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Are these the very best bike shots of 2016?
Take a look at the stand-out images of the two-wheeled variety from the big Red Bull Illume contest.
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Erik Orgo, through the eyes of Jaanus Ree's cat
© Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: New Creativity Result: Finalist
- Photographer: Jaanus Ree
- Athlete: Erik Orgo
- Location: Tallinn, Estonia
The Shot "After seeing a portrait in a book store where I was able to see the photographer's silhouette against the reflection of an eye, I got the idea to create something similar," says Jaanus. "I played around with the idea and thought about making a silhouette shot through an elephant's eye but the local zoo didn't approve of it.
"So the next best thing was my cat. We used a six by nine-metre white sheet that was meant for shooting cars as a softbox. In front of that Erik Orgo started to perform. We made several good shots, even a few in black and white, but colour worked out the best."
Nicky van der Veen – Tyre Slide – by Syo van Vliet
© Syo van Vliet/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Close up Result: Top 275
- Photographer: Syo van Vliet
- Athlete: Nicky van der Veen
- Location: Strand Nes, Netherlands
The Shot "This is a perfect example of when all good things slot together at once," says Syo, jokingly. "I had a tyre slide shot in my head for a long time already. On this day, me and my friends were riding shows at a festival on Ameland, a tiny island in the The Netherlands.
"Nicky van der Veen was doing the sickest tyre slides all weekend long and I knew this had to be it. Immediately after one of the shows, I got all my gear out, set up the lights – one was actually just held up by one of my friends – and asked Nicky to ride. He was wearing the colourful jacket already, which made him pop out of the background perfectly. After some playing around with the light, I asked Nicky to look in the camera and stick his tongue out. Everything came together nicely with the tiny ferris wheel in the background."
Gasper Dolinar – Superman – by Jan Pirnat
© Jan Pirnat/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Close up Result: Finalist
- Photographer: Jan Pirnat
- Athlete: Gasper Dolinar
- Location: Dolenja Vas, Slovenia
The Shot "It was one random afternoon with friends and we decided to go and ride some dirt jumps," says Jan. "I was doing some standard photos, but I wasn't satisfied. So I decided to stand on a chair on top of the landing, but it still wasn't high enough! I persuaded my friend Matic to stand on a chair and I was sitting in his arms.
"I took a few photos, then we took a little break, and then I shot some more. A few times we fell down the landing because we lost our balance. The riders were jumping really, really close to me and it was a challenge to get the rider in focus and in frame. In this photo, he was around 20cm from my head! I used a fisheye lens. The focus was the biggest challenge, even with a fisheye and wide-open aperture."
Nolan Tipton, shot by Mike Helfrich
© Mike Helfrich/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Close up Result: Top 275
- Photographer: Mike Helfrich
- Athlete: Nolan Tipton
- Location: Whistler, Canada
The Shot "This image was shot with the colours of fall and the mysterious orb in Whistler Bike Park as Nolan Tipton styled the hell out of a whip on the infamous Island Hip," says Mike.
"Setting this shot up was a challenge. Trying to incorporate all the different colours but still keep a good angle on the hit was a bit of a test. But thanks to my rock balancing techniques, I was able to build up a platform for the orb to be at the right height so all those pretty colours could be in frame. Nolan put down a few of those whips in the am, but after reviewing the images, the light was not as good as the late-afternoon light. We rode the park all day and came back to the same spot at 4pm and nailed it."
Richard Gasperotti, shot by Milo Stafek
© Milo Stafek/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Enhance Category: Finalist
- Photographer: Milo Stafek
- Athlete: Richard Gasperotti
- Location: Czech Republic
The Shot "This photo was taken on the bobsled track 20 kilometres away from my house," says Milo. "I discovered the track when I was looking for the perfect location for a shoot.
"The shoot was part of the Kill Hill project in cooperation with freerider, Richard Gasperotti. We spent two days on the track. I picked the sharpest curve. The track was pretty overgrown, so we had to use a saw to clean it. I found a tree and cleared the view, pulling the other trees out of the way using ropes.
"I placed two flashes facing each other and climbed the tree, about 10 metres high. I used a 16 millimetre lens for the shot. The photo didn't require a whole lot of adjustments.
"When I was looking for a photo for Red Bull Illume, I was trying to come up with something different and unusual. At first I was going to combine two images, but I didn't like the shape. I thought of a circle, so I combined four images into a single one. I cleared away the redundant people and created the eye. I was finally pleased with the outcome."
