Adventure Photo Contest Winners, Red Bull Illume 2010

Skiing Whistler, British Columbia, Canada

Photograph by Eric Berger, Red Bull Illume

Category: New Creativity

About the Shot
This image was captured in a snowmobile-access backcountry area just south of Whistler. My friend Adam Topshee had scoped out some interesting ice formations that he thought would be good to shoot. We asked our friend Dan Treadway to join us.

At first it didn’t seem like much, but as we began to explore, we found interesting angles and got more comfortable working around the ice. Eventually, I was comfortable enough to position myself in one of the cracks in order to shoot out toward the opening. I was pretty nervous and excited at the same time, as I realized it was a unique angle and had some potential to be a great shot.

On his first try, Dan sent too much snow down with him and I never saw him pass. I only saw a wall of snow pouring over the opening. The whole thing was coordinated with radios so that we could communicate effectively. Even with the radios, the moment was very short-lived as Dan passed very quickly over the cave opening. Luckily, I managed to capture the shot on the second attempt. It was pointed out to me later that the scene resembles a closing wave shot from within. Ice is just frozen water, so it’s ironic in a way. I think it’s one of my strongest images to date.

—Photographer Eric Berger

Flying Monument Valley, Utah, United States

Photograph by Daniel Grund, Red Bull Illume

Category: Experimental

About the Shot
During the several years I spent photographing the Red Bull Air Race, I was always looking for the truly special moments away from the race track—the sort of competitive flying that illustrated the whole sense of freedom in those spectacular locations.

On the morning after the Red Bull Air race in Monument Valley, I had the chance to set up this picture of two race planes flying near the track on a transfer flight. After a briefing at the race airport and a location check, I was able to direct everyone from the air to their positions. The weather and the light were perfect for what I had in mind. Alex Maclean and Nicolas Ivanoff were able to perfectly execute the idea, and they switched their smoke on at precisely the right moment. It all happened so quickly. Standing outside the helicopter on the skid,  I saw the airplanes racing toward me at about 350 kilometers an hour.

The picture was ideally suited to be enhanced with a 3-D depiction because in this case the technology works for the picture and not vice-versa. The 3-D depiction was created exclusively in post-production. To get an optimal view of the 3-D enhancement of this picture you have to look at it with the red lens on your left eye and the blue lens on your right eye. During the preparations for the Red Bull Air Race in Monument Valley I had the chance to talk with one of the local Native American inhabitants about the meaning of putting on a race at this spot. She said the gods were most likely pleased about it—otherwise they would have prevented it with stormy weather or heavy rain. —Photographer Daniel Grund

Climbing Spisske Tomasovce, Slovakia

Photograph by Adam Kokot, Red Bull Illume

Category: Spirit

About the Shot
Tomaszowski Vychlad is the name of a rock wall near Spisske Tomasovce village in Slovakia. I made the photo shoot in that region for the Polish magazine Gory, which means "mountains."

The main problem was talking the climbers into going there, as the region is known for its very dangerous and unsafe routes. The idea for the photo came into my mind only on the spot. Climber Michal Król was resting before the difficult final section of the route. I asked him to lean against the wall and enjoy the views. The use of a wide-angle lens created an amazing effect. —Photographer Adam Kokot

Biking Near Krefeld, Germany

Photograph by Tim Korbmacher, Red Bull Illume

Category: Playground

About the Shot
I met Stefan Lantschnerfor the first time that day. He was visiting Germany with well-known videographer Dominik Wrobel of Woozy BMX to gather material for a new video edit. I spontaneously grabbed my camera equipment and joined them for a few hours during their visit to Düsseldorf. We’d already visited some spots resulting in great material on video and film when I told them of a special place I used to skate at.

The setting was perfect by the time we arrived. Stefan entered the pipe and had fun. He rode it intensively for a while, so I had the chance to test various techniques. It took me a while to realize how massive this pipe actually was—and it only a piece of what was destined to become an even bigger industrial pipeline system.

Thanks to Stefan’s huge motivation, I had the chance and luck to take this photo—we were all stoked about it afterwards. That day and this final location was an unforgettable moment, which I tried to capture with this picture. —Photographer Tim Korbmacher

Surfing Buchupero, Chile

Photograph by Chris Burkard, Red Bull Illume

Category: Illumination

About the Shot
It was a last-minute decision to go to Chile. We sat in the pouring rain for days and days waiting for the swell to come. We thought we had planned it perfectly, but you can still get a winter storm in the fall.

We woke up the morning after the rains to howling offshore winds. The swell was pulsing and the conditions were as good as they get. We drove to a spot in the afternoon that the locals had said, “rarely breaks.” When we pulled up it was reeling left barrels for almost a football field’s length. We scrambled to get out and surf. i was sunburnt and tired and had no idea how to document this moment. The waves were some of the most I had ever seen, so I decided to risk it. I sprinted down the beach and hiked up a sand dune to get a pulled back perspective.

