What are your basic stats?

I’m Sophie Zander, born in 1993 and raised in the suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden. I work full time in a warehouse but photography is one of my biggest interests, so sometimes I get photography work too.

How did you first get into photography?

I was pretty much born into photography. When I was a kid, my father and his best friend had a small studio and dark room just for fun. As I got older, my dad and I would go on trips each year, stopping every time he saw a photo opportunity. Instead of complaining and being a pain in the ass, I thought I would try take some photos too. My parents got me a small compact camera as a summer gift and later I got my dad’s old Canon 10D. I went from hanging around in the studio, to studying media in high school with a focus on photography. That’s how I got to where I am now.

What’s in your camera bag?

In my camera bag you’ll find two camera bodies and a bunch of lenses; 24-70mm 2.8, 70-200mm 2.8, 50mm 1.8 and sometimes I’ll steal my dad’s 16-35mm 2.8. I take batteries, memory cards, rain covers for the cameras, reusable hand warmers for both me, the surfers and other photographers. You might find some candy in there too.

Why surf photography?

It all started 10 years ago with what I thought was a lie. My dad told me it was possible to surf in Sweden and I said; “No you can’t, liar!”. However, he kept telling me it was true so I told him we had to go shoot some surfing the next time the forecast looked good. Turned out he wasn’t lying! I fell deeply in love with it and became obsessed with the weather forecasts so I wouldn’t miss the next session.

I honestly don’t know what the appeal is! If I lived somewhere warmer and more tropical I would understand, but I live in Sweden and it’s the complete opposite!

What are the challenges of shooting surfers in Sweden?

The surf is best during the fall and winter, but it’s the worst for photographers. When it rains, it rains horizontally into the lens because of the wind! It’s snowing, it’s windy, it’s stormy and it’s so cold that your fingers and toes hurt. You wear so many layers of clothing that you look like you’re going to hunt polar bears! I’ve often questioned myself why we do this to ourselves over and over again. Why do we go outside when there are storm warnings on the news?

I guess it’s a mix of things I love about it - and it gets better and better each time I go. The first time I went to the surf spot, I didn’t know a single person. Now I have an extra family which means a lot to me in so many ways; I’m forever thankful for everything they’ve done for me.

How did it feel to be a Red Bull Illume semi finalist?

It felt so surreal! I’ve been following Red Bull Illume since it all started and I’ve been amazed by every photo. Many of my favorite photographers have done really well in the competition; I never thought I’d stand a chance, but I guess I was wrong.

Talk us through your semi final photo…

My semi final photo was taken in Unstad, Lofoten Islands, Norway! I went there for the yearly father-daughter trip, my dad is more of a landscape photographer and I’m obviously into extreme sports. Norway has a great mix of both and it’s not too far away from where we live. Unfortunately, the sea decided to be flat the whole week and the day the photo was taken was the only day with some kind of waves, more like surf school kind of waves. I was slightly disappointed in both the weather and the waves. Parts of the mountains were covered by fog, then these three random surfers showed up. It looked really cool so I had to take a photo. When I saw the shot on the camera I was like; “this will be one of my Red Bull Illume photos”.

Are there any other adventure and action sports you like to shoot?

I’ve shot motocross and fmx a few times, once in a while I’ll end up in a skatepark. Last summer a few friends went wake surfing, me and my camera joined them and it was so much fun. If I had to choose one sport to shoot for the rest of my life it would be surfing for sure, but it’s fun to add variety.

What other things do you shoot?

Since I’m a music nerd I love to shoot concerts as well. I’ve also found out how fun it is to shoot portraits, simple portraits, nothing too fancy. When there’s no action sports or concerts there’s always different landscapes to explore, Mother Nature sure knows how to blow our minds.

What lessons has photography taught you?

Photography made me more confident, maybe not in life general, but it’s easier for me to make contact with strangers than it was before. If I have my camera with me and I see someone who will be a perfect model for my kind of portraits I will walk up to them and ask if I can take a photo. It’s almost as if I can hide behind my camera and skills.

Photography has also taught me that there’s no “next time”, the light, the composition, nothing will be the same next time. If you want that specific photo, you have pick up the camera and press the shutter button NOW! Not tomorrow or next month. One thing I know for sure is that it sucks to regret things like that. I guess it’s the same in real life too. I’m still kind of bad at it but I’m always trying to learn by mistakes and regrets!

Any upcoming photography projects?

There are a lot of things I’d like to shoot but I’m trying to focus on photos for Red Bull Illume 2019, it’s getting closer!

What are your plans for the future?

I try to not have too big plans because life never turns out the way you plan it. I’m just going to see what life has to offer and take it from there!

But I’d love to travel, both to new places and to revisit some old places.

Thanks to Sophie for this amazing interview! Check out more of her work on her website and on Instagram.

Red Bull Illume 2021 Photobook - Limited Edition

This limited-edition photobook features the top 256 images of the Image Quest 2021.
Be the first to see those inspiring images printed and pre-order your exclusive copy now!

Shop Now

RBIL21 Mockup outside pixelated white bg 2

If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that adventure and action sports is jam-packed with pure adrenaline and power. The Energy by Red Bull Photography is for images that perfectly capture the energy, speed, and strength required to perform. We want to see the driving force behind the athlete and their environment. This is a category for images that you can really feel and the images selected for this edition do exactly that!

