This week Red Bull Illume Image Ques 2019 overall winner (and winner of the Energy category) Ben Thouard talks about his journey towards a spending more time under water than above and what taking away the grand prize meant for him personally.

Listen to the Pitched Industries Podcast BELOW and - if you haven't yet done so - make sure to check out the other episode:

Episode 1 with Innovation by Sony category winner Laurence Crossman-Emms 

Episode 2 with RAW category winner Noah Wetzel

Episode 3 with two times category winner and former overall winner Lorenz Holder
 

More work by Ben Thouard at benthouard.com or on his Instagram @benthouard.

This week Playground and Masterpiece by EyeEm category winner and two-times overall winner of the Red Bull Illume Image Quest Lorenz Holder talks about his winning formula and what inspires him to create masterpieces day in day out.

Listen to the Pitched Industries Podcast BELOW and - if you haven't yet done so - make sure to check out Episode 1 with Innovation by Sony category winner Laurence Crossman-Emms and Episode 2 with RAW category winner Noah Wetzel!

More work by Lorenz Holder at lorenzholder.com or on his Instagram @lorenzholder.

Why have you chosen to submit your image to the Image Quest 2019?

I was so impressed and inspired by the submissions of the Red Bull Image Quest competitions in the past that I knew I wanted to be a part of it someday. This is by far the greatest adventure sports photography competition in the world, where photographers capture the spirit of adventure and exploration, where minds and bodies are pushed to the very edge of human limits. To me the sport of freediving fits right into this world, not only as a sport but also as a lifestyle, so I am extremely glad to be selected amongst the very best and represented in this category [Lifestyle].

Can you tell us a little bit about your experience with Red Bull Illume 2019?

The Red Bull Illume 2019 Winner Award Ceremony on top of the Kronplatz Mountain at 7000ft was out of this world, capturing the essence of Red Bull's spirit in style. It was one of the most spectacular photography competition that I've ever been a part of with so many amazing talents and like-minded individuals from across the globe, who all shared the same love and passion for photography and creating stunning images of their sports.

"I experienced a very powerful moment, something so good that I had never felt before."

Your image made it to the final stage, congrats! How did the shot came about?

This shot is an image of a freediver coming up from a competition dive at the AAS Freediving Depth Championships. A rather intense moment where the athlete is awakened from the dark, quiet, lonely depth of space, to the bright, loud, and hectic environment of the surface above. To me, what makes this image even more special is that I've watched this athlete grow over the years, overcoming her own fears one step at a time, from when she could barely dive to a few meters down, to now where she's diving to depth of over 50 meters on one breath of air.

What’s the story behind your love for free diving?

My relationship with the ocean started at 13 years old when I got my first open water scuba certificate, but it was not until the age of 30 when I discovered freediving that transformed the way I saw the ocean. I realised that there was a lot more to freediving than just holding your breath, or the thrill of adrenaline, or to show off or anything like that. When I completed my 16m depth requirement during my first freedive course, I experienced a very powerful moment, something so good that I had never felt before. I was immediately hooked to this new sensation, and I knew right away that this is a sport that I would continue for the rest of my life.

What came first for you: free diving or photography?

I picked up my first 'non-point and shoot' camera when I quit my job at Google to travel the world, self learning on the go with just a basic understanding of aperture, shutter speed and iso. A year later after returning home, I won a grand prize at a major photography competition, and that was when photography became a little more than just a hobby. That same year, I discovered freediving and fell in love with it straight away. Naturally, I took the camera underwater and that's how it all began. So in a way photography came first, but freediving is what got me interested in underwater photography, and I am happy to have found a way to combine the two together.

What fascinates you about underwater photography?

What I find fascinating about shooting underwater on a breath hold is that it has the ability to reset my mind to really focus on the present, washing away everything and anything that goes on above the surface. Everything works differently underwater than it does on land, both physically for our bodies and technically inside the camera, and I find it very interesting to balance these two together. We know so little about the ocean, like we know so little about freediving, and while we can spend all day studying about it from the surface, admiring the weird creatures and science within it, it's quite hard to grasp the true wonders of it all until you dive down and experience it yourself. I hope my images will inspire more people to take that plunge to look closer into our oceans and into ourselves.

