Red Bull revealed the winners of their Illume action sports photography competition, last week, in Hong Kong. They flew in the top fifty winners along with the judges for an unveiling at an outdoor event on Hong Kong harbor, featuring the top fifty images in 2x2m light boxes. The Red Bull Illume photo contest was open to anyone and brought in over 28,000 photos from nearly 6500 photographers. In my opinion, just getting into the top 250 finalists made you a champ. But it is a contest and they had to pick some actual winners. So with no further ado, let’s get to the winning photos!
The overall winning image (above) from the third Red Bull Illume photo contest was taken by German photographer, Lorenz Holder. It’s a photo of a snowboarder doing a trick on the base of a huge, backlit radio antenna. It’s a very sophisticated image that clearly required careful planning, pre-visualization, luck, excellent technical photographic skills – not to mention a worthy athlete. A great action sports photo is, after all, always collaboration between photographer and athlete.
Here’s Lorenz’s description of what it took to get this photo:
“I found this unique spot in the summer and I really wanted to shoot a snowboard picture there. I told Xaver Hoffmann about the spot and he was also fascinated. My idea to shoot in heavy snowfall wasn’t going to be easy, as it only snowed once in this spot last season. So there was pretty much just a one-time chance to get this shot. I used two big Elinchrom strobes in the background to light up the snowflakes and create a ‘white wall’ where I could capture Xaver’s silhouette as he jumped. To get some light onto the dish, I chose a 4-second exposure time to get some light from the moon. Overall, I’m pretty happy that we made it there that day!”
Besides the overall winner, five finalists and one winning photo were chosen for each of ten categories: Close Up, Energy, Experimental, Illumination, Lifestyle by Leica, New Creativity, Playground, Sequence, Spirit, and Wings. Each of the top fifty photographers won a Leica X2 high-end compact camera; and the overall winner, Lorenz Holder, won a package that included a $22,000 Leica S medium format digital SLR and a Broncolor portable strobe kit.
©Daniel Vojtěch / 2013 Red Bull Illume New Creativity Category Winning Photo
© Zakary Noyle / 2013 Red Bull Illume Sequence Category Winning Photo
©Lorenz Holder / 2013 Red Bull Illume Experimental Category Winning Photo
©Scott Serfas / 2013 Red Bull Illume Illumination Category Winning Photo
©Romina Amato / 2013 Red Bull Illume Energy Category Winning Photo
© Jeroen Nieuwhuis / 2013 Red Bull Illume Close Up Category Winning Photo
© Chris Burkard / 2013 Red Bull Illume Spirit Category Winning Photo
© Samo Vidic / 2013 Red Bull Illume Wings Category Winning Photo
©Lorenz Holder / 2013 Red Bull Illume Overall Winning Photo
© Morgan Maassen / 2013 Red Bull Illume Lifestyle Category Winning Photo
© Lucas Gilman / 2013 Red Bull Illume Wings Category Finalist Photo
© Benjamin Ginsberg / 2013 Red Bull Illume Wings Category Finalist Photo
© Krystle Wright / 2013 Red Bull Illume Wings Category Finalist Photo
© Dimitrios Kontizas / 2013 Red Bull Illume Wings Category Finalist Photo
© Dave Lehl / 2013 Red Bull Illume Spirit Category Finalist Photo
© Rafal Meszka / 2013 Red Bull Illume Spirit Category Finalist Photo
© Stuart Gibson / 2013 Red Bull Illume Spirit Category Finalist Photo
© George Karbus / 2013 Red Bull Illume Spirit Category Finalist Photo
© Vince Perraud / 2013 Red Bull Illume Sequence Category Finalist Photo
© Dan Carr / 2013 Red Bull Illume Sequence Category Finalist Photo
© Blotto Gray / 2013 Red Bull Illume Sequence Category Finalist Photo
© Scott Serfas / 2013 Red Bull Illume Sequence Category Finalist Photo
© Scott Dickerson / 2013 Red Bull Illume Playground Category Finalist Photo
© Paul Bride / 2013 Red Bull Illume Playground Category Finalist Photo
© Olaf Pignataro / 2013 Red Bull Illume Playground Category Finalist Photo
© Martin Lugger / 2013 Red Bull Illume Playground Category Finalist Photo
© Jimmy Wilson / 2013 Red Bull Illume Lifestyle Category Finalist Photo
© Ismael Ibañez Ruiz / 2013 Red Bull Illume Lifestyle Category Finalist Photo
©Theodore Van Orman / 2013 Red Bull Illume Lifestyle Category Finalist Photo
©Jussi Grznar / 2013 Red Bull Illume Lifestyle Category Finalist Photo
©Jody MacDonald / 2013 Red Bull Illume Illumination Category Finalist Photo
©Clark Fyans / 2013 Red Bull Illume Illumination Category Finalist Photo
©Ryan Taylor / 2013 Red Bull Illume Illumination Category Finalist Photo
©Nicolas Jutzi / 2013 Red Bull Illume Illumination Category Finalist Photo
©Florian Breitenberger / 2013 Red Bull Illume Experimental Category Finalist Photo
©Rainer Eder / 2013 Red Bull Illume Experimental Category Finalist Photo
©Ray Demski / 2013 Red Bull Illume Experimental Category Finalist Photo
©Elias Kunosson / 2013 Red Bull Illume Experimental Category Finalist Photo
©Rami Hanafi / 2013 Red Bull Illume Energy Category Finalist Photo
©Christian Pondella / 2013 Red Bull Illume Energy Category Finalist Photo
©Sterling Lorence / 2013 Red Bull Illume Energy Category Finalist Photo
©David Carlier / 2013 Red Bull Illume Energy Category Finalist Photo
©Lorenz Holder / 2013 Red Bull Illume New Creativity Category Finalist Photo
©Juan Cruz Rabaglia / 2013 Red Bull Illume New Creativity Category Finalist Photo
©Jaanus Ree / 2013 Red Bull Illume New Creativity Category Finalist Photo
©Jussi Grznar / 2013 Red Bull Illume New Creativity Category Finalist Photo
©Claudio Casanova / 2013 Red Bull Illume Close Up Category Finalist Photo
©Stuart Gibson / 2013 Red Bull Illume Close Up Category Finalist Photo
©George Karbus / 2013 Red Bull Illume Close Up Category Finalist Photo
©Morgan Maassen / 2013 Red Bull Illume Close Up Category Finalist Photo
Lorenz Holder - 2013 Red Bull Illume Photo Contest Overall Winner
The athletes also got to vote on their favorite photo. In a way, having your photo chosen as the favorite by your subjects (professional athletes, in this case) is even more prestigious. That honor went to American photographer, Morgan Maassen, for his underwater photo of surfers waiting for a wave in Fiji.
For the final awards ceremony, Red Bull flew in the contest judges and top fifty finalists for an unveiling on the Hong Kong harbor. The event featured the fifty winning images in 2x2m light boxes. After the exhibition spends a few weeks in Hong Kong, Red Bull takes the show on the road with stops in Europe, Canada and the USA. Check the Red Bull Illume Web site for more information on the exhibition tour and to learn more about the competition and photographers.
2013 Red Bull Illume Web Site >>
Go to the next page to browse all fifty winning photos from the 2013 Red Bull Illume photo competition.
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