nikon D850; 14-24mm f/2.8 lens; ISO: 100; F-Stop: 11; Shutter Speed: 0.3 sec.

Semi-finalist, Playground: Lorenz Holder

Semi-finalist for the Playground category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Lorenz Holder, Germany

Location: Bushmills, Northern Ireland

Biography quote: ‘Walking through life with open eyes and seeing possibilities.’

Biography: I grew up in Munich, close to the Bavarian mountains, and it is those mountains that have always played a major role in my life. Being outside with my friends was always the thing that motivated me most, be it as a snowboarder back in the days or nowadays as a photographer.

I’ve never studied or learned photography but I was so impressed and fascinated, how one single image can describe a whole scene, a whole day or even a whole trip. This power of an image caught me straight away and passion became profession. I’ve finished my university for being a teacher and then went all in – All I wanted to do, is to shoot and create.

The biggest influence on my style of shooting comes from outside the action sport scene. I love to get impressed by creative work from landscape, architecture and fine-art photography. But for me, this was always a little bit too boring to shoot, so I tried to combine those genres with action sport and that’s where I found my true love for what I’m doing. Walking through life with open eyes and seeing possibilities.

About the photo: ‘The story of this image started around 60 million years ago, when lava cooled down, in a very slow way, leaving a vast field of a hexagonal stones behind. There are only a couple of places on earth, where we can see those formations nowadays.

When I’ve seen this location for the first time, I was blown away and I knew I had to shoot something there. Over a year later I was standing there with my camera at the beginning of a very good looking sunset. Everything was ready, I had my angle, wetted the stones in the foreground to get a bit more reflection there, but one crucial element was missing: Senad Grosic.

This was our first stop of a 10 days shooting trip in Northern Ireland. The problem was, that his flight from Vienna was 2 hours delayed and it was never clear if he would make it in time for the sunset shoot. So there I was, alone with a perfect setting sun and a perfect scenery, but no athlete. Senad was about 15 minutes away, when I gave him a phone call, that he should mount his bike in the moving car and hurry up. He got there – no time for a brohug – no time for warm up – just up there and perform in a really beautiful sunset. 5 minutes later we got the shot and what a cool way to start the 10 days shooting trip,’ says Holder.

Gear and specs: Phase One camera; Schneider Kreuznach LS 35mm lens; ISO: 800; F-Stop: 4.0; Shutter Speed:1/320 sec.

Semi-finalist, Playground: Piotrek Deska

Semi-finalist for the Playground category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Piotrek Deska, Poland

Location: Mirów, Poland

Biography quote: ‘Climber and photographer combined in one.’

Biography: I was born in Czestochowa, Poland, on November 20, 1986 – in the city located at the north side of the biggest climbing area in Poland – Jura. It was only a matter of time before I started to climb and explore the outdoor possibilities of the area. During my teenage years climbing became my true passion.

I was inspired by the rocks around and was always eager to climb another eye-catching line. As soon as I got my first camera from my father, who is also a photographer, I found out the great joy in creating long-lasting memories by shooting pictures. Both – climbing and photography – can be symbiotic, and since I was able to get some first good looking shots at an early age, I became more and more passionate about taking a camera at the crag every time.

Nowadays I’m still an active climber trying to spend free time either at the crag or in the mountains. A couple of years ago, I quit my job as a web analyst and decided to take a chance of being a full-time photographer. I’m focused mostly on the outdoor world, trying to picture passionate people doing what makes them happy – be it climbing, mountaineering or any other activity.

With every picture, I’m trying to show something more than just an athlete. As photographers, we have only one frame that freezes just a split of a second, and it’s important to show something more in it. With every shot I make, I always try to create an image that will look great in large format on the wall.

About the photo: In Deska’s words, ‘last climb of the day in the typical Jurassic scenery. The common view of Polish Jura: bone-white limestone and a medieval castle ruins. Just add the climber, and you have a perfect combination for a picture.

While going to Mirów, I wasn’t thinking about a climbing picture. I had only a landscape shot in my mind of that specific frame. But I was lucky enough – even though it wasn’t one of the weekend days, which are usual time for climbing activity, I spotted a climber at the Turnia Kukuczki crag. Every piece came together – the timing (just before the sunset) and the climber, who filled up the frame. I “only” had to hit the shutter and make it a climbing picture instead of “just” a landscape photo.’

Gear and specs: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV; Canon EF 70-200 f2.8 lens; ISO: 100; F-Stop: 11; Shutter Speed: 1/15 sec.

Semi-finalist, Masterpiece by EyeEm: Leo Cittadella

Semi-finalist for the Masterpiece by EyeEm category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Leo Cittadella, Norway

Location: Preikestolen, Norway

Biography quote: ‘Skate or die!’

Biography: Half Norwegian/Italian, but born in Sedona, AZ 1990 – Now working as a freelance filmmaker based in Oslo, Norway since 2009 – I got my first paid film job in high school and got some extra motivation to make it my job. After a few years with tutorials and long nights, things worked out and I got heavily involved with the snowboard scene. Action sports has thought me to be free and that helped me create my own style. Now I do all types of film projects, but with my main focus still on the shred.

About the photo: ‘We went up to film a skate video sequence on the edge of Preikestolen (2000 foot cliff). We got the whole spot to ourselves and wrapped up just in time to snap a photo before all the selfie tourists arrived. First time trying the camera, so the settings were all messed up!’

Gear and specs: Sony Alpha 7S II; 67mm lens; ISO: 2000; F-Stop: 4; Shutter Speed: 1/8000 sec.

Semi-finalist, Masterpiece by EyeEm: Nils Ohlendorf

Semi-finalist for the Masterpiece by EyeEm category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Nils Ohlendorf, Germany

Location: Fruit Bowl, Moab, Utah, USA

Biography quote: ‘The wilder, the better-chasing raw emotion and that magic light.’

Biography: I have always had the travel bugs and the joy of being outdoors. Studying geography did not relieve that; on the contrary, it gave me plenty of excuses for extended trips abroad. Moving close to the Alps for university enabled me to develop my climbing and skiing, and to spend a lot of time getting lost in the mountains with my friends. Regarding work, I was always concerned about a good work/life balance as well as a decent town/mountain balance.