"... all while holding your breath and worrying about your own safety as you go deeper and deeper."

One of the biggest challenges when shooting underwater?

When you’re dealing with shooting freedivers who are diving at speeds of one metre a second, things can get really complicated. Not only do you have to adapt to the loss of light at different depths, but also the change in pressure while diving head down with a camera in your hand. Trying to keep steady while fighting against things like current, waves, thermocline and varying visibility, all while holding your breath and worrying about your own safety as you go deeper and deeper. All of this happens at the same time, and that is the most difficult thing about freedive photography.

What do you always have with you equipment-wise?

You absolutely need a good set of underwater housing, and a good pair of fins! To me Nauticam housing is the ultimate when it comes to housing my Sony gears and Molchanovs short fins does wonders for freedive photogaphers like myself. As I shoot mostly wide, my choice of lens is usually the 16-35mm fisheye and a decently sized dome port for above under shots. Also, as I'm near the ocean a lot, one thing I find essential is having a good backup solution. Personally I use a QNAP NAS to backup my files over the network and this really helps with my workflow and a peace of mind knowing that my data is safe even when I'm overseas. I also like to bring a solar panel charger to take advantage of the sun whenever possible as well as Litra lights for occasional night shoots.

Where can we find more of your work?

You can find my work at www.koheiueno.com and Instagram @kuenok. I am also working on some collaborations with art galleries in Singapore and Australia, once I have more details, the information can be found on my website.

This week RAW category winner Noah Wetzel talks about how exactly he was able to pull off a shot that many thought was not possible to produce without the help of post-production!  

Listen to the Pitched Industries Podcast BELOW and - if you haven't yet done so - make sure to check out Episode 1 with Innovation by Sony category winner Laurence Crossman-Emms! 

More work by Noah Wetzel at noahdavidwetzel.com or on his Instagram @noahwetzel.

This week Innovation by Sony category winner Laurence Crossman-Emms explains, amongst other things, what makes him feel attracted to puddles and take photos everytime he spots one. 

Listen to the Podcast below or head over to Pitched Industries! 

Find more of Laurence Crossman-Emms work at laurence-ce.com and follow him on Instagram @laurence_ce.

Born in the UK, Robin Pearson's drive to capture the finest moments of BMX riding on the most interesting terrain he can find brought him all the way to Portugal where he now lives. It was his move to the westernmost country of Europe that made the image possible in the first place: "Soon after I moved to Portugal, my friend Anthony Pearson (no relation) hit me up about coming to visit. He is a fellow spot enthusiast - as in, he loves finding and riding the most interesting spots possible - and had wanted to make the trip to this full pipe spot for years. With me living fairly close by, he finally had a good excuse to make it happen."

When you look at Robin's image one of the first questions that will pop into your head will be about the location. So what's this spot? "It's a drainage channel that leads from a reservoir down into the earth, under the hill and out into the next valley. It does baffle me how civil engineering projects often produce huge rideable transitions like this, but I'm not complaining. To get in there, you head down a dirt track, cut through some trees and then face a steep drop down into the valley. Many of the metal rungs of the old ladder had eroded away long before we arrived, but thanks to the locals João and Bruno Soares, who helped us find the place, we were prepared with ropes to handle the descent. The feeling you get when you see a spot like this can't be overstated. It's genuinely electrifying - standing at the entrance of the pipe, Anthony and I could not believe the scale of it."

No one had the final picture in mind at all, they all just wanted to ride the spot and have a good time: "Our goal for the day was actually to ride the far end, which is more like a half-pipe, but pitched down a steep slope into the pipe. And that's what we did! All four of us cleaned the place up a bit, felt it out on our bikes, rode it the best we could, shooting photos and filming clips. At the end of the session, as you'll see in the video, Anthony even sent a flair on the vert wall."

