Photography News | Issue 39 | absolutephoto.com
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Interview
Overall winner – Lorenz Holder
The creation of shots is getting more and more elaborate with each edition...
What is it in particular about the Red Bull Illume contest that drew you to enter? The Red Bull Illume is the biggest action sport photo competition in the world. First of all, photo competitions are always fun to take part in, because you never know if you’ll make it into the next round. So at the beginning it’s just a thrill of how far you will make it. I knew, that I had some stronger photos this time, but I never ever thought I could win again. My honest goal was to make it to the final prize giving in Chicago. It’s just an awesome time to hang out with the 55 best action sports photographers in the world. You never have so many creative people around you, that think and work the same as you do. It’s a great inspiration. This is the second time that you’ve been announced as the overall winner, how did it feel to find out? I was shocked to be honest. I never in my mind thought that I could possibly win again. Has winning the competition gained you more exposure and work? Yes of course. My images where shown all over the world in all kind of magazines and online
platforms. So there was a lot of exposure and also some job offers due to the win. But it’s still pretty fresh, so only time will tell if I gain more work because I’m the overall winner of the Red Bull Illume. Would you recommend that other action and sports photographers enter? What advice would you give to them? Yes of course. First of all it’s free – so you have nothing to loose. Second, it’s a lot of fun. My suggestion is to maybe analyse the pictures that made it into the 275 shortlist, so you can get an idea of what the judges like and what didn’t do so well. With this way, you can go out and shoot maybe in a more artistic way, than you would normally do. Will you be going in for an attempt to win for the third time running? We will see. When I have the feeling that I have some strong images, then yes of course. But that’s still a long way to go – there are two and a half years till the next Illume.
How has the standard of the competition changed over the years? The number of entries to Red Bull Illume has grown quickly over the last ten years. The first edition of Red Bull Illume in 2007 saw 7202 images being selected, photographers submitted 22,775 images to the second edition in 2010 and 28,257 images to the third edition in 2013. For the 2016 edition photographers submitted a record-breaking 34,624 images. The most notable change in the images that are being submitted is the approach. The creation of the shots is getting more and more elaborate with each edition as photographers try and one-up the previous editions winning images. The effort that has been put into a lot of the images – not only the winning ones, but throughout all of the submissions – is incredible. However even with the increase in planning, sometimes it is still the spontaneous, raw moments that stick out. The balance between professional and amateur entries is hard to determine as there is no real guidelines as to what makes a ‘professional’ photographer in action and adventure sports. In 2016 a little over 25% of the photographers who submitted to Red Bull Illume classed themselves as ‘amateur’, roughly 50% have classed themselves as ‘professional’, the remainder had not specified. Why was the decisionmade to include a mobile category? Mobile photography and the quality of mobile cameras has grown exponentially in recent years and with it came a whole new aspect to photography. They say that ‘the best camera is the one you have with you’ and with so many cameras around, so many more spontaneous moments were captured. Mobile photography isn’t about a planned- out shoot or a big set-up, it’s about capturing a quick, spontaneous and fleeting moment in time. The Mobile category was included to honour these moments and give them a platform within action and adventure sports. How does the judging process work? The Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2016 saw 5645 photographers from 120 countries submitting a record-breaking 34,624 images. The 53 judges were sent a set of prints that only contained the image, category and a randomised number. No information regarding the photographers, athletes, locations, nationalities etc. was provided to the judges – the judging was completely anonymous. Based on the prints the judges cast their votes in three rounds to give 55 finalists, 11 category winners and one overall Winner. Red Bull Illume founder and photographer – Ulrich Grill
lorenzholder.com
©LorenzHolder
©AleDi lullo
Far left Jody MacDonald – Lifestyle winner Below Vegard Aasen – Mobile winner Left Denis Klero – Close Up winner Top Lorenz Holder – overall winner Above left Micky Wiswedel – Wings winner Above right Ale Di Lullo – New Creativity winner
Get the limited edition Red Bull Illume 2016 Photobook from redbullillume.com
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