The shore break was so big, and the offshores’ plumes so high, that I was missing most of the best waves, but finally a set came through. The light, the wind, and the swell were perfect. It was as if everything in nature fell into perfect harmony for this single moment. As Peter Mendia eased into this wave, the backwash hit, sending a golden shower of water ten feet above his head, and sending him down the line of another 20-second barrel. —Photographer Chris Burkard

Skateboarding Guadalajara, Mexico

Photograph by Miguel Angel López Virgen, Red Bull Illume

Category: Sequence

About the Shot
I took this picture in Guadalajara, which is very well known for its skateboarding culture and locations. I was a little worried because I didn’t have any pictures to enter this contest and there were only a few days left. So, I decided to take pictures of my friends’ shadows while they skated at night.

I talked with a good friend of mine, Alfredo Salcido, and I asked him if he could help me take the sequence. It was hard because I only used a Sunpak flash and my radio slave pointing at the wall of a very overcrowded place. When I got the sequence, I quickly went to my office and edited the pictures together. But something came to my mind, and I didn’t want to do a usual sequence that has been done many times before.

I wanted to make the sequence different, so I only used the image of when Alfredo first jumps in the air with his skateboard—and then used his shadows to create the rest of the sequence. From the moment it begins, all his movements can be seen right through to their completion. To give the image a title or describe the concept, I would name it “The Climax” because you see the best moment in the trick's execution. —Photographer Miguel Angel López Virgen

Surfing Shipstern Bluff, Tasmania, Australia

Photograph by Stuart Gibson, Red Bull Illume

Category: Energy

About the Shot
The day I got that photo was a really special day in my career. It was at my local big-wave spot and the swell was forecasted to be really big—one of the biggest swells we have on record for that wave. For those conditions to all come together—swell, wind, tide, sun—and to have surfers crazy enough to surf was just amazing. It was borderline un-surfable that day, the tide dropped and the steps in the wave were just going totally mutant!

Ryan Hipwood’s wave this day wasn’t the biggest of the day, but it was by far the heaviest. He had a lot of really serious wipeouts that day and went for the typical ‘one more’ call. Then this huge black beast filled the horizon. When it’s this big at Shipstern Bluff, there are no two ways about it; you have to be towed into the waves by Jet Ski. The waves are moving so fast and drawing so much water from the reef that paddling is just out of the question.

The concept for most big-wave surfing and photography these days is pretty simple: get in the most critical place possible on the wave and then try to get out of it unscathed. The bad thing about this concept is that a lot of the time it doesn’t end too pretty! The surf was too big for me to shoot in the water, as I usually would, so I have to praise Ryan. Without his bravery, the shot would never have happened. To me, this photo is one of the heaviest situations I’ve ever seen a surfer in! —Photographer Stuart Gibson

Cliff Diving in Hamburg, Germany

Photograph by Marcel Lämmerhirt, Red Bull Illume

Category: Wings

About the Shot
In September 2008 I went to Hamburg, Germany, for the Red Bull Cliff Diving event, which was at three different locations over four days. The first spot was Speicherstadt, the largest warehouse complex in the world, built on oak pile foundations.

It wasn’t easy to get permission to shoot there because the buildings are protected, as they are historically important. For a safe dive, the organizers needed to dig out a bit of the canal bed to get the four meters of water the divers needed for the high dives. We had just one hour of high tide to get as many shots as possible.

I used two cameras—one overhead above the platform connected with flashes and the second on the opposite bank for the sequences. Just before the session was over I changed my position to a bridge over the canal to get this angle. It was 4 p.m., and I shot against the sun. Because of the bad light conditions I decided to shoot in HDR to get more information in the picture. In order to avoid the typical HDR look, I manually put the five single exposures together. —Photographer Marcel Lämmerhirt

Bus With Bikers in Tallinn, Estonia

Photograph by Vincent Perraud, Red Bull Illume

Category: Culture

About the Shot
This photo was taken in Tallinn at the February 2008 Simpel Session, one of the biggest international BMX events, after a long day of qualifiers. Everyone was tired and looking forward to getting back to the hotel because of the winter temperatures.

The riders started cramming into the bus even though it wasn’t leaving yet. The scene was taking place very quickly, and so I decided to take a few snaps without setting my camera or lens, just for fun and memory’s sake.

I was very lucky to capture this unusual scene, especially as my friend Alex Baret had his face between the spokes of a wheel. He always has a very rock ’n’ roll attitude and he kept the group entertained! —Photographer Vincent Perraud