Playmobil, shot by Ismael Ibanez Ruiz
© Ismael Ibanez Ruiz/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Enhance Result: Top 275
- Photographer: Ismael Ibanez Ruiz
- Location: Burgos, Spain
The Shot "As a child, I liked to play with the Playmobil my parents gave me. Then when I was a teenager, I started riding BMX, which became my passion during those years," says Ismael.
"I thought it would be nice and funny putting together those two things in a photo, bringing together my childhood, adolescence and my present.
"I looked in the cellar for my old toys, but couldn't find them, so I bought some on the internet. For the location, I thought of a place with a nice sunset and trees, that it should be as similar as possible to the place where I used to ride with my friends when I was younger. I bought the clay in a flower shop, made the heaps and gave them a dirt shape, then I put the toys and lit up the scene with some flashes to make for a more dramatic image."
Barspin, shot by Lukas Oujesky
© Lukas Oujesky/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Enhance Result: Top 275
- Photographer: Lukas Oujesky
- Athlete: Víťa Kácha
- Location: Prague, Czech Republic
The Shot "This is a shot of Víťa Kácha doing a barspin," says Lukas. "The location was a bit of a problem because it's directly in front of the Ministry of Interior. That was why we made a simple and quick photo of the trick and then ran off! After a few hours, I returned to make a bigger photo of the building and then joined these two images together."
"The photo was then printed on classic paper and processed by Barbora [a fellow photography student]. She folded it and then painted it with watercolours. The final photo came after all these processes.
"With this picture, we tried to show a different way on how to make a BMX photo. I think the trick is only of secondary importance; it was mainly about the feeling and atmosphere, which is supported by Barbora's post-processing technique."
Tomas Zejda, shot by Jan Kasl
© Jan Kasl/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Enhance Result: Top 275
- Photographer: Jan Kasl
- Athlete: Tomas Zejda
- Location: Prague, Czech Republic
The Shot "For a long time, I had been thinking of connecting the beautiful architecture of Prague with Tomas' riding skills but never found anything special until I was paddling in the kayak on the Vltava river in Troja, where a brand new bridge had recently opened. I was immediately impressed by the shape and right away had this image in my head," Jan says.
"The bridge itself is a great architectural project, but for me was important to work in the U shaped supporting structure on the river bank. That is where I visualised Tomas riding and tricking.
"Although I was satisfied with the shot afterwards, I felt that there was a possibility to make a more surrealistic look. So I switched the raw file to B&W, retouched disturbing lights of the whole bridge as they were reflecting the water and pushed the black stronger."
Senad Grosic shot by Lorenz Holder
© Lorenz Holder/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Masterpiece by Yodobashi Overall: Winner
- Photographer: Lorenz Holder
- Athlete: Senad Grosic
- Location: Gablenz, Germany
The Shot: "Senad and I were on the way to a different location early in the morning, when we passed this scenic spot," recalls Lorenz. "We saw a sign from the street and I had some pictures in mind that I had seen from this bridge on the internet. When we got there the sun was just above the trees and it was lighting up the full colour-spectrum of the autumn leaves in a very soft way.
"One thing that was a little annoying was that the lake was covered with leaves which had fallen from trees, so the reflection of the bridge in the lake was just not there. But sometimes you just need a bit of luck! I had been on a fishing trip some days before and still had my fishing-boots and a net in the car. So I got the stuff and tried to clean the lake by hand. It took a while until it was almost perfectly clean.
"I had chosen a very low camera position to get an almost perfect mirrored scene on the water surface. The bridge looked like a perfect circle and the light was still very good. When Senad was on the bridge, it took us two or three tries to get the shot. There was also no more time for another try because the wind came up and the perfect reflection on the water was gone."
Aaron Chase in Brooklyn, by Ale Di Lullo
© Ale Di Lullo/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: New Creativity Result: Category Winner
- Photographer: Ale Di Lullo
- Athlete: Aaron Chase
- Location: Brooklyn, NY, United States
The Shot: "I had been working on shots through transparent surfaces for a few years but it was during a long drive across Europe that I had this idea," Ale explains. "I was forcing myself to think of new angles and nothing really came to mind. But when I said to myself that the best ideas are the simplest ones, I realised that the shot was actually in front of me. It was right there! Where most people spend a lot of time everyday; in cars!
"Nobody had done an extreme sport shot from inside the car having the rider riding on the windshield. I understood that a shot like this had to be made in an iconic spot and the spot had to be in a city so it was clear that New York City with all its bridges was the place. And what could have been better than a NYC cab to shoot it from?
