I just recently returned home from the Red Bull Illume awards ceremony in Hong Kong. But let’s back track a little to start. A few months back I submitted a few DriftwoodFoto images to the 2013 Red Bull Illume photography contest focusing on action sports photography. After a few requests for more detailed information on a selected photo, I was thrilled to be notified my image of surfer Bobby Okvist’s massive air at The Wedge was selected for the Top 250 out of nearly 30,000 submissions from action sports photographers from 104 different countries around the world. Um, wow. It’s amazing to even just type that.
Then roughly a month ago I received notice at my DriftwoodFoto.com email that I was a Top 50 Finalist overall, my image a Top 5 Finalist in the Wings category!
Soon I was on a 14 hour flight to Tokyo, followed by a run through the airport and subsequent 4 hour flight to Hong Kong, and finally off to the swanky W Hotel overlooking Victoria Harbor.
What followed was an amazing, humbling, and inspiring few days touring around Hong Kong while attending workshops with Red Bull, Leica, Broncolor, and Sun Sniper, dinners with the pinnacle of action sports photographers, judges, editors, and company heads, and a pageantry filled awards ceremony on the Avenue of the Stars at the beautiful, illuminating Victoria Harbor.
The selected DriftwoodFoto image may not have won it’s Wings category, but to be judged as one the top 0.002% of action sports photographers, and to go head-to-head with the top action sports industry pros, especially so soon after switching full time to photography, is an honor beyond words. Thank you Red Bull and all the judges who made this possible. And of course to Bobby Okvist for charging waves on the biggest of days, and always being up to go shoot!
Keep reading for a short photo-journal summary of my time in Hong Kong with Red Bull and the Illume action sports photography contest! (Click on images to enlarge, follow links, and enjoy!)
Leica BMX Flatland workshop with athlete Viki Gomez.
Broncolor and Sun Sniper workshop with Flatland BMX athlete Matthias Dandois.
Rustic fishing boats outside the Lei Yue Mun fishing village mere feet from the modern city.
Modern construction tools in a market and village that staunchly resists modernism.
Pier side on a beach of oyster shells.
Warmth through the window: looking out at the modern skyscrapers across the harbor from an old, unchanged fishing village; old meets new.
Sunset over West Lamma Channel towards Lantau Island from Victoria Peak.
Hong Kong and Victoria Harbor aptly illuminated from Victoria Peak before the Illume Awards Ceremony.
Top 50 photographer’s awards dinner overlooking Victoria Harbor.
Overall Illume winner (and 2 category winner!) Lorenz Holder.
Illume category winners.
Top 50 photographer finalists on stage.
Illuminated light box exhibition of Top 50 finalist’s images- these will be making a year and a half tour starting in the US and Canada, and then traveling the world- look for an exhibition date near you!
Benjamin Ginsberg of Driftwood Photography Studios (DriftwoodFoto) light box along the Avenue of the Stars in Hong Kong.
Dragons Illume…