A huge round of applause to all of the Energy by Red Bull Photography semi-finalists whose images knocked us off our feet:

Toby Cowley
Satchel Cronk
Lindsay Donovan Davies
Paris Gore
Nick Green
Tristan Shu Lebeschu
Sterling Lorence
Sergei Aleksandrovich Martynov
Gert Perauer
Ben Shirakawa
Christian Stadler
Daniel Stewart
David Nogales Tarragó
Chris Tedesco
Ben Thouard
Marc Weiler
Noah Wetzel
Bartek Woliński
Aaron Zwaal

When you capture the real energy of a moment, whether it’s the second before the big move or the ecstatic jump for joy, you evoke something in the viewer. That’s what we’re all about and so is Red Bull Photography, which is why they’re giving the winner of Energy by Red Bull Photography an opportunity to execute the photoshoot of their dreams!

Don’t forget, this is just the first round of announcements, because the finalists, category winners and the overall winner are still to come! These will all be revealed later this year, so make sure you check out our social media channels and our website to receive all of the latest news about the Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2021. New semi-finalists are out every Thursday!

Where did your passion for photography and extreme sports come from?
I grew up alpine skiing. Living in a ski resort allowed me to go skiing every day and so this was my lifestyle. After competing until age 16, I thought I would look more into free skiing, and so it began. I slowly became familiar with free skiing, as well as all kinds of alternative sports. Internet wasn’t huge at that time, but videos were made, on VHS first, then on DVD. So, at the time my friends and I were just able to watch and re-watch our favorite riders, favorite movies, and favorite sport a thousand times. Skiing during winter; skate and bike during summer. Beautiful youth touching a bit of everything.

Is there one sport you love capturing the most?
As mentioned, skiing is part of my life. That’s how I was introduced to extreme sports, but also into photography. This is still what I like the most, being out there, up high in the snowy mountains. Capturing ski is quite intense, snow is one of the hardest things I’ve worked with but also the most beautiful. It needs lot of patience and lot of luck to get the perfect shot, snow isn’t predictable and its aspects are changing every minute. This is what makes it magical to me, cause when it works, when the magic happens, it is a beautiful moment of elements moving together and aligning. It’s ephemeral and can’t be reproduced. I love it.

Red Bull Illume Jeremy Bernard 06 — © Jeremy Bernard

Currently you’re working with Nina Caprez on a new project called ANDREA, which aims to share your passion with the world. Could you tell us more?
Of course photography is now part of my DNA, but above all else, my partner and I want to share our love for sports and the outdoors. We strongly believe that sports bring happiness and help improve personal development. We’re not trying to save the world, but we thought about how we could use our passion and energy to help to people in need. So, ANDREA was born.
Founded in 2020 with my partner, world-class Swiss climber, Nina Caprez, ANDREA is a Swiss non-profit organization whose goal is to explore, meet, and share through sports, often of the extreme kind. ANDREA is also an expedition truck, in which we’ll travel through to remote regions to meet and learn from the communities that live there.
Our card tricks? A removable climbing wall and a multimedia platform that will allow us to engage with communities through sport, particularly in climbing. A platform for life, a moving basecamp for exchange, a common spring of momentum.

How did you come up with the idea for ANDREA?
ANDREA was born during lockdown in Switzerland. First, the idea was to get a bigger van so we could live in it properly. We love being outdoors and it’s where we feel the happiest. After lots of online research looking for the perfect van, our minds started wandering. My longtime dream was to get an off-road vehicle so that we could drive in remote places. The idea of pushing the project a little bit further to give a special meaning to our lives. And here we are, with a project 10 times bigger than the original one but more fired up and excited than ever for what’s to come.

What is the main goal of this project?
We want to offer a bubble of escape for locals whose paths we cross, who often live in precarious and marginalized conditions. Between the two of us, Nina and I have traveled a good chunk of the planet, had hundreds of sporting adventures, and met many people. We want to stop on the side of the road, listen to stories, exchange views on small things and universes. And who knows, maybe it will change the course of a life? ANDREA will use sport to promote positive social connections and relationships.

When you started your career, did you have a plan to head in this direction?
I’m not a big career guy. I do not have many expectations regarding this and I didn’t think about the where and how I would see my career going too much. At first, I just followed a passion for skiing. It brought me to photography and traveling, always with sports. Then, it took me more into photojournalism, always with a sport aspect but more focusing on socializing and people - which I prefer more than just photographing sports now. Today, different experiences in my life brought me where I am now and I couldn’t feel more happy, grateful and accomplished than I do today.

Red Bull Illume Jeremy Bernard 12 — © Jeremy Bernard

How do you want to combine your main profession – photography – with this project?
Nina and I have chosen climbing and photography (mainly) to share and exchange with the communities. On top of this, sharing it with people on the way is also a great opportunity for me to talk and share my love for photography. I plan to do some workshops on the way, the goal is to share a maximum with everybody.
ANDREA also has a professional aspect because we plan on having projects along the way where video and photography will be the main way of telling stories.
I do not leave photography behind. I just organize things the way I want them, as opposed to being a classic photographer, like what I’ve been doing with commercial shoots. I’m now making my own path.

What are certain challenges you face when working together with athletes and capturing extreme sports?
There are many challenging aspects when shooting. If I take skiing for example; the cold, the snow, the altitude and the humidity are things I have to be very careful with. But again, it all depends what exactly you’re shooting. It is a totally different job to work on a groomer for a client than it is to be on an expedition in Pakistan, like the last one I did with Jeremie Heitz & Samuel Anthamatten. We had