The image that made it to the final stage of Red Bull Illume has not been shot up until this point: "As we were on our way out, we saw the full pipe in a new light - quite literally. The sun had come down and was now beaming along the valley, illuminating the vast concrete pipe with a beautiful warm glow. I told Anthony we had to shoot a few carves! I knew he was knackered from riding all afternoon but I didn't know how long the light would last and wanted to capture the sheer scale of the pipe in that glow. It's just a simple carve in a big pipe. No tricks just pure BMX."

But how was the exprience for the BMX rider Anthony Pearson? "As we climbed down the sketchy ladder and arrived at the mouth of the full pipe all sorts of thoughts were running through my head. What if someone sees us and calls the police? What if someone gets hurt? What if the water suddenly started flowing through this thing? But all these doubts were suddenly replaced with pure excitement to start riding."

Since the light changed quite late, Anthony was already pretty worn out. To get the final shot he pushed himself to his limits: "As I started to pedal down the pipe I quickly realised the gearing on my bike was far too light for such a big and full pipe. I knew we would only have a few shots at this before my legs gave up on me. Pedalling as fast as I could, pulling a small wheelie through the puddle of water at the bottom I carved up into a spot where I hoped Robin would be happy with. Luckily for me he is a true professional and nailed the shot at the first try. It was a fantastic end to an amazing day riding one of the best spots in Europe."

See more of Robin Pearson's awesome work on his Instagram or check out his website!

What fascinates you about photography and why have you chosen to take part in the Image Quest 2019? 

Anyone who is active in the outdoor and action sports scene can hardly get past Red Bull Illume. I was thrilled by the pictures of the past editions. The level is incredibly high - all the more I feel honored to be a small part of it in the 2019 edition. 
The combination of aesthetics and athletics is what makes it special for me. We see athletes at great performances in beautifully composed images. This is also part of the answer to what fascinates me about photography in general. Despite an epochal overload of images in the digital age, photography has lost nothing of its magic for me. However, with the incredible quantity of pictures, it has become more of an art not to press the shutter button or to take a picture only when I am convinced that I have something as unseen and valuable as possible in front of my lens. 
Ideally you then make the difference between a good and a very good picture... 

Your image of the athletes Caro North and Steph Davis on the famous Mittellegi ridge on the Eiger in the Swiss Alps made it to the final stage of the Image Quest 2019. Can you tell us a little bit about the shot? How did it come about? 

As a mountain, the Eiger is simply an absolute knockout. The visual and historical dominance of its world-famous north face makes you shudder every time you approach it. 
The impressive east ridge that is visible in the photo is probably one of the most beautiful ridge tours of the Alps. With regards to the ambiance, the shot is actually quite a "no brainer". 
The photo was taken during a shooting for a Swiss mountaineering equipment supplier. We installed two camera teams to accompany Caro and Steph - one with the photographer Thomas Senf directly on the mountain, a filmmaker and myself for the aerial shots. On this second day of shooting everything was just right: We waited until late afternoon to get the perfect lighting conditions. That the fog in the south wall added to the drama was the icing on the cake. Such impressions stay with you - not only in the camera. 

You worked with exceptionally talented athletes over the years. Have you learned something from them that also comes in handy for your work as a photographer? 

To be in the terrain with such athletes is of course impressive at first: Their way of understanding what is going on in the mountains, their way of assessing the dangers but most of all their incredible athletic abilities to move on rock and ice leaves me speechless even after many years. Although it may sound trite, the respect they show towards the mountain is impressive. 
In addition, professionals like Dani Arnold, Steph Davis or Jérémie Heitz know exactly what is important when it comes to illustrating their sport. It is therefore worthwhile to listen. 
But what really impresses me is the modesty of these athletes: Someone who pursues a sport at the highest possible level in the world, gives everything for his passion and still never gives his environment the feeling of being too good for anything. 
These are perhaps less the central skills that influenced me as a photographer, but as a human being I have really taken a lot of such personalities with me on my way. 

What’s the biggest challenge when shooting free solo and speed climbing records? 

