Jury 2010

Eva Gamperl-Wolf

PHOTO-EDITOR, SPORT MAGAZIN (AUSTRIA)

Born and raised in the Styrian countryside, sports and nature has always been important for Eva Gamperl-Wolf, photo-editor of Sport Magazin. "After school, I started to study sports with the goal of becoming a teacher. It was then that I had my first experience of photography. My mother was talented. She's not a professional photographer, but she knows what makes a good image which was really helpful in getting me started."

Eva started working as a picture-editor for Sport Magazin, one of Austria's major sport publications, in 1997. "I've said this before, but it was my destiny to work there. That job was just waiting for me," she says with a cheshire-cat smile. "I had to learn a lot, and it wasn't always easy - all the long discussions with chief-editors and art-directors and so on. But, you have to remind yourself, searching for the best images from around the world is so satisfying. It's a job I enjoy very much."

What does she find so satisfying about being a photo-editor rather than a photographer? "It is interesting to see how on event can be photographed and presented so differently. Sport Magazin offers a wide range of photographs - from hardcore action shots to high quality studio productions with David LaChapelle and Helmut Newton for example. This allows me to show and develop my abilities in art and action photography. So the variety in my job just makes my day really exciting. I really enjoy my job and like to learn different things from day to day."

Considering that Eva thinks that her selection of photographs "should help to illuminate the day of my readers and make the world a better place," her standards are sure to be sky-high when she judges the world's best action and adventure photography for Red Bull Illume.