The next Red Bull Illume Exhibitions will be in EUROPARK, Maribor and ALEJA, Ljubljana in Slovenia. Both tour stops are part of our partnership with SES Spar European Shopping Centers which displays the 56 finalist images inside their premium shopping destinations across Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary and Italy. All exhibitions are completely free to visit and can be combined with a shopping trip.
5 Surf Photographers You Need To Know!
With the summer days coming up and the swells coming in, we wanted to show some love to the extremely talented surf photographers out there, who spend days on end floating in the deep blue trying to get that perfect union between wave and rider...

© Corey Wilson / Red Bull Illume
Stuart "Stu" Gibson
Could easily already be considered Red Bull Illume royalty, with Category Finalist spots in 2010, 2013 and 2016.
"I was born in Tasmania in 1983 and became a photographer around 2003, although I’ve always loved cameras and filming. It wasn’t until I borrowed a friend’s Canon EOS 5 that I fell in love with still photography – the quality amazed me! Shooting on 35mm slide film was a true test to learn the skills to become a photographer.
My main passions are surfing, snowboarding and skateboarding. But my photos are more than 90% surfing, or in the water in some way. I was practically born surfing so it’s hard to be away from the coast for too long. My life as a photographer consists of traveling, swimming, sun, and sitting behind a computer – a lot!"
Zakary "Zak" Noyle
"I was born in Hawaii in 1985 and have been in and around the ocean all my life. My father is a commercial photographer who helped me find my love and passion for shooting in the ocean. Working as a staff photographer for Surfer Magazine for the past five years has allowed me to travel to many exotic locations such as Tahiti, Rapa Nui and Indonesia to name just a few.Being in the water is my specialty, shooting mainly heavy and large waves with shallow reefs. I have a passion to show people a world they have never seen before, from a perspective that is almost inconceivable. I try to bring the viewers into my images and make them feel as if they’re right there alongside me in the world's most famous surf breaks."
Corey Wilson
"I am from Santa Cruz, CA. I started photography about eight years ago when I was in high school and I fell in love with shooting photos, deciding to make a career out of it.I currently live in Newport Beach, CA and I travel the world all year round, working as a staff photographer for Surfing Magazine, Rip Curl, and freelancing for other companies. I’m constantly on the road going on surf trips and fashion shoots etc."
Ben Thouard
"My name is Ben Thouard, and I’ve lived in Tahiti for eight years. I started photography when I was a teenager, using an old Nikon camera from my father that I’d found at home.Being a surfer since a very young age, it was natural that I started shooting my friends surfing. After going to photography school in Paris, I flew to Hawaii when I was 19, and this was my first professional challenge.Since then I’ve traveled around the world to shoot watersports in search of great conditions, encounters and stories. Nine years ago I was invited to make a trip to Teahupo’o, Tahiti, a place I completely fell in love with. A year after moving it became my favorite playground."
Fred Pompermayer
"I have been shooting big wave surfing and action shots for more than a decade. I was born in Brazil. From a very young age I was transfixed by the ocean and waves. I majored in architecture at college; afterwards I travelled the world taking photos as my hobby and surfing as much as I could.I live in Los Angeles where I can catch a quick flight to most places – most of the time it’s last minute to catch the swells – and where I can surf year round."
Make sure to check out Instagram next week (18.4 to 21.4), as we're hosting surf week, with a bunch of cool surf photos from throughout Red Bull Illume history!