"Choosing Aaron Chase as the rider was natural. He has been a friend for a long time and happened to be a pioneer of street riding in our sport and is almost a local in New York. It took us one year of preparation, one full day of work, involving a few people and a bit of money. But I kept shooting, all the while fearing I would break the windscreen, and 12 attempts later I nailed this shot."
Andrew Jackson, shot by Jeff Zielinski
© Jeff Zielinski/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Playground Result: Top 275
- Photographer: Jeff Zielinski
- Athlete: Andrew Jackson
- Location: Los Angeles, CA, United States
The Shot: "This image was shot for a feature article for RideBMX magazine, titled One Moment In BMX," says Jeff. "The idea was simple, have a group of photographers shoot a photo at the exact same time, 1pm PST on a specified Sunday. My friend Andrew Jackson proposed this hop into a gutted escalator at an abandoned mall and I couldn't have dreamed of a better idea.
"Once we got inside the mall, I was surprised at how empty it was. It was completely gutted. I wanted to look around for a bit, but I knew time was limited so we just got down to business. I hustled back and forth for a while setting up my lights, metering, readjusting, tweaking, and finally, setting up a video camera. Once everything was dialled I think we might have had 10 minutes or so to spare so before the appointed time to shoot the photo."
Victor Salazar, shot by Bartek Woliński
© Bartek Woliński/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Playground Result: Top 275
- Photographer: Bartek Wolinski
- Athlete: Victor Salazar
- Location: Castle Hill, New Zealand
The Shot "When you're in New Zealand you don't hide your camera often!," Bartek laughs. "I was on a BMX trip at the beginning of 2016, coming back from Queenstown on our way to Arthur's Pass. Short on time, we caught a glimpse of something that looked like a torn down medieval castle.
"Castle Hill, as we learned afterwards, was a dream come true for every epic spot hunter. After a few tries of finding a good action shot angle I made a deal with myself ‚ I will shoot a landscape instead. All of a sudden Victor Salazar‚ the rider in the photo, asked me to catch his bunny hop tailwhip. I was already standing on one of those boulders and picked up a frame for the task. As wide as it gets but still enough F stops to bring in details on the rider."
Senad Grosic, shot by Lorenz Holder
© Lorenz Holder/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Playground Result: Winner
- Photographer: Lorenz Holder
- Athlete: Senad Grosic
- Location: Senftenberg, Germany
The Shot "I shot this unique location a couple of months before this action shoot as a landscape picture because I just liked the whole structure and the way it was integrated into the landscape. It's a viewing platform made of steel that has rusted over the years. You can walk up the stairs to enjoy the view over the lakes that surround the area.
"I knew somehow, that there was the potential for it to be a location for an action photo. My first idea was to shoot snowboarding in it, but that was just impossible because of the limited space. I almost gave up on the idea, but then I bumped into Senad Grosic in Berlin one day and we talked a bit about spots and stuff. I showed him the landscape picture and he told me that we need to go back there to see what was possible.
"So Senad and I took a road trip and drove all the way to Senftenberg. We discussed and fine-tuned a plan that would look rad on photo. Senad had the idea to be dressed all white to give it more contrast, because I didn't want to use flashes to keep the structure as evenly lit as possible. The angle is almost the same angle I chose for the landscape picture. It was actually an architectural picture with the spice of action sports in it."
Sebastian Keep shot by Eisa Bakos
© Eisa Bakos/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Sequence by Sony Result: Top 275
- Photographer: Eisa Bakos
- Athlete: Sebastian Keep
- Location: Croydon Flyover, United Kingdom
The Shot "Sebastian Keep hit me up one day and showed me a photo of a car park in Brighton and told me he wanted to go down two levels on his bike using a kicker ramp at the top and quarter landing against a wall," Eisa explains. "Bas being who he is nailed it with no problem and later told me it was just a warm up for the big one!"
"This gap was also situated at a car park but this time Croydon, south London on a busy main road that meant doing the gap at 7am on a Sunday. The gap still blows my mind; never have I turned up to shoot BMX and been so worried about my friend who was riding!
"We had two photographers that day, myself and George Marshall. George had downstairs covered while I was up top. Once I noticed all the curves in the architecture there I decided to use my fisheye and get as close as I could without losing Bas in any frame of the sequence.
"With something this crazy and with no test run, I wanted the risk of failure to be at a minimum. That meant no flashes, no transmitters, and holding that shutter down until it was safe to let go. I will be very surprised if I ever shoot anything so scary and insane again in my life."
