As the celebration of Red Bull Illume at Dublin’s Trinity College was in full swing, we sharpened our ears and gauged the reaction of participants, athletes and judges alike...
Marcel Lämmerhirt (GER), Wings Category winner
I’m totally surprised. I saw the other photos in the Wings category and I saw many other great shots and I really thought I wouldn’t make it. When I saw my photo popping up as the winner it was a really amazing feeling, and surprising for me. I love the shot. It’s two years old now, but I really like it. To see it here now big on the screen is really nice.
Nathan Smith (Australia), Athletes’ Choice and Close Up winner
I’m dizzy from the whole experience. I’m humbled to be here and happy to have made the top 50 let alone win two awards that in my book are very prestigious. I’m in a room full of photographers who I look up to. I am amazed how many people love photography in general, whether it be surfing, skiing or whatever. The surf photographers got up tonight, I’m happy about that, it’s different.
Eric Berger (Canada), New Creativity winner
This has been a lucky photo for me. It’s been recognized twice now and it’s exciting. It took a lot of work to get and it’s nice to see it rewarded. In the context of what I’m seeing here, the calibre and the level of photography is unbelievable. The way the imagery is showcased here is beyond my expectations. It’s surreal, it’s really good.
Daniel Grund (Germany), Experimental category winner
I’m feeling brilliant, it’s a great honour and to see the picture presented like this. I’m surprised, because in the Experimental category you need glasses to see this photo properly. I’m super happy!
Robby Naish, Red Bull Athlete and surfer
Especially in sports like mine, the relationship with photographers is maybe more profound than a lot of other sports where competition is the focus. I’ve been lucky to work with photographers for the last thirty-four years. A lot of who I am and my career and everything I’m based around is because of the images provided by photographers. It’s great to see a platform where the guys on the other side of the lens are getting a bit of attention and respect and reward.
Maiko Mou, (French Polynesia), finalist in Close Up category
It’s such a positive thing for me to be a finalist, even though I didn’t win. It’s really cool.
Silvano Zeiter (Switzerland), finalist in New Creativity category
I really appreciate being invited. To be here is just awesome and to see my shot that big – I can hardly believe it. There are so many photographers here that I really look up to. The overall winning shot is amazing. When I saw the random pictures exhibited on the Red Bull Illume website, I looked through them and saw that one picture by Chris Burkard. I made a screen shot and said to my friend, “This is going to be shot!”
Lorenz Holder (Germany), finalist in New Creativity category
My favorite photo is the Overall Winner, really. It’s one of those pictures where everything came together.
Eric Antoine (France), finalist in Experimental category
It’s great to see the pictures big. My photo especially, it’s just a little piece of glass. It’s good to see it this big. It’s interesting to see how people perceive the photos because the photographer has their own opinion. It’s very interesting to see what comments people have. It’s funny to hear the different visions people have of my work.
Camilla Stoddart (Scotland), finalist in Wings category – only female photographer in final 50
I’m absolutely stoked, over the moon. Just so really crazy happy that I can be here and see my image amongst the world’s best. The images are absolutely breathtaking. I saw the Red Bull Illume photos from 2007 and it was something I always wanted to be involved in. You see all the photographers doing this really cool stuff and you aspire to become them. And here I am! There’s not a lot of female photographers in action and adventure sports because it’s so physical. It’s just really great for me to be involved.
Orlando Duque, Red Bull Athlete and Cliff diver
As a cliff diver, we have to have really good timing. I spend two seconds in the air. I’m in a difficult situation, but the photographer is under a lot of pressure too. But they always manage to get the shot and get great results so it’s really a privilege to work with a good photographer. It’s nice to see my picture here too. But two minutes ago I told two girls, “Hey, that’s me in the picture” and they didn’t believe me!
Laura Luykenaar (Netherlands), Salt
It was very hard to make the voting decisions. All those pictures were so magnificent, I had to choose them on the feel that I had from the picture and the ones that told the story the best. This just brings together all the action sports that you don’t always see on TV and shows what the feel and the culture for these sports are like.
Lyn Walker (Australia), Alpha Magazine
It was pretty hard to narrow down the top 50 from the semi-finalists. The quality of the photos was incredible. The judges got an amazing book, it was awesome to flick through and see all the amazing photography. There were definitely some standouts. The shots that really captured the essence of Red Bull and the excitement in the picture – they really stood out.
Calvin Bradley (RSA), Zig Zag magazine
The shots of the cliff diving just blew me away, I hadn’t seen that sort of thing before, it’s just art.
Sergio Urday (Peru), Etiquete Negra
It’s amazing to change opinions and feelings about photography, but I think Red Bull Illume does that. Photography is a way of changing peoples’ minds. I think photography brings people from different countries and cultures together and when you have a competition and a gathering like this Unveiling you can see that.
Gustavo Cherro (Argentina), La Nacion
Eric Berger’s New Creativity photo really stood out for me. To get this photo was very difficult, the equipment doesn’t work so good. To get the skier going over the hole three or four times would have taken at least an hour so it would have been very cold, so I really like the image because of the work involved.
Tokushi Akai (Japan), SF1ST magazine
All the photos I’ve seen in Red Bull Illume, people can connect to the emotion in them.
Visit Red Bull Illume for the entire selection of winning photos.
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