2-01-07 // Online Exclusive: Red Bull Illume Finals

Action pics so hot you gotta keep 'em on ice! (c)ulrichgrill.com/Red Bull Photofiles

It’s a cool January night in Aspen, Colorado. A few days before the X Games are scheduled to start, the town of millionaires and action sports icons glimmers under a clear blanket of stars. Cut into the lower slopes of the Little Nell ski slope near the base of Ajax Mountain, visible from the furrier and ski-shop-lined streets of America’s most opulent ski resort, 25 luminous glass and metal-framed boxes sit idle. But not for long. Tonight, the Red Bull Illume, a first of its kind outdoor exhibition honoring the cream of action sport photography from across the globe, will have the lights turned on.

It all started a few months ago with the Red Bull Illume Image Quest, a drive that saw more than 7,200 submissions from 90 countries. A panel of magazine editors from the action sports and lifestyle publishing world cut the selection down to 50 photographs—all of which are being unveiled for the first time, then go on to be displayed in five other cities across the U.S. and Canada before jumping the pond to Europe in 2008. After its stint in Aspen, the show’s next destination is Huntington Beach, California.

(c)Tomas Zuccareno/Red Bull Photofiles No Red Bull Event is complete without a party

Huddled into a Red Bull tent complete with couches, food and of course, vats of free booze, all 50 of the finalist photographers, a slew of judges (including Bike’s own Dave Reddick), and a gaggle of Aspen elite, Red Bull unveils the display, hitting the power switch and illuminating the glass boxes, each housing a super crisp photo on each side. We’re prompted outside the tent and into the cold where Red Bull brass announce the first-place honors for each of the 10 category winners, the Athlete’s Choice award and name the Illume Image of Year—kudos that get the winner $20,000 and the Red Bull athlete of his or her choice for the photo shoot of a lifetime.

(c)Christian Pondella/Red Bull Photofiles Dawn Kish, USA, winner of the category 'Close Up' stands next to her winning bouldering photo

Sipping a vodka soda, under a heat lamp, with white fur and mini-skirt-clad hotties handing out chicken skewers, I look on, hoping that the three contributing Bike magazine photographers I’m standing with: Derek Frankowski, who was a finalist in the New Creativity category; John Gibson, who was one of only two photographers to have two separate photos in the finals, one for Experimental and the other for Sequence; and Mattias Fredriksson, who also had an image in the New Creativity category, would take home some brass. Another Bike contributor, Dawn Kish, has earned a nomination in the Close-Up category.

Soon though, as the winners are called on stage and my Bike buddies remain beside me, I realize that just being here is enough for these talented shooters (Kish, however, would win her category). Partaking in this new event, the pinnacle of some of the world’s best photographers and photo editors, is all they needed—that and an all-expenses-paid trip to Aspen.

“The event was way beyond what I expected,” explains Frankowski, who hails from Rossland, British Columbia. “The quality of the event from the photo cubes, locations, accommodations and the Illume book, were all well-thought-out and executed perfectly. To have an image in it was pretty sweet. To see what other photographers are doing and talk to them was great. You don't often get the opportunity to rap about business with guys shooting other sports. Pretty much the ultimate for an action sports photographer, the gallery was outside in the elements that so many of us work in.”

According to Fredriksson, all the way in from Are, Sweden: "Illume was a very cool event not only for the epic way Red Bull displayed our photos and made us feel like rockstars while in Aspen. The greatest thing was to bring all photographers together like that and have the chance to share experiences and talk to photo friends from around the world. Many of those dudes happen to be really funny characters too so I had a blast during the event."

Red Bull Illume Segment Winners
Lifestyle Desré Pickers – South Africa
Sequence David Blazek - Czech Republic
Close-Up Dawn Kish - Flagstaff, Arizon
Energy Thomas Stöckli - Switzerland
Spirit Brian Bielmann - Haleiwa, Hawaii
Playground Wojtek Antonow - Poland
Wings Fred Mortagne - France
New Creativity Jimmy Wilson - Melbourne Beach, Florida
Experimental Tim McKenna - Australia
Illumination Gian Paul Lozza -Switzerland

Top honors for Illume Image of the Year were awarded to Fred Mortagne of France for a badass skateboarding image that had more concrete than person. Athlete’s Choice Award went to Desré Pickers. To see all the photos visit: www.redbullilume.com