Red Bull Illume 2016 and the beauty of photography

It's easy to say: what a beautiful picture. Every day we are bombarded with thousands of images, of all sorts, taken just about everywhere. On Facebook, Instagram and everywhere else, day in day out we take in billions of pixels. It’s almost impossible to stop the picture flood. Impossible to remember them. And maybe it’s impossible to see them properly, for what they really are and represent. And so “not that’s a great shot” is almost uttered by default. In short, without stopping to think and enjoy. Art is required to express beauty. Eyes are needed to appreciate that beauty. And time is needed to savor. So, take all the time you need to browse through this amazing portfolio of the 55 finalist images of the Red Bull Illume 2016. Perhaps you’ll even agree with us and think yes, great pictures are still out there. You just need to know how to look…

Red Bull Illume is undoubtedly one of the most prestigious photographic competitions in the world. A sort of Pulitzer prize for "action & adventure" photographers, that this year attracted almost 35,000 pictures from 5,645 photographers. A mind-boggling number of photographs that the jury, comprised of 53 international photo editors, carefully selected,choosing 275 semifinalist
images before whittling this down to 55 finalist images.

On September 28, during the awards ceremony at the Art Institute of Chicago, USA, the winners of the 11 categories were unveiled, including the overall winner, Germany’s Lorenz Holder who captured Senad Grosic crossing a bridge on his BMX in Germany. This is the second time Holder has won the award, and it is worth noting that the judges did not know who took each photograph.

The finalist photographs form part of the Red Bull Illume Exhibit Tour which in the next two years will be on display in all major cities. Furthermore, it is possibile to purchase the book with all the best photographs of the 2016 edition.


WINNERS
11 Category Winners as well as the Overall Winner. The winners are:
Close Up: Denis Klero, Russia with his black and white shot of climber Rustam Gelmanov showing his chalk-covered hands in Fontainebleu, France.
Energy: Luke Shadbolt, Australia for his black and white image showing the power of nature. Surfer Renan Faccini is set against a huge swell in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
Enhance: Dean Treml, New Zealand and his image of cliff diver Jonathan Paredes jumping from the 28 meter platform on the roof of the Copenhagen Opera House during the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, 2013.
Lifestyle: Jody MacDonald, Canada with her mesmerizing image of her brother Ken MacDonald sitting atop a train during their adventure through the Sahara Desert.
Masterpiece by Yodobashi: Lorenz Holder, Germany showing Senad Grosic ride his bike over a bridge in an autumnal Gablenz, Germany.
New Creativity: Ale Di Lullo, Italy for his fun shot of Aaron Chase riding his mountain bike on the windshield of a NYC cab.
Playground: Lorenz Holder, Germany showing BMXer Senad Grosic ride a rusted viewing platform in Senftenberg, Germany.
Sequence by Sony: Daniel Vojtêch, Czech Republic with his shot of Flying Bulls pilots Miroslav Krejci, Jan Rudzinskyi, Stanislav Cejka and Jan Tvrdic in Jaromêř, Czech Republic.
Spirit: Dean Treml, New Zealand for his image showing kayaker Josh Neilson being supported by fellow paddlers Barnaby Prees, Sam Sutton, Tim Pickering, Ben Brown, Jamie Sutton and Jaren Seiler after a bad landing off Matze’s Drop, Storulfossen, Norway.
Wings: Micky Wiswedel, South Africa with his shot of climber Jamie Smith mid-fall as he attempts a new route on Table Mountain, Cape Town.
New for 2016 was the Mobile Category. It was won by Vegard Aasen, Norway for his black and white mountaineering image taken in Hakuba, Japan.

JUDGES 2016
Marc Gafen - Capture Magazine (AUS)
Isabella Russ -Terra Mater (AUT)
Rudi Übelhör - The Red Bulletin (AUT)
Joe Yun - Sportmagazin (AUT)
Fabio Marra - Folha de S.Paulo (BRA)
Wiland Pinsdorf - Canvas 24p (BRA)
Myles McCutcheon - Sportsnet Magazine (CAN)
Ryan Stutt - King Network Inc. (CAN)
Evgeny Tchebotarev - 500px (CAN)
Denis Balibouse - Reuters (CHE)
Christian Bugnon - 30° Magazine (CHE)
Ariane Dayer - Matin Dimanche (CHE)
Christof Kalt - Blick am Abend (CHE)
Coco Tâche-Berther - 7sky.life (CHE)
Deng Dengdeng - CHIP Foto Video (CHN)
Wang Jie - Shanghai Morning Post (CHN)
Fei Maohua - Xinhua News Agency (CHN)
Ricardo Mazalan - Associated Press (COL)
Tomáš Hliva - FOTO (CZE)
Rudolf Stáhlich - FotoVideo (CZE)
Peter Hove Olesen - Politiken (DNK)
Eva María Tomé - El País (ESP)
Guillaume Clavières - Paris Match (FRA)
Jacques Deydier - L’Equipe (FRA)
Sebastien Zanella - Desillusion Magazine (FRA)
Ed Blomfield - Whitelines (GBR)
Charles Brewer - MSN International (GBR)
Amy Squibb - Digital Photographer (GBR)
Kathrin Kosaca - Stern VIEW (GER)
Klaus Polzer - Downdays (GER)
Jürgen Rink - c’t Digitale Fotografie (GER)
Manfred Zollner - fotoMAGAZIN (GER)
Petros Bourovilis - Identity Media (GRC)
Steve White - Action Asia (HKG)
K Madhavan Pillai - Better Photography (IND)
Apoorva Prasad - The Outdoor Journal (IND)
Caren Firouz - Reuters (IRN)
Naima Elisa Mancini - La Gazzetta dello Sport (ITA)
Hideko Kataoka - Newsweek Japan (JPN)
Jun Tsuboike - BuzzFeed Japan (JPN)
Jose Luis Castillo - Grupo Expansión (MEX)
Laura Luykenaar - Salt (NLD)
Christian Nerdrum - Fri Flyt (NOR)
Krzysztof Patrycy - Foto-Kurier (POL)
Leon Arhire - Photo Magazine (ROU)
Alexandr Ermilov - Bolshoi Sport (RUS)
Alexander Grek - National Geographic (RUS)
Calle Rosenqvist - Kamera & Bild (SWE)
Hannah McCaughey - Outside Magazine (USA)
Lee Morris - Fstoppers (USA)
Mary Anne Potts - National Geographic Adventure (USA)
Brad Smith - Brad Smith Creative (USA)
Jimmy Wilson - SURFING Magazine (USA)

INFO: www.redbullillume.com