I achieved this quite well, working mostly based in Germany, and for two years in South America, with plenty of opportunities to explore the Andes. Photography has been a part of my life for a long time. I was 15 when I got my first analogue SLR. But it was until about 4 years ago that I shifted my professional focus towards sports, mountain, and outdoor photography.

The boy in the dark room, developing black and white prints, the love for being outdoors and roaming the world, all the time in the mountains and at that point, it all came together.

About the photo: ‘During a two month climbing trip in the USA, I stayed in Indian Creek when I heard about the GGBY Highline Festival happening outside of Moab. I went to check it out and was totally impressed by the place, the community and the aesthetics of people expressing themselves by moving through space.

Next to the highline area, I had the chance to witness Andy Lewis going for a basejump right into the setting sun above the green river. It was a one-shot kind of opportunity, but everything aligned perfectly.

Gear and specs: Nikon D600; 35mm f/1.4 lens; ISO: 640; F-Stop: 7.1; Shutter Speed: 1/800 sec.

Semi-finalist, Masterpiece by EyeEm: Jeremiah Watt

Semi-finalist for the Masterpiece by EyeEm category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Jeremiah Watt, USA

Location: Arch Canyon, Bears Ears National Monument, UT, USA

Biography quote: ‘Raw, authentic, inspired.’

Biography: In the late ’90s, after a college internship gone awry, I turned to photography as an educational possibility. Years later, after life in a van, following the seasons for rock and snow, my camera and I reconnected. Many cameras later I still love an eclectic crew and a wild endeavor. Currently based in Salt Lake City, UT, my hope is to create authentic, story, and character-driven imagery that places the viewer in the midst of the experience.

About the photo: ‘Pat Kingsbury and Jackson Marvell are true desert choss wranglers. On this occasion they were attempting to free “Hellbitch” – an old aid line ascending 800 feet of freestanding sandstone through everything ranging from bullet proof stone to absolute choss. This was my second visit and I desperately wanted shots of Pat redpointing the crux off-width on the third pitch. We’d shot on the pitch repeatedly and we’d created incredible photos but they weren’t the send. As a photographer bent on capturing authentic experience, being there and capturing the actual moment it all comes together, beginning to end, is priceless.

This trip we had five days to make it happen, however, it was getting late in the season, temps beyond noon were unbearable, and time was limited. The day before this, we’d ran from the heat, and sought refuge swimming in sand filled water with margarita’s in hand. The next morning found Pat barely able to stand, dry heaving in his sleeping bag. Being our last day to work and shoot we couldn’t rest and left him alone to recover.

Hours later, as we began to rappel and clean the tower, Pat showed up in flip flops and shorts, feeling better, but not much. Realizing this was his last opportunity to climb his pitch until after the long desert summer, he borrowed pants (a small women’s were all that was available), tied in, and proceeded to send the 30 feet of nearly horizontal off-width using everything from leading with his feet to jamming with his head. The fact that he went from prostrate and dry heaving to sending one of the hardest off-width pitches in the desert still defies comprehension. This photo is from that send and will be an all-time favorite memory and capture for years to come,’ reflects Watt.

Gear and specs: Nikon D810; Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens; ISO: 250; F-Stop: 2.8; Shutter Speed: 1/800 sec.

Semi-finalist, Masterpiece by EyeEm: Ydwer van der Heide

Semi-finalist for the Masterpiece by EyeEm category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Ydwer van der Heide, The Netherlands

Location: Camps Bay, South Africa

Biography Quote: ‘Shooting kitesurfing action in tough conditions can be very challenging. You have to deal with wind, water, salt and sand at the same time. I love to be exposed to those conditions. It puts me in a space where I can capture the reality exactly how I see it. The reward is there when people look at the photo and get the same feeling I had.

In action sports photography you need to be lucky. For a good photo, all pieces have to fall into place. For me knowledge is king. Knowing every button and function of my camera and doing research about my subjects and locations means the chances of having lucky moments are bigger. It gives me room for creativity and I’ll end up with the best possible result.’

Biography: Ydwer van der Heide is an extreme sports photographer hailing from The Netherlands. As a fanatic rider himself, he has combined his early passion for photography and evolved to have one of the most instantly recognizable styles of imagery in kiteboarding. He blends natural elements with the movement and feel of the sport. A lot of people say that the texture of his shots is something else.

Ydwer has been coming to South Africa for many years to shoot with the best kiters in the world. His thrill for photography comes from reacting to the environment, improvising in the moment and accurately portraying the reality of the sports’ best riders braving the most extreme conditions.

His love for travel and adventure makes him criss cross the globe to shoot action sports and capture extraordinary moments of passionated athletes. He’s always looking for a challenge, new angles or locations and innovative ways of showing the sport.

About the photo: ‘During summer season many kitesurfers travel to Cape Town to enjoy the wind and the waves. For me as a photographer specialized in kitesurfing it’s the highlight of the season. I’m able to capture the biggest moments in kiteboarding history with the worlds best riders. These riders have become good friends throughout the years. One of them is Kevin Langeree, an athlete that pushes the sport in his own way.

Most of the people have seen photos from Cape Town and most of the time you’ll see Table Mountain in the background. This year I decided with Kevin to approach it from a different side. We started looking for other spots and angles. We found this tidal rock pool close to the city of Cape Town. It’s such a beautiful place where nature and city merge together seamlessly. I found this angle from above, where the clean pool was so nicely divided from the rough ocean by the typical bolder rocks that you find around Cape Town.’

Gear and specs: DJI Mavic Pro 2; Hasselblad L1D-20C lens; ISO: 100; F-Stop: 6.3; Shutter Speed: 1/400 sec.

Semi-finalist, Lifestyle: Tal Roberts

Semi-finalist for the Lifestyle category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Tal Roberts, USA

Location: Portland, Oregon

Biography: Tal Roberts got his start creating still images by hitting the pause button when the tricks looked just right on the classic skateboard videos of the mid 1990s. Though he didn’t use a real camera until years later the desire to document his passions was still intact. Tal kickstarted his photographic career while exploring the mountains around his home in Ketchum, Idaho and continues to focus on making pictures of his friends having fun.