You have to make a difference: Usually such pictures are re-enacted after a record. This applies to most of the famous records on the Eiger, Matterhorn, El Cap etc. For example, we also did it this way with Dani Arnold on the Matterhorn.
However, during his speed ascent of the Cassin Route on Piz Badile in 2016, we went a new way and made a documentation of Dani live during his record. This changes the situation for both, the athlete and the photographer, completely. 
There is an aesthetic-planning dimension: What does the shooting process look like? In which passages do you absolutely want to have pictures? What possibilities for spectacular angles do we have, how quickly can we change from one position to another, etc.? 
Then there's a technical one: Basically you have exactly one shot. During a speed ascent, the athlete cannot just turn around and climb a passage again. So you better make sure that you have the camera under control. 
Finally, there is a personal level: Someone close to you is climbing and risks his life. If he makes even a small mistake, you will be watching him fall to certain death. I don't think that this can be answered conclusively, but you must ask yourself if and how you could live with it. 
So it takes an enormous amount of trust on both sides. The athlete has to know that we do not put additional pressure on him in any way. He has to be able to rely on it, that everything works out and that we capture his exploit as professionally as possible.
I, on the other hand, must be able to rely 100% on him not taking the slightest unnecessary risk because of the camera.
That's where the dilemma comes from: Do you shoot during the ascent and risk putting the athlete under additional pressure - or do you shoot afterwards and expose the athlete again to an extremely risky situation, just to have nice pictures? 

Can you explain how a shoot like this usually works? Do you climb next to the athlete(s) or do you use drones?

Without (massive) technical aids, it is usually not possible, because climbing along is definitely not an option. You can recreate scenes in the wall from fixed positions, but this is not really possible when shooting live. For this you would need a very large crew with many different teams in the wall. At best, you can do this in Yosemite in stable weather, but in an exposed wall in the Alps at 4000m above sea level, it's a logistical nightmare. As a lay person you can hardly imagine the enormous climbing speed - but in many places it is actually more of a running than a climbing. The whole thing advances so fast that you always have to be fully concentrated. 

Drones are ingenious - of course I use them too. But with large walls there are still limits. For really good pictures, I'm afraid the helicopter is (still) irreplaceable in such terrain. The interaction with the pilot is then crucial, he must know the site very well, understand where the most important passages are and from which positions the view of the route is best. During the record attempt itself, communication with the athlete is not possible - so good planning is essential. 

What equipment do you use when you shoot free solo or speed climbers? One would imagine it has to be rather light?
 
No, lightness is not the most important thing. Of course, I only take to the mountain what fits in a backpack and I can carry around with me without any problems. But absolute reliability, speed (like a fast, precise focus) and a certain redundancy are the most important things. Basically, I always work with two cameras with different lenses more or less parallel in such projects. It would really be most unfortunate if an athlete would make a phenomenal exploit and I would mess it up... 

What are your goals as a photographer? Anything specific for 2020? 

Photography is only one of my activities and passions - I fear that 2020 will be more about other tasks. Nevertheless: Some projects are definitely on the agenda this summer in the mountains.
And of course: Slowly I will start to develop first ideas for the next Red Bull Illume Image Quest... 

Where can we find more of your work? 

Best is to visit my website atlense.com I'm afraid I'm a little too lazy to maintain social media channels - but sure, you can find me on Instagram @atlense_photography. Ok, with the latter, a few more followers would probably be nice...

Feel inspired? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more adventure and action sports! 

Now you're a Red Bull Illume finalist, describe what the Wings Category means to you?

The Wings Category to me is the moment of flight, the still moment where things go completely quiet. As a photographer, it is the moment my breath stops and I just hear the shutter.

What came first for you - whitewater kayaking or photography?

Whitewater kayaking came to me first, I had just started travelling for whitewater kayaking when I purchased my first camera. After that first big trip abroad my photography passion grew exponentially.

What is it that draws you into the water and whitewater especially?