Thomas Genon, shot by Scott Serfas
© Scott Serfas/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Sequence by Sony Result: Finalist
- Photographer: Scott Serfas
- Athlete: Thomas Genon
- Location: Retallack, Canada
The Shot "In the remote forests of British Columbia lies Retallack Lodge, a cat-skiing operation in the winter and a mountain bike haven in the summer," Scott tells us. "I was there to shoot during the making of Brandon Semenuk's Rad Company‚ a movie with himself, Yannick Granieri and Thomas Genon.
"On the last day of shooting I was able to convince the riders to hit this one particular jump so I could work a few angles instead of concentrating on a full line of five or six jumps. It had rained a few days prior to the shoot so some of the mud hadn't dried up yet. I found a clear puddle that I could use to incorporate the reflection of the riders.
"I set my camera to 1000/sec at f5.0 and ISO 2500 then rested the bottom of it right on top of the water as I lay in the mud. Both Yannick and Brandon hit the jump several times while Thomas just rolled up the take off, shaking his head and looking worried. I knew he was planning something special, so I just had to be patient and wait for it. When Thomas decided to go for it he didn't give us any warning, but from his body language I could tell he was committed to the jump. I shot a sequence and everyone cheered as he rode away. I packed up and that was the end of the shoot."
50/50 grind shot, by Markus Braumann
© Markus Braumann/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Sequence by Sony Result: Top 275
- Photographer: Markus Braumann
- Athlete: Lukas Husler
- Location: Oldenburg, Germany
The Shot "In the summer of 2014 I went on just another short trip with the SI BMX crew to ride some spots and get a handful of images for some printed advertisements," Markus says.
"The guys wanted to ride this sketchy spot in Oldenburg, but I actually wasn't happy with this location in the beginning. Altogether the whole area looked kind of rough and boring, without any highlights around.
"Luckily, I could get a nice point of view to shoot this sequence. Shortly before the rain came down, the sky with those big clouds gave the image a beautiful and dramatic touch. Besides, this shot reminds me that it is always worth it to find a solution and get the camera out of your bag. Of course the photo also shows off this sick move by Lukas. Just a sequence of a 50/50 grind would give it the dramatic vibe. Thanks bro!"
Brandon Semenuk, shot by John Gibson
© John Gibson/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Sequence by Sony Result: Top 275
- Photographer: John Gibson
- Athlete: Brandon Semenuk
- Location: Sechelt, Canada
The Shot "Usually, when we are doing a film shoot we decide if the feature we are going to capture will look best early in the morning or within the last hour of the day. That seems to be when the light is the best and when we go for it," says John.
"We spent the morning shooting the Junkyard Segment for Brandon Semenuk's movie Rad Company and the cameras had been put away and we were all thinking about lunch. I was walking around the course trying to figure out what time of day the light would be best to shoot a sequence of both the logging truck step-up and the boner log. The problem was that neither feature got good light at the same time because the truck jump was tucked in tight against the trees and the boner log was out in the open.
"Suddenly, I realised that the best time to shoot both features was now, in the middle of the day when the clouds covered the sun and diffused the light. Brandon was walking around the course looking at the jumps and I took a test photo from the photo location that seemed best and I showed him we could get both features in the same shot. He liked the idea and grabbed his bike and rode the line twice and this sequence is the shot we got at 12:28 in the afternoon!"
Harry Mills-Wakley, shot by Andrew White
© Andrew White/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Sequence by Sony Result: Top 275
- Photographer: Andrew White
- Athlete: Harry Mills-Wakley
- Location: Treasure Island, CA, United States
The Shot "I was commissioned by DIG BMX to shoot the final filming trip that United Bike Co did for their DVD Still United," Andrew says. "It was the trip from hell! Broken bones, concussions, emergency root canals, and on top of that a van break-in. Nothing seemed to go right.
"With one exception: the day we rode Treasure Island. It's an abandoned Navy base in between Oakland and San Francisco, and is well weathered, it almost looks like a Hollywood back lot.
"The youngster on the trip, Harry Mills-Wakley, wandered away from the crew and found this roof setup. I had no idea if he had it in him as I'd never worked with Harry before. And seeing how the trip went, I couldn't help but visualise the worst case scenario. However, with full confidence he pulled the line off with no issues first go. We were all ecstatic. It breathed some life into the trip and gave us assurance that the endeavour wasn't all for nothing."