About the photo: ‘Not much can match the stoke on Willow’s [the dog] face when she see’s we are going for a rip with the skateboard,’ says Roberts.

Gear and specs: Nikon D4; Nikon 16mm lens; ISO: 100; F-Stop: f5.6; Shutter Speed: 1/250 sec.

Semi-finalist, Innovation by Sony: Keke Leppälä

Semi-finalist for the Innovation by Sony category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Keke Leppälä, Finland

Location: Suvilahti DIY skatepark, Helsinki, Finland

Biography quote: ‘Keep shooting, keep exploring, keep doing what you love.’

Biography: I’m a Finnish photographer based in Helsinki. From an early age, I got into skateboarding and snowboarding. I bought my first camera when I was about 12. I shot quite a bit in b&w since my high school had a darkroom, and learned a lot about the “old school” photo development.

For a while in the ‘90s, I was a professional snowboarder. After that it was time for studies, and I ended up working with IT. About 15 years ago I moved to Denmark. We started a local skateboard mag (One Love) in Copenhagen and I got my first skate photo of Sam Beckett published in the Blind Skateboards catalog. From there on, skateboard photography has become a bigger part of my photo work.

2016 I moved back to Helsinki. I work as a freelance photographer but I have also worked with IT for many years now. I enjoy shooting action, wildlife, people and architecture – but skateboard photography combines two of my big passions: it gives me the chance to capture both the fun and beauty of skateboarding and the talent of the skaters.

I enjoy combining visual lines and clean backgrounds with the unexpected perspective.

About the photo: Every year, the legendary Suvilahti DIY skatepark in Helsinki is painted with new exciting artwork based on an idea by the local skaters and artists. In 2016 the theme was ‘Iceberg Ocean.’ During the HELride skateboard event held in Helsinki each summer, Suvilahti DIY has served as the scene for the breathtaking deathrace contest.

‘I am always in search of new unseen angles, and therefore I climbed the sketchy ladder up to 20 meters height of this metal light pole tower located next to the park. In shoots like these, you need to be right at the spot, hitting the shutter just at the right time. I shot many skaters during the deathrace, but my man Roope just got it perfectly aligned when he passed, and I managed to capture my idea into a picture. This angle really twists your mind, and you gotta love the beauty of the background. Artwork design by Laura Lehtinen.

Suvilahti DIY has been designed and built by skaters for skaters, expanding and evolving since 2011. The park, with a size of over 1000m2 [square meters], is one of the biggest of its kind in Europe. Sadly, it is under the threat of being demolished. An association called “The friends and supporters of Suvilahti DIY skatepark area” has been founded in order to save and develop this unique specimen of urban culture,’ says Leppälä.

Gear and specs: Canon EOS 5D Mark II; Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L lens, IS USM @100mm; ISO: 100; F-Stop: 5.6; Shutter Speed: 1/640 sec.

Semi-finalist, Innovation by Sony: Vegard Breie

Semi-finalist for the Innovation by Sony category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Vegard Breie, Norway

Location: Numendal, Norway

Biography quote: ‘Hard work pays off.’

Biography: Vegard started his career, as many others, shooting friends on skis and bikes. From then he has been very fortunate to do projects like going to Kabul with special forces, shooting cars in Hollywood to TV promos on beaches of Mexico. He always returns to the action sports, though. Hard to change what you love!

About the photo: ‘Anders [Backe, the skier] is the most hardworking athlete I know and always has some crazy ideas. We tried something similar a few years back that didn’t work that well. But when he came across this pool in an old school he knew about, we knew this was a go!

It’s done with a smoke machine in the pool, the temperature of the landing makes the haze stay down there. And I have one flash behind the jump with a blue gel, and one to my left aiming at him. There was a really minimal innrun, but Anders has incredible pop so he still made it look really good,’ explains Breie.

Gear and specs: Nikon D850; 14-24mm, f/2.8 lens; ISO: 500; F-Stop: 4.5; Shutter Speed: 1/250 sec.

Semi-finalist, Innovation by Sony: Dominique Daher

Semi-finalist for the Innovation by Sony category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Dominique Daher, Switzerland

Location: Col de l’Isoard (Isoard Pass)

Biography quote: ‘The more you pedal less, the less you go faster,’ – Coluche.

Biography: I was born in 1976 in Marseille, Southern France. I live and work now near by Geneva in Switzerland. I’m a former photo editor for a press group, specialized in mountain and counter culture sport, and have been a freelance photographer for more than 15 years. My photography journey is clearly inspired by the world where I grew up. A world of athletes from frozen water to melted snow, more often call boardculture.

Since a bit more than 3 years ago, I co-founded neufdixieme.com, a website focused on behind-the-scenes of outdoor sports, with a photojournalism vision where the words are as important as the pictures as well as the graphic design.

Neufdixieme is also a photo studio dedicated to the athletes. My passion for photography is so strong that I’m only working on this medium. My other interests are in contemporary art, minimalism, design, and architecture. Sport is not in my interest as it’s 100 % part of myself.

I believe cycling can save the world.

About the photo: ‘The first idea was to document the behind the scene of a little funny internet movie called Mountain Skiing. When I did my research with the team, we decided to work in a way called American Night, like Zorro back in the days. You shoot during the daylight and darken it in post. I thought it could be a good idea to do the making of and to try my little project on the side. I order[ed] a blue filter as it was mention[ed] as an important part of the process. The filter never came on time but it worked out,’ says Daher.

Gear and specs: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV; 50mm f/1.2 lens; ISO: 50; F-Stop: 2.8; Shutter Speed: 1/1250 sec.

Semi-finalist, Energy: Michael Clark

Semi-finalist for the Energy category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Michael Clark, USA

Location: Little White Salmon River, Washington, USA

Biography quote: ‘With my work I am looking to push the envelope with the technology and the photographic possibilities.’

Biography: Michael Clark is an internationally-published outdoor photographer specializing in adventure sports, travel, and landscape photography. He produces intense, raw images of athletes pushing their sports to the limit and has risked life and limb on a variety of assignments to bring back stunning images of rock climbers, mountaineers, kayakers, big-wave surfers and mountain bikers in remote locations around the world.