The flow of being on the river is addictive, once you peel out into the current you are in a different world. Moving downstream with a group of friends in a stunning environment is my happy place for sure! Every river has a different character and spirit, that's what makes travelling around the world and being drawn to new and foreign rivers so appealing.

What are your biggest influences in adventure and action sports photography?

Somehow, I surround myself with crazy people unintentionally all the time, it's the norm now really. Now and again I take a step back and realize that my friends are some of the craziest whitewater kayakers, BASE jumpers and surfers in the world and we are all so privileged to spend our time on this planet checking out wild places and new experiences. Long story short - my influences are my friends, wild places and my drive to be best at what I do.

How did the idea for your finalist shot come about?

Alexandra Falls has fascinated me since I first saw an image of it in 2003. Drone photography has allowed so many more creative angles and perspectives to shoot waterfalls. I thought about the perfect shot for a long time, one that combines both the scale of the waterfall and the perspective of the paddler staring down one hundred feet. When the paddler decides to run down such a steep waterfall, he doesn't think about the perfect light, like I ususally do. As a photographer you have to work with what you have. But I coudn't be happier with the way the image turned out, incorporating the rainbow at the bottom of the falls.

How did you discover the location and meet the athlete?

The location is known in the whitewater scene since its first descent in 2003, it only has been paddled by a few people. Although I knew the rough location, it wasn't until I got there that I fully understood that I was almost in the arctic circle. I traveled there with two friends from home and I met Bren (Orton, ed. note), the athlete, at the Falls as he arrived with another group of some of the world's leading paddlers.

Did the final image turn out exactly as planned?

More or less, yes, even better in some ways. I love that you can see the deep water channel so clear. I had not expected this until I first flew the drone over it to do a test shoot.

What was the biggest challenge in capturing this photo?

Managing multiple cameras and getting the timing right. That's always a challenge when you are shooting aerial and handheld at the same time. Also, the athlete usually takes a couple of minutes to get in the right mindset for the drop. The drone battery has a very short lifetime so the timing was key here.

A kayak doesn't have enough space for suitcases full of gear. What do you carry on a regular adventure?

Safety gear, my camera, something to snack on and a lighter and knife are always with me on a day trip in my kayak.

Your ultimate location/athlete/sport to shoot?

Such a hard question! Any wild and remote place with my friends on a river is a dream I will have forever. Whitewater will always be close to my heart but I am shooting a lot more BASE jumping these days. If we are talking dreams though, Dean Potter somewhere in the Yosemite Valley.

How did you discover Red Bull Illume?

I first learned about it when I saw Eric Parker's entry in the last contest. It's a fantastic event and I feel honoured to be a part of it.

Plans vs. dreams for 2020?

My plans this year take me to the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia, followed by the West Coast of North America. Then to Kyrgystan and Ethiopia in the fall and maybe to Madagascar. I'm excited to visit some new locations. My dream shot this year would be a humpback whale while Freediving in Madagascar.

Where can we find more of your work?

On Instagram @follow_the_river and on my website LachieC.com!

Featuring in the winning shot is the talented rider Jeremy Berthier, who told us the exciting story behind the shot from his perspective:

"Shooting with JB is fun and we always have a good time but it can be kind of intense sometimes. When we are focusing on a special picture at the end of a long day of riding when I'm already pretty tired and the light starts to fade."

But it takes more than the perfect timing - the relationship between photographer and athlete is essential for a spectacular shot. "It's way easier to work with someone you know well, we trust each other and that's a big thing. Jb also knows my limits and which tricks are possible", Jeremy says.

He is still buzzing with excitement when it comes to Red Bull Illume: "Having this shot winning a category at Red Bull Illume is just amazing and it's a real pleasure to see how it's shared around the world. I'm stoked we took this picture near the village I grew up in and on the trail I built myself. It's a great reward and I would like to thank my friend JB for his crazy work and the people at Commencal Bicycles for putting together the video project that lead to this picture."

Video by: Léon Perrin for Commencal Bicycles

See more incredible work by Jean-Baptiste Liautard on his Instagram or check out his website!