By Theo Acworth
The Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2021 wrapped last month and the winners have been announced. There were a lot of insane photographs submitted from all over the world, featuring pretty much every activity you could think of. Despite my best efforts as a judge, the shot that took the overall win wasn't a snowboarder, it was a climber jumping off a rock. There were a lot of other images that I thought were definitely going to take the wins for the various categories, but I was surprised to see almost all of my favourites outvoted by others. But thinking about it, I actually wasn't that surprised. I have a pretty specific taste when it comes to photography, and the kind of images that win Illume are… Illumy… if that makes sense? As I type these words I realise that I'm on track for a bit of a deep-dive here, so if you'd like to hear my candid thoughts on the contest and the images I saw, continue reading.
"The kind of images that win Illume are… Illumy… if that makes sense?"
Firstly, I guess I should explain why I was involved. This is an 'adventure and action sports' imagery contest, so 50 representatives of the 'adventure and action sports' community were asked to be judges. Being the editor of a snowboard magazine, it was assumed (hopefully correctly) that I know a good photograph when I see one, and I was asked to join the judging panel. The judging itself was all done digitally. Apparently there were around 41.000 submitted images, but the first ones I saw were already in the semi-finalist category, and I think I only saw around 150 images while judging. I wondered what happened to all the other photos. I was sent the Illume book after the contest, and there were images in there that I'd never seen before. I guess they spread the shots around to all the judges to lessen the workload on voting. I did some rudimentary calculations and came to the conclusion that there were probably some initial selection rounds that were done before the full judging panel started voting, and I wonder who did them. There were some legit judges on the panel, but there were also people from mainstream photography magazines and the kind of news agencies who get hardons for 'guy in the sky' shots. I wonder how many gems slipped through the cracks based on differing tastes to my own, and different levels of understanding of the activities being documented. I don't know dick about climbing or kayaking, but I was still voting on photographs of them.
"I don't know dick about climbing or kayaking, but I was still voting on photographs of them. If we don't fully understand the activities we're being shown, can we fully stand behind our votes for them? I'd still say yes, kinda."
As I said, there were some absolutely stunning images. I saw shots that would delight the most mainstream viewer, but also hold their own under the scrutiny of the corest of the core. Some shots just hit, and they hit hard. There were photographs of cliff diving, mountain biking, climbing, kayaking, paragliding, surfing, bmxing, skateboarding, skiing, snowboarding (and probably some other activities I forgot to mention) that were jaw-droppingly good. Others, though, didn't garner quite the same reaction from me, and made my fists clench a bit. Let me explain why. I saw a lot of photographs that I thought had clearly been shot with the intention of winning this contest, and the way people do this is by following a bit of a formula that's proved successful in the past. Basically, you have to find a visually amazing location, then get a bmxer to do a completely unexplainable tailwhip on flat or a skateboarder to do an ollie somewhere in the frame. No one does ollies on flat for fun. A kickflip or a push might make sense, but a random ollie? Not so much. To the outside eye, these shots look 'cool', but to people who actually live and breathe these activities, they don't make much sense. Not every image was like this (2019's winning shot was insane) but there were just enough of them that looked identical (or at least very very similar) that I feel I have to say something about it. I don't mean to sound bitter, I just think that if action is going to be featured and rewarded, it should be legitimate action. It doesn't have to be the gnarliest thing on earth, but I do think that it should at least make a bit of sense. Most of the images I took umbrage to were of skateboarding, and I think this is because I love skateboarding so much and don't like seeing it misrepresented. Ok, I think that's most of the ranting out of my system. And this is a website about snowboarding, so maybe I should just stay in my lane and talk about that. I'm pleased to say that there were some great snowboard shots and I didn't think any of them were gimmicky, and I think most snowboarders would be down with the images that made it into the book. It was mostly pow stuff, but there were some street shots in there too and a few creative perspectives.
"Some shots just hit, and they hit hard."
Something I found interesting was the fact that many of my favourite photos didn't actually feature snowboarding. But perhaps if I'd had a better understanding of, for example, climbing, I would have been more critical of the climbing shots I saw, instead of thinking that they were cool and voting for them. Maybe the climbing judges thought that some of the climbing shots were wack and taken at the wrong moment, just like I did with a lot of the skating. Is this perhaps an integral issue with a contest that features such a wide range of activities and such a wide range of judges? As I said, I was 1 of 50 judges, and it's not a requirement for all of us to share the same opinion, but if we don't fully understand the activities we're being shown, can we fully stand behind our votes for them? I'd still say yes, kinda, as this is a competition about photography, as well as adventure and action sports. I guess my conclusion to this ramble is that Illume is a competition that rewards photography first, and action sports second. Considering that this is a photography competition, perhaps that's a stupid and obvious conclusion to draw, but I've been thinking about it for a while now, and that's what I've distilled my thoughts down to. I'm not saying that amazing feats of human talent aren't recognised here, because they are, and I'm not saying that there aren't incredible photographs, because there are many of them, what I'm saying is that a shot with clever framing might take the win over an insane freeride line or a fucked up hillbomb.