Clark uses unique angles, bold colors, strong graphics, and dramatic lighting to capture fleeting moments of passion, gusto, flair and bravado in the outdoors. Balancing extreme action with subtle details, striking portraits and wild landscapes, he creates images for the editorial, advertising, and stock markets worldwide.

As a former physicist, Michael has worked on both sides of the technical revolution – helping refine the technology and using it for his current profession. Michael has worked as a professional photographer since 1996 and added digital photography to his repertoire in 2003. While Michael still shoots some film, mostly medium format, the lion’s share of his images are now produced with high-resolution digital cameras.

He has been featured in Digital Photo Pro (December 2011), Outdoor Photographer (September 2001), Nikon World Magazine (Summer 2006), Digital Photographer (UK, 2010), Rangefinder Magazine (May 2010), and New Mexico Magazine (2007) for his work with extreme sports. Digital Photo Pro proclaimed Michael a ‘Master of Adventure’ Photography in their 2011 Masters issue.

About the photo: In Clark’s words, ‘Rafa Ortiz dropping over Spirit Falls while whitewater kayaking on the Little White Salmon river near White Salmon, Washington. This image was shot as part of the Elinchrom ELB 1200 battery-powered strobe launch, named “Lighting the Spirit.”‘

Gear and specs: Nikon D810; Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens; ISO: 400; F-Stop:5.0; Shutter Speed: 1/400th sec.

Semi-finalist, Emerging by Red Bull Photography: Theo Burette

Semi-finalist for the Emerging by Red Bull Photography category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Theo Burette, France

Location: Cergy Pontoise, France

Biography quote: ‘It is so inspiring to be around people that have so much passion for what they do.’

Biography: I was born in Paris in 1996. At 18 years old, I received my first camera and began taking photos.

At 13 years old, I took up skateboarding. I have always loved taking photos of my friends at the skatepark. At that time, I was always hanging out outside. I’m a big fan of extreme sports. I skated for 8 years. In France, we are lucky to have some of the most beautiful ski resorts in the world. Since I was a kid, I go up to the mountain to snowboard every year.

I also fell in love with surfing. My parents have taken my brother and I surfing all over the world (Morocco, Sri Lanka, Lanzarote, the Maldives, Japan). We’ve always had this love of extreme sports in my family. With photography, I have always evolved in my style by practicing and trying different things.

I will never stop learning – that is the richness of photography. I particularly enjoy following athletes and working with them, discovering new styles, new kinds of sports, and coming to understand their personal vision behind their practice. I love translating this through photography. It is so inspiring to be around people that have so much passion for what they do.

About the photo: ‘A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to meet Jonathan Viardot.
He practices Martial Art Tricking and I immediately asked him if he would be interested in working on a photography project involving this relatively unknown sport – Martial Art Tricking is more than a sport, there is a whole culture of tricks behind it.

I wanted to translate the beauty of the movements, the energy that we feel coming off of the athlete, that moment in the action where time seems to stop. We decided to do the photoshoot at night in a space that is familiar to both of us – we are both from a town outside of Paris called Cergy.

The amphitheater of Cergy was the perfect place for the photoshoot because it possesses a principal light source coming from the top of the bridge. We wanted to play on the human silhouette to reinforce the movement by isolating the background subject,’ explains Burette.

Gear and specs: Nikon D7000; Nikon Objectif AF-S DX 35 mm f/1.8 lens; ISO: 2540; F-Stop: 1.8; Shutter Speed: 1/1250

Semi-finalist, Creative by Skylum: Evgeny Pavlov

Semi-finalist for the Creative by Skylum category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Evgeny Pavlov, Russia

Location: Saint-Petersburg, Russia

Biography quote: ‘Explore, stay wild, creative and passionate.’

Biography: I was born in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, and was crazy about traveling and extreme sports since childhood. I started skateboarding at 15 and after few years tried snowboarding, which I fully felt in love with right away. A few years later, while competing in a snowboard contest, I got injured and had to hold on with a board for a while. In this period my girlfriend gifted me the first camera – a fully manual 35mm Zenit ET.

So I started learning photography by scrolling tonnes of web pages during the night, while during the daytime I had to combine my work at an architectural bureau with my diploma in the University. I tried to practice with roll of film every free minute.

As a photographer, I grew up working with different film cameras and it was something very special. Enjoying the process of getting the shot and a magic moments of waiting until you develop the film. In that time I discovered the pleasure of photography and decided to change my hobby into a part of life.

I’m also keen on urban exploration and rooftop climbing. In my photos I wanted to create something unique that no one had done before by combining that skills with photography and action sport. Different pictures that would really impress peoples minds. Traveling around the world, exploring new territories, climbing on the roofs, up trees and electricity poles, to get the best possible location and angle for the shot was my underlying goal.

Now I’m surrounded by 2 of my life passions – snowboarding and photography, still sponsored as a rider in Russia and able to shoot around the world for worldwide brands and top snowboard magazines.

About the photo: ‘Inspiration comes from everywhere. Sunday morning I went to the supermarket for groceries and while was walking through the rows of shelving – saw a little nameplate next to the canned fish, where was written “boneless”. I found it funny, because it was the same name as a skateboarding trick and just a moment later had an idea to create the shot with a skateboarder doing boneless and a pair of opened tins full of boneless fish.

Most of the time you can see riders doing this trick in a bowl, so nice curved “radius” out of the metal cap suits perfectly for that. [That] same day, I called my friend Alex, who’s pretty good at concrete bowls and explained him my idea. He found this artistic experiment interesting and few days later we’v made this photo.

I used 2 sheets of white paper to make a mobile studio straight in skate plaza, and made a shot of the tin straight away after snapping the trick, with the same light conditions as it was with the rider,’ explains Pavlov.

Gear and specs: Canon EOD 5D Mark III; Samyang 12mm f2.8 fisheye lens; ISO: 640; F-Stop: 4; Shutter Speed: 1/2000 sec.

Semi-finalist, Best of Instagram by SanDisk: Hamish Frost

Semi-finalist for the Best of Instagram by SanDisk category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Hamish Frost, United Kingdom

Location: Bidean nam Bian, Scotland

Biography: I’m an adventure and mountain sports photographer based in Scotland. My journey into photography began capturing images of the Scottish backcountry skiing scene. However since turning professional three years ago, I’ve expanded into shooting climbing, fell running and basically any sports which allow me to spend as much time out in the mountains as possible.