Josh Eilken, shot by Devin Feil
© Devin Feil/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Sequence by Sony Result: Top 275
- Photographer: Devin Feil
- Athlete: Josh Eilken
- Location: Phoenix, AZ, United States
The Shot "As is often the case with BMX photos this image developed organically," explains Devin. "I had tagged along with the Madera BMX team to Arizona to cover their annual trip, and Josh Eilken had a couple ideas in mind for one part of town. Predictably none of the planned tricks panned out, leaving us searching for what to do next, when Josh noticed the church roof and suggested it might be worth climbing up to give it a closer look. Josh scoped things out, and decided upon a 360 as the most feasible and enticing trick to attempt.
"With shots that involve a roof, time is always of the essence. It's both exciting and nerve wracking to know that you must find the right angle, and quickly. The longer a BMX rider is on the roof the longer the risk of unwanted attention grows. Within a couple of minutes I had settled on a composition I was satisfied with and gave Josh the green light to get at it. He certainly was hoping for a 'one and done' scenario, but the drop off the second roof was difficult to handle with the quick set-up time, and it took three tries to get a clean roll out."
Nicholai Rogatkin, by Dean Treml
© Dean Treml/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Spirit Category: Finalist
- Photographer: Dean Treml
- Athlete: Nicholi Rogatkin
- Location: Virgin, UT, United States
The Shot "In this image, Nicholi Rogatkin of the USA crashes during the qualification day of the 10th edition of the Red Bull Rampage freeride mountain bike event, Virgin, Utah on October 15, 2015," says Dean.
"I had scrambled to the top of the course and was able to shoot wide angle images as the riders dropped in and then kept track of them, to a certain extent, with a telephoto as they barrelled down the course.
"During Nicholi's run his front wheel washed out and the end result sent him over the cliff for a 15-metre fall. I was fortunate enough that I was watching it happen with a 600 millimetre at my disposal‚ but not as fortunate as Nicholi. He walked off the crash and, showing incredible resilience, got back on his bike and went on to hit the huge canyon gap and complete his run."
Nathan Sykes, shot by Andrew White
© Andrew White/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Wings Result: Top 275
- Photographer: Andrew White
- Athlete: Nathan Sykes
- Location: Southern California, United States
The Shot "DIG BMX asked me to document a small snippet of the Southern Californian trails scene," says Andrew. "I love shooting trails. The organic shapes are a beautiful departure from shooting aggressively angular street riding. And not having to look over one's shoulder for police is a welcome departure from normal assignments.
"I'd never met Nathan Sykes before, but had the pleasure of shooting him at his home trails on the other side of the mountain range that is LA's smog container. His riding was smooth, fast, high, and always perfect.
"While setting up to shoot over this particular hip, a construction truck came roaring across the road immediately behind it. Seeing how much dirt the tyres kicked up, I frantically motioned for the riders at the top of the trails to do their most photogenic move over this hip. Quite literally, when the dust settled I looked at the camera screen and knew that I had a great image."
Andreas Jaramillo, by Sebastian Villegas Vargas
© Sebastian Villegas Vargas/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Mobile Result: Top 275
- Photographer: Sebastian Villegas Vargas
- Athlete: Andreas Jaramillo Botero
- Location: Manizales, Colombia
The Shot "After a few months without visiting my hometown, Manizales, I decided to leave my camera at home and go for a visit," says Sebastian. "All I took with me were some clothes and my bike. I called my friends the morning I arrived, and invited them to go ride our bikes in one of the highest mountains in the city, La Elvira.
"At the beginning of the track I fell really badly from my bike, and I didn't feel right or comfortable riding any more. There was a lot of mud and there was almost no light inside the forest. I was going slowly, so my friends decided to slow down.
"All of a sudden, I had a clear view of where they were going down hill. This is when I visualised the perfect shot, so I stopped and quickly pulled my phone out of my pocket. I waited for the decisive moment, until my friend Andreas would be in the perfect place for the picture, so he and his bike would look like they were part of the landscape. I used the camera of my iPhone 6."
Ondřej Šléz, by Josef Šulc
© Josef Šulc/Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull Illume 2016 Category: Playground Result: Top 275
- Photographer: Josef Šulc
- Athlete: Ondřej Šléz
- Location: Prague, Czech Republic
The Shot "This picture was taken during the filming of Slezhammer edit for BMX rider, Ondřej Slez. Many people know about this spot, but we were the first with no fear to get up and take the shot," says Josef.
"It felt like a stairway to Heaven when we were climbing up the ladder. This place is located close to the Barrandov Studios, but nobody paid attention to what we were doing there, so we could fully focus on the best shot."
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