Red Bull’s Illume Contest Exhibits Some of the Most Stunning Snowboarding and Skiing Photo’s Ever.

That’s not a Snapchat filter you’re seeing here, this is real life captured by the Enhance category finalist – Markus Rohrbacher. Image:: Markus Rohrbacher

Mountainwatch | Louis Macindoe

It’s been 3 years since Red Bull has hosted their Illume photography contest, so it’s no wonder why the fourth instalment in 2016 was highly anticipated.
Since its inception in 2007, Illume has become the premier exhibit of the best photos in action sports. The content covers a wide range of action sports, including both Snowboarding and Skiing. The industry’s most prolific photographers submit their selected photos into the most applicable categories, giving the content a unique spread of imagery. The judged categories are:

CLOSE UP: Images that show extreme detail of one or more aspects of an athletic feat: a tight shot of the action, the equipment, the body, the face, etc.
ENERGY: Images that demonstrate the force that powers an action and show the energy, speed and strength required for an athlete to perform.
ENHANCE: 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!
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.
MATERPIECE: Images that illuminate artistic skill and style, the photographers personal best, these images are the cream of the crop.
MOBILE: Images captured using a mobile phone or tablet.
NEW CREATIVITY: 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 without digital alterations.
PLAYGROUND: Images that showcase the landscapes, locations, platforms, and environments in which athletes play.
SEQUENCE: Images that tell the whole story in a single frame and capture the progression of an action at every stage.
SPIRIT: Images that portray the spirit or personality that athletic performances produce, as well as the pain, emotion and struggles that go along with trying to achieve one’s goals, whether due to injury, failure or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
WINGS: Images that capture the point in a performance in which the athlete jumps, catches air, free falls, soars.

As you can imagine, the submissions are nothing short of spectacular. As they say, a picture tells a thousand words – so well just leave these here then

Photographer:: Bruno Long Rider:: Carlo Travarelli Category:: Close up, Semifinalist Location:: Salt Lake City, UT, United States

Photographer:: Christian Pondella Rider:: Max Hammer Category:: Close up, Semifinalist Location:: Sierra Nevada, CA, United States

Photographer:: Daniele Molineris Rider:: Giuliano Bordoni Category:: Close up, Semifinalist Location:: San Martino di Castrozza, Italy

Photographer:: Vegard Aasen Rider:: Unknown Category:: Mobile, Winner Location:: Hakuba, Japan

“I define myself as a student, skier, climber and photographer. The last couple of years I have focused on filming and photographing action and extreme sports, as well as landscape and nature.”

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.”

Vegard Aasen

Photographer:: Oskar Enander Rider:: Eric Hjorleifson Category:: New Creativity, Semifinalist Location:: Sentry Lodge, Canada

Photographer:: Jeremy Bernard Rider:: Nicolas Vuignier Category:: New Creativity, Semifinalist Location:: Zinal, Switzerland

Photographer:: Will Wissman Rider:: Sam Cohen Category:: Playground, Semifinalist Location:: Haines, AK, United States

Photographer:: Dave Lehl Rider:: Sage Kotsenburg Category:: Enhance, Finalist Location:: Vail Pass, CO, United States

“When I shoot, I try to think of a new way of capturing the action, something that hasn’t been done before.”

I had an idea for a series of photographs incorporating light trails coming off snowboarders’ boards a while back. I’d done a couple already when TransWorld SNOWboarding asked me to come up with one for the cover of the photo annual.

By this time it was already late April and the snow was getting scarce. I reached out to a few riders but being the end of the season, they were just too exhausted. It was late May and looking too late. In a last ditch effort, I emailed Bobby Meeks (then the team manager for Nike Snowboarding), and he said he’d reach out to his riders. Within an hour I had an email from Sage Kotsenberg. I was ecstatic!

When we met, we were shocked to find there was no snow to be seen. So much had melted the 8-10ft stump was now more like 15ft. Sage is a pro though, and wasn’t fazed. After a couple warm up hits, he started blasting over it. The action was so fast that I was having a hard time catching the exact moment his hand was hitting the stump.

It was almost too dark to see and Sage wasn’t sure how many more attempts he had left in him. Luckily as the sky was showing its last signs of life, Sage launched a perfect one and I caught the moment. Transworld never did use the shot on the cover, but Transworld Japan ran it on the cover of their photo annual, so it was worth it!”

Dave lehl

Photographer:: Dasha Nosova Rider:: Tor Lundstroem Category:: Spirit, Semifinalist Location:: Sochi, Russian Federation

Photographer:: Maksim Balakhovskii Rider:: Gigi Rüf Category:: Masterpiece, Semifinalist Location:: Kulusuk, Greenland

Photographer:: Lorenz Holder Rider:: Elias Elhardt Category:: Playground, Semifinalist Location:: Stuben, Austria

Photographer:: Markus Rohrbacher Rider:: Arthur Longo, Gjermund Braaten and Ludwig Biltoft Category:: Enhance, Finalist Location:: Kitzsteinhorn, Austria

“Nitro Snowboards came up with the idea to let a group of riders jump through a cloud of helium balloons. Besides organizing enough balloons, helium and covering material for storing the filled balloons, we also had to find the right location.

After some brainstorming we came up with Kitzsteinhorn, where they built us a special gap-kicker. A bowl in the middle allowed us to hide the balloons and the crew who had to lift them.

The hardest part of this project was finding the right timing to lift the balloons and have the snowboarders jump through them simultaneously. After each try we needed to fill up new balloons and get the whole crew ready again, taking almost an hour of preparation each time. The next challenge was the weather. Conditions are always unpredictable on glaciers and often we had to wait for the sun to come out or for the wind to decrease or change direction. Unfortunately, this caused us a couple of failed attempts where balloons just flew in the wrong direction or the athletes lost control when they got hit by a gust of wind.

After a couple of tries and analyzing the timing and perspectives, we were able to get the right moment and all the effort we put in paid off.”

Markus Rohrbacher

Photographer:: Emil Sollie Rider:: Mons Røisland Category:: Energy, Finalist Location:: Folgefonna, Norway

“The last years I’ve been working as a photographer and traveled the world shooting landscape and action sports.”

We went up to Folgefonna, a glacier in Norway, to do a kickershoot with some of the guys from Norway’s national snowboarding team. The place is probably one of the most epic spots during sunset and that was the mission that day, but it turned out to be really cloudy and was a total whiteout.

We decided to head down to the camp and call it a day. On our way down we found this little lake and wondered if it was possible to surf it. Mons, the dude in the pic, hiked up for a speedcheck. It was a bit sketchy the first tries, but after five or six hits we had the shot. The pic was shot with the Nikon D3s and two flashes.”

Emil Sollie

Photographer:: Matt Georges Rider:: Markus Keller Category:: Wings, Semifinalist Location:: Arlberg, Austria