I find the creative process of trying to produce exciting images in tough and inhospitable environments really appealing. If it’s a particularly cold or wet day, then you’re fighting the conditions trying to look after yourself and keep your camera kit working; if the best position for a shot is half way up a cliff face, then you’ve got to work through the logistics of getting to that position. I also love the physical challenge – being fit enough to lug lots of camera gear around and stay motivated to keep pushing the shutter button even when you’re exhausted, maybe also a little scared, and overall would probably rather be anywhere but there. I think the combination of all these aspects is what draws me to this genre of photography over anything else.

About the photo: ‘Guy [Robertson] and Greg [Boswell] had invited me along to get some photos of them trying a new winter route on Bidean nam Bian. They’d been casually vague about their objectives for the day – ‘we’ve got some unfinished business on Bidean nam Bian, get you at the car park at 5.30am!’ It’s nice to be able to do a bit of planning before photographing a climb, however I also enjoy the challenge of having to improvise on the hill. Reaching the foot of the imposing Church Door Buttress just before first light, their “unfinished business” became apparent. The summer line Lost Arrow Direct – an impossibly steep looking series of cracks and roofs leading up the cliff.

The weather that day had been poor for photos, however I knew that if the clouds were to clear slightly, then the west face of Stob Coire nan Lochan might come into view in the background. I waited patiently for a few hours and sure enough, just as Guy was making good progress on the third pitch, the clouds broke momentarily and I was able to get the shot I’d hoped for. Four hours later, Guy completed a sequence of grade 10 moves (in the dark!) to pull through a final roof section and top out on the route,’ explains Frost.

Gear and specs: Sony A7RII; Sony FE 70-200mm f4.0 OSS lens; ISO: 250; F-Stop: 7.1; Shutter Speed: 1/250 sec.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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The Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2019 competition is open for submissions

09 May

Red Bull has returned once again with its action and adventure sports photography competition, Red Bull Illume. This marks the fifth iteration of Red Bull’s photo competition and with it comes a few changes.

Most notably, the competition will now run once every two years instead of every three years. Additionally, Red Bull has added four new categories, bringing this year’s total to 11 individual categories.

A panel of 50 international photo editors and digital media experts will select the top 55 finalists—five per category—before ultimately deciding the 11 category winners and one overall winner. In November 2019, the winners will be unveiled at a winner award ceremony. Following the ceremony, the 55 finalist images will travel around the world to be showcased in indoor and outdoor exhibitions.

Below are the 11 categories in this year’s competition, with an explainer, provided by Red Bull, of what each category is (the new ones will be marked with an asterisk):

Best of Instagram by SanDisk* — Images submitted on Instagram – photographer’s most gram- worthy moments of show-stopping adventure and action sports. Stuff so cool you have to stop scrolling.
Creative by Skylum — Images that have been enhanced digitally or in the darkroom through alterations made in the production or digital editing process. This is an open category so anything goes!
Emerging* — A fresh approach offers new angles. The up-and-coming category is for rising talents to compete on similar footing – submissions accepted only from photographers 25 years old or less. No video, no image manipulation. Show us your greatest capture!
Energy — Images that demonstrate the force that powers an action and show the energy, speed and strength required for an athlete to perform.
Innovation by Sony — Images that reveal a unique angle, a visual idea, a different format, light and flash effects… something never seen before! It‘s the purely creative image.
Lifestyle — Images that visually capture the creativity of the lifestyle, music and culture that surrounds action and freesports, or represents what happens before, between, and after the action.
Masterpiece — Images that illuminate your artistic skill, your personal best, your unique style – give us your best shot!
Moving Images* — Images are no longer standing still. The Moving Image category is an open playing field for video sequences between 5 and 30 seconds. Ready… set… action!
Playground — Images that showcase the landscapes, locations, platforms, and environments in which athletes play.
RAW* — Shots that are straight out of the camera showcasing the real image. Composition, exposure, lighting done in front of the lens and in the scene, not behind a screen. That’s the Raw category — un-cropped, un-touched, no filter.
Wings — Images that capture the point in a performance in which the athlete jumps, catches air, free falls, soars.

The winners of the eleven individual category prizes will win a collection of prizes valued at that include a Sony a7 III with the 24-105 F4 G Master Lens, a ‘bundle’ of SanDisk memory cards, Skylum Luminar 3 with accompanying presets, and photography apparel/accessories from COOPH. Separately, the winner of the ‘Creative by Skylum’ category will be welcomed on as part of the Global Skylum Ambassador Team and the winner of the ‘Emerging by Red Bull Photography’ category will get a spot at the Red Bull Rising Talent photography workshop in 2020, travel, accommodation and boarding included.

Finally, the overall winner of the Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2019 will win ‘a shooting experience with the SanDisk Extreme Team and take home the Sony Alpha A9 camera with a 24-70mm f2.8 lens from the G-Master range.’

Any image captured after March 31, 2016 is eligible for the contest and submissions are open through July 31, 2019. After signing up for a Red Bull Illume account, you can submit up to 10 images in each of the eleven categories. An image can be used in no more than two categories; photographs must be JPEGs larger than 8MP and videos for the ‘Moving Image’ category must be Full HD (1080p) and between 5-30 seconds.

Red Bull has provided a thorough list of rules and regulations for the contest and the images submitted to it. Red Bull has also shared a video showing how to upload submissions to the contest. You can find the winners from past competitions on the Red Bull Illume website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Fearless Girl: Powerful Statue Faces Down Famous Charging Bull of Wall Street

19 Mar

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

fearless womens day statue

Located in the heart of the financial district in New York City, the Charging Bull statue has long been an icon of the industry, but now faces its first opponent: a young girl cast in bronze.

wall street bull

Sponsored by city officials and a local firm and crafted by sculptor Kristen Visbal, The Fearless Girl was erected in recognition of International Women’s Day. Its intended message is to encourage companies to put women on their boards, but of course it carries a series of meanings in the face of Wall Street and the political climate.

fearless girl statue

“One of the most iconic images on Wall Street is the charging bull,” explains a representative of State Street. “So the idea of having a female sort of stand against the bull or stand up to the bull just struck us as a very clever but also creative and engaging way to make that statement. Even though it’s a little girl, her stance is one of determination, forwardness, and being willing to challenge and take on the status quo.”