"Don't take what I'm saying as gospel, just take it as my perspective. I could have just posted the winning photos and copy/pasted the descriptions, but that's boring, and I felt I should take the chance to dig into this a bit more."
I think I mentioned that I have quite specific tastes when it comes to photography, so don't take what I'm saying as gospel, just take it as my perspective. I could have just posted the winning photos and copy/pasted the descriptions, but that's boring, and I felt I should take the chance to dig into this a bit more. Maybe someone at Illume is reading this article and making a mental note to never ask me to judge again, or maybe they appreciate my perspective. Either way, I've given it. Hopefully you (if you've read this far) have gained some more insight into my own opinions on photography, and by extension, Method Mag's opinion too. Although if you read the legal print in our magazine, we're legally excused from any liability about our own opinions. At least I think so, anyway... If you think I'm a miserable bastard and that I didn't enjoy doing this, you'd be wrong. I might have some strong opinions, but I love photography and I love talking about it, and despite my grumblings, this whole experience was pretty fun. When you see so many photographs together in one place it can be easy to start poking holes in them, but at the end of the day it takes a huge amount of work and dedication to get these amazing shots and our culture would be nothing without them, so big up to anyone who puts in the time to make this shit happen. Below you'll find some of the snowboard shots that made it through as semi-finalists and finalists in various categories, and I've written a little bit about each one. Below these, you'll find a selection of my personal favourite shots from the entire contest. Hopefully these photos inspire you to get outside and do some rad shit. And if you get some snowboard shots you're hyped on, send them to us and we might print them!
Photographer: Silvano Marino Zeiter, Rider: Severin van der Meer, Location: Bivio, Switzerland
We can get pretty tangled up in our obsession with tricks, but snowboarding is ultimately about movement and flow. To capture that movement in a still image is no easy task, but as usual, Silvano nailed it. He slowed the shutter down and spent a good portion of the last two winters chasing Sevey down the hill during the filming of his project CHROMA. This is one of the best shots he got, and is a deserving finalist in the 'Energy' category. It's also black and white, and I love black and white. That being said, I think this shot is strong enough that I would also have liked it if it was in colour. If you haven't seen his POLY flipbooks yet, I'd highly recommend that you check them out, they're very satisfying.
Photo: Yhabril, Rider: Iker Fernandez, Location: Pico Malacara, HU, Spain
This is a seriously beautiful photograph. I love shots where the rider is a tiny detail in a much larger setting. The trick itself doesn’t matter to me here, the guy could have been doing pretty much anything and it would have worked. It's a natural hit, first try, and I just kinda want to be there and doing that myself.
Photo: Ben Shirakawa, Rider: Masatoshi Horiuchi, Location: Niigata, Japan
I think we can all relate to that feeling of burning through powder and just wanting to scream while doing it. It doesn't always occur to me to shoot action really close up, but doing so has allowed a huge amount of energy to be captured in this shot. Also, riding without a beanie at night while it's dumping? We back this.
Photo: Daniel Bernstål, Rider: Nils Arvidsson, Location: Kiruna, Sweden
This is what I meant when I said 'Illumy'. Personally, I'd rather see an actual switch handplant from Nils, but it's always nice to see something you wouldn't expect. I wouldn't have run this shot in the magazine, but it's good to see photographers thinking outside of the box. Also Bernstål gave a shoutout to Scandalnavians 2 on the Illume site, so he gets some points for that.
Photo: Colin Wiseman, Rider: Eric Jackson, Location: Valdez, AK, United States
This is a classic snowboard shot, and it won the 'best mountain' category. Although technically very good, it doesn't quite do it for me, but that's just my own personal snowboard taste. It seems like I'm complaining a lot... Sorry Colin, I'm a nice guy really, but I just feel like I've seen this exact photo a thousand times before, and it's exactly what I'd expect to see from an Alaska shot. Is that a bad thing though? I don't know, I guess it just depends on what you like. To actually ride and shoot in AK though? That's a whole different game, and anyone who can put down a trick or a line in terrain like this deserves a serious amount of respect. Same for the photographer.
Photo: Vegard Byrkjeland Aasen, Rider: Calum Macintyre, Location: Store Smørstabbtinden, Norway
This photograph is beautiful and terrifying at the same time, and I love it. For me, this would have been the winner of the 'best mountain' category. Can you imagine bootpacking up this thing? Unreal. Just look at the mountains too, they're such insane and unique shapes. I've been in this region in the summer and was blown away by it, so it's rad to see it being ridden in winter. It's in the Jotunheimen mountain range, which means 'Home of the Giants'. I reckon it's a pretty fitting name, and I think this photo is an absolute hammer.
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