Whether the statue will stand the test of time remains to be seen, but its persistence would certainly not be without precedent. Per Colossal, the “Charging Bull was originally an act of guerrilla art by Arturo Di Modica, and only became permanent after its soaring popularity, leaving some to wonder if Visbal’s statue could follow the same story.”

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Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

08 Oct

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

© Lorenz Holder / Red Bull Illume

Lorenz Holder of Germany has taken the top prize for a second year in a row in the Red Bull Illume sports and action photography awards. His photo of pro BMX rider Senad Grosic took Overall Winner as well as the Athletes’ Choice award. Read on to learn more about the winning image and see more category winners. An exhibition of the top images is underway in Chicago and will go on tour after October 9th – visit Red Bull Illume’s website for a schedule.

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

© Lorenz Holder / Red Bull Illume. Overall Winner

‘Senad and I were on the way to a different location early in the morning, when we passed this scenic spot. We saw a sign from the street and I had some pictures in mind that I’d seen from this bridge on the internet. When we got there the sun was just above the trees and it was lighting up the full color-spectrum of the autumn leaves in a very soft way.

One thing that was a little annoying was that the lake was covered with leaves which had fallen from trees, so the reflection of the bridge in the lake was just not there. But sometimes you just need a bit of luck – I had been on a fishing trip some days before and still had my fishing-boots and a net in the car. So got the stuff and tried to clean the lake by hand. It took a while until it was almost perfectly clean – at least where it was relevant for the picture. Luckily the sun was still very soft, so we had good light for the shot.

I’d chosen a very low camera position to get an almost perfect mirrored scene on the water surface. The bridge looked like a perfect circle and the light was still very good. When Senad was on the bridge, it took us two or three tries to get the shot. There was also no more time for another try because the wind came up and the perfect reflection on the water was gone.

We jumped back to the car and drove towards our originally planned spot. It was an awesome feeling to have shot this picture with more or less pure luck. Without the sign next to the road, we would have passed one of the nicest photo scenes.’

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF 24-70mm F2.8L USM
ISO: 500
F-Stop: 8.0
Shutter Speed: 1/640

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

© Daniel Vojt?ch / Red Bull Illume. Sequence by Sony Winner

‘Red Bull asked me to do some portraits and action photos of the Flying Bulls. We had an air to air photoshoot and I knew it would be great for a sequence. An airplane is the only place from where you can see something like this. I did one fast attempt. After I stitched the sequence it was great, but I could still be a little bit closer.

We had another photoshoot on another day so we tried it again but I was much closer to the planes in front. It was cloudy so the final image looks very dramatic. The pilot also turned on the smoke so you can see the trail behind.

The camera I used for this photo was Nikon D5 and Nikkor 16/2.8 fisheye because there was almost no space and I wanted to show inside the part of the airplane I was sitting to show the pilot’s POV.’

Camera: Nikon D5
Lens: 16mm F2.8 AF Fisheye
ISO: 640
F-Stop: 5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/250

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

© Jody MacDonald / Red Bull Illume. Lifestyle Winner

‘When I was young I used to look through National Geographic magazines and dream of adventures like this; train hopping through the Sahara on one of the world’s longest trains. I had dreamt of the oceans of sand, the loud noises of the train, the cold, the wind, the scorching sun, the unknown smells and sounds of the desert and the discomfort that goes with it. So when I was asked to dream up and photograph a trip in harsh conditions, a 700 kilometer journey through the Sahara desert in Mauritania came to mind.

After weeks of planning, our journey began in the capital of Nouakchott, from there my brother and I moved north through the interior to board the Mauritania Railway. Our risky rail journey started from the iron-mining center of Zouérat in the Sahara, and snaked through the barren desert toward the port of Nouadhibou on the Atlantic. We wanted to get to the coast to try to find some unexplored surf breaks and capture the spirit of adventure and exploration through this incredible landscape. Having only a few minutes to hop on the train in the middle of the night, we spent 15 long hours slithering through the desert on the three kilometer train that transports approximately 84 tons of iron ore across a country crippled by terrorism, slavery, and poverty.

I photographed this image with Leica’s new X-U all weather camera with a fixed 23mm lens. I used a shutter speed of 1/500 to stop the motion of the train and an f-stop of 7.1 at ISO 100.’

Camera: Leica X-U (Typ 113)
Lens: 23.0mm F1.7
ISO: 100
F-Stop: 7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/500

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

© Dean Treml / Red Bull Illume. Spirit Winner

‘In this image Josh Neilson of New Zealand is supported by fellow paddlers (L-R) Barnaby Prees, Sam Sutton, Tim Pickering, Ben Brown, Jamie Sutton and Jared Seiler as he waits for a helicopter evacuation after a bad landing off Matze’s Drop, Storulfossen, Norway on July 7th 2014. It left him with a broken L1 vertebrae.

I traveled to kayaking mecca Norway for a few days to shoot and hang with my Kiwi mate Ben Brown, one of the world’s most prodigious adventure kayakers. As fate would have it he dislocated his shoulder the day I arrived, but luckily he was traveling with some brilliant paddlers so I still had subjects to shoot.

On the last day we found ourselves at this spectacular waterfall, where five others made the run, then Josh went off. After a good entry the nose of his kayak was thrust up and he flat landed at the bottom, the impact breaking his back. His colleagues were immediately on hand to assist and stabilize Josh, and Ben, who had previously suffered a similar injury, was able to reassure Josh while a helicopter was summoned. Josh was flown to Lillehammer hospital and then on to Elverum for successful surgery. With determined rehabilitation in New Zealand, Neilson was back in a kayak one year later and subsequently traveled back to Norway to paddle their rivers again.’

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF 24mm F1.4L II USM
ISO: 400
F-Stop: 2.0
Shutter Speed: 1/2500

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

© Vegard Aasen / Red Bull Illume. Mobile Winner

‘This winter some friends and I went to Hakuba in Japan to ski some deep powder and big mountains. The day this shot was taken was a really windy one but the snow was still really good, so we went out into the backcountry. One of my friends brought his DSLR camera, so I decided to not bring my camera because I wanted to ski instead of taking photos.

We hiked for a while, and discovered a group hiking across the ridge above us. The wind and the clouds looked amazing, so my friend took out his camera and started shooting. I hated myself for not bringing my camera. Luckily I had my mobile phone in my pocket. I could not see anything on the screen, but obviously managed to aim pretty well.

A week later, I scrolled through my phone, while waiting for sushi at a restaurant. I had completely forgotten about the shot, so I was pretty stoked when I found it. I edited it to black and white in Photoshop Express on my phone, and was really happy with the result.’

Camera: HUAWEI P8
ISO: 64
F-Stop: 2.0
Shutter Speed: 1/3200

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

© Dean Treml / Red Bull Illume. Enhance Winner

‘Jonathan Paredes of Mexico dives from the 28 meter platform on the roof of the Copenhagen Opera House during the first practice session of the second stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, Copenhagen, Denmark on June 20th 2013.

I remember while I was originally scoping out the location for this event thinking how surreal images could look without the diving platform jutting out, and just the small form of the diver, and the huge cantilevered roof dominating the frame, and even discussed it at the time with my wife (the photographer Romina Amato) who was also there.

As I am editorially focused the integrity of the image is paramount so the platform stayed, but while reading the categories of Red Bull Illume this image jumped into my mind and I figured a quick ‘fix’ to one of my shots couldn’t hurt, so this version of the image really came about thanks to the ‘Enhance’ category. ‘

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF 70-300mm F4-5.6L IS USM
ISO: 400
F-Stop: 5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/4000

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

© Micky Wiswedel / Red Bull Illume. Wings Winner

‘My buddy Jimbo had been opening new hard routes in the area and we wanted to try and capture some of the climbs. With climbing photography it’s not often you can just walk somewhere to get a good angle – most good shots require some form of rigging. The angle of this image happened by chance. We were setting up for another shot but when I looked back I knew we had to change plans and grab the shot with the sea and horizon in the background, framed by this huge rock roof.

Lighting is also difficult, as climbers prefer to climb in the shade as cooler temperatures provide more friction between skin and rock. This often means overexposed backgrounds and underexposed foregrounds. The best I could do in this situation was to shoot somewhere in the middle.

The route is one of the hardest on Table Mountain. The last ‘crux’ section is near the top – you have a few pieces of protection below but there’s a final jump, or ‘dyno’ for the last hold. The image captures what happens if you don’t manage to stick that hold!

There was always a chance that Jimbo would fall, so I was ready for it. For the couple of seconds leading up to the big move I was holding my breath and ready to fire. I could definitely feel the adrenaline pumping! It’s a pretty big and impressive fall, but luckily far from the ground – that doesn’t make it any less terrifying.

We had planned to grab some cool climbing shots, but in the end this image of Jimbo mid-air was the shot we felt captured the intensity of the climb. Jimbo did send the route that day – after a few more falls.’

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF 16-35mm F2.8L USM
ISO: 400
F-Stop: 3.5
Shutter Speed: 1/1600

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

© Ale Di Lullo / Red Bull Illume. New Creativity Winner

‘I’d been working on shots through transparent surfaces for a few years but it was during a long drive across Europe that I had this idea. I was forcing myself to think of new angles and nothing really came to mind. But when I said to myself that the best ideas are the simplest ones, that usually you have the answer in front of you, I realized the shot was actually in front of me. It was right there, where most people spend a lot of time everyday – cars!

Nobody had done an extreme sport shot from inside the car having the rider riding on the windshield. I understood that a shot like this had to be made in an iconic spot and the spot had to be in a city so it was clear that New York City with all its bridges was the place. And what could have been better than a NYC cab to shoot from?

Choosing Aaron Chase as the rider was natural. He has been a friend for a long time and happened to be a pioneer of street riding in our sport and is almost a local in New York. It took us one year of preparation, one full day of work, involved a few people and a bit of money. But I kept shooting, all the while fearing I would break the windscreen, and 12 attempts later I nailed this shot.’

Camera: Canon EOS-1D X
Lens: EF 8-15mm F4L Fisheye USM
ISO: 640
F-Stop: 5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/1600

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

© Lorenz Holder / Red Bull Illume. Playground Winner

‘I shot this unique location a couple months before this action shoot as a landscape picture because I just liked the whole structure and the way it was integrated into the landscape. It’s a viewing platform made of steel that has rusted over the years. You can walk up the stairs to enjoy the view over the lakes that surround the area.

I knew somehow, that there was the potential for it to be a location for an action photo. My first idea was to shoot snowboarding in it, but that was just impossible because of the limited space. I almost gave up on the idea, but then I bumped into Senad Grosic in Berlin one day and we talked a bit about spots and stuff. I showed him the landscape picture and he told me that we need to go back there to see what’s possible.

So Senad and I took a road trip and drove all the way to Senftenberg. We discussed and fine-tuned a plan that would look rad on photo. Senad had the idea to be dressed all white to give it more contrast, because I didn’t want to use flashes to keep the structure as evenly lit as possible. The angle is almost the same angle I chose for the landscape picture. It’s actually an architectural picture with the spice of action sports in it.’

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF 24-70mm F2.8L USM
ISO: 500
F-Stop: 6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/400

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Red Bull Illume – Die Gewinner

10 Sep

Wenn ich an Red Bull denke, dann denke ich gleichzeitig an Action und Sport. Eine kluge und funktionierende Werbestrategie hat sich die Firma da ausgedacht. Und weil die Fotowettbewerbsbilder des Red Bull Illume es wirklich in sich haben, zeigen wir sie Euch hier. Lehnt Euch zurück und genießt beeindruckende Actionsportfotografie.

Ende August wurden die Sieger des Wettbewerbs bekanntgegeben. Als Gesammtsieger konnte sich der deutsche Fotograf Lorenz Holder mit seinem Bild von einem Snowboarder auf einer riesigen Satellitenschüssel durchsetzen.

Red Bull Illume © Lorenz Holder

Ich fand diesen einzigartigen Ort im Sommer und wollte dort unbedingt einen Snowboarder fotografieren. Ich erzählte Xaver Hoffmann von dem Ort und auch er war fasziniert. Meine Idee, das Ganze unter schwerem Schneefall zu fotografieren, war nicht leicht, denn in der letzten Saison schneite es nur einmal an dieser Stelle. So gab es nur diese eine einmalige Chance, das Bild zu bekommen.

Ich habe zwei große Elinchrom-Blitze im Hintergrund benutzt, um die Schneeflocken zu beleuchten und so eine „weiße Wand“ zu erzeugen, durch die ich Xavers Silhouette erfassen konnte, als er sprang. Um genug Licht auf die Schüssel zu bekommen, entschied ich mich für eine Belichtungszeit von 4 Sekunden, um auch noch etwas Licht vom Mond einzufangen.

~

In der Katgeorie „Illumination“ konnte sich der Kanadier Scott Serfas ebenfalls mit einem Snowboardfoto behaupten. Das Licht ist in der Tat großartig.

Red Bull Illume © Scott Serfas

Dieses Foto wurde auf der zweiten Reise zum Making-Of des Snowboard-Films „Art of FLIGHT“ geschossen. Wir waren bereits seit einem Monat in Alaska und ich wusste, dass der Trip bald enden würde. Ich wollte unbedingt noch ein Foto aus dem Helikopter heraus machen, direkt über Travis Rice, aber das war sehr schwierig, denn ein anderer Helikopter war bereits mit einer Cineflex-Kamera in der Luft.

Als Travis sich mental darauf vorbereitete, seine Route zu fahren, stieg ich auf etwa 30 Meter über ihn und wartete. Der andere Hubschrauber flog seine Runde um uns herum, so dass sie auch ihre Bilder bekommen konnten, ohne mit uns zu kollidieren. Die Sonne ging schnell unter. Als Travis seine zweite Runde den Berg hinunter fuhr, gelang mir diese Aufnahme.

~

Der deutsche Fotograf Lorenz Holder gewann mit seinem einzigartigen Schwarzweißbild ebenfalls in der Kategorie „Experimental“.

Red Bull Illume © Lorenz Holder

In den letzten paar Jahren habe ich etwa 90% meiner Action-Aufnahmen mit einem Stativ geschossen. Ich mache das, weil ich viele Bilder von Hand einfach vermassel. Nach einem Shooting habe ich so am Ende immer das gleiche Bild mit nur geringfügigen Änderungen.

Ich merkte, dass ich verschiedene Bilder in Photoshop so auch einfach drehen und wieder zusammensetzen kann, um eine ganz andere, neue Welt, die im realen Leben nicht existiert, zu erstellen. Alle Bilder haben eine perfekte Symmetrie, das mag ich sehr.

In diesem Foto spiegelte ich Teile des Gebäudes, um ein wirklich, wirklich großes Gebäude zu erhalten. Jordan vorn ist das einzige Element, das nicht symmetrisch ist.

~

Ebenfalls experimentell, aber in der Kategorie „New Creativitiy“ ausgezeichnet, ist das Bild des Tschechen Daniel Vojtech. Ein Actionfoto aus dem Studio.

Red Bull Illume © Daniel VojtÄ?ch

Für dieses neue Projekt wählte ich den Mountainbike 4 Cross-Athleten Tomas Slavik aus. Er schafft völlig neue und unmöglichen Tricks auf dem MTB und wenn etwas heute unmöglich scheint, wird es in ein paar Jahren die Norm sein.

Das Shooting fand in einem Studio statt, weil wir die Lichter hier sehr leicht kontrollieren konnten und ich ein Backstage-Gefühl erzeugen wollte. Zudem war es sehr einfach, das Fahrrad an der Decke aufzuhängen. Wir hatten ein spezielles Seil für Tomas und zwei kleinere für das Fahrrad.

~

Dieses Foto der Australierin Krystle Wright ist eines der Finalisten in der Kategorie „Wings“ und auch, wenn es nicht zu den Top 10 gehört, ist es eines meiner Lieblingsbilder aus dem Wettbewerb.

Red Bull illume © Krystle Wright

Als die Base-Jumper den Castleton Tower hochstiegen, starteten wir den Motor und schwirrten um den Turm herum. Ich konnte keinen klaren Funkkontakt mit den Jumpern bekommen und es war ein wenig chaotisch, als wir zu kommunizieren versuchten. Am Ende sprangen die Athleten, als sie bereit waren und es war pures Glück für mich, in Position zu sein, als Michael Tomchek seinen 120-Meter-Sprung nahm.

~

Wenn Ihr jetzt neugierig geworden seid, dann schaut Euch doch auch die anderen Gewinnerbilder und Finalisten auf der offiziellen Webseite Red Bull Illume an. Welches Bild ist Euer Favorit?


kwerfeldein – Fotografie Magazin

 
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Winners of Red Bull Illume 2013 contest announced

01 Sep

playground.jpg

Back in July we highlighted some of the finalists in the 2013 Red Bull Illume action and adventure sports photo competition, and now the winners have been announced in each of the contest’s 10 categories. This year’s overall winner was Lorenz Holder who also triumphed in the Playground and Experimental categories. Click through to see his winning shot as well as the work of this year’s other winners. 

News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Breathtaking images from Red Bull Illume 2013’s finalists

01 Aug

illume4.png

The finalists in the annual Red Bull Illume photo contest have been revealed, and action and extreme sports never looked so good. A total of 250 finalists have been announced with entries in 10 different categories. Come August 29th, a winner will be crowned from 50 finalists invited to the reveal in Hong Kong. Click through and take a look at some of these incredible contenders for the grand prize.

News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Big air photography at Air and Style – Red Bull Illume 2010

02 May

Getting the right shots at a high profile event requires more than just turning up and snapping away. The Air & Style, one of snowboarding’s oldest and most prestigious competitions, is one such event where capturing the winning stunt in the best possible manner is crucial. We spoke to German photographer Richard Walch who was at the most recent Air & Style in December 2009, about how to prepare, which lens to use when and how to make sure you get everything covered. redbullillume.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Happy August everybody!!!!!! This is the 8th installment of my Photography Tutorial series. It is actually an abbreviated version of Chapter 2 from the DVD I slang. It is a introduction to some core concepts of composition. Enjoy, the next one of this series will be posted first week of September……..
Video Rating: 4 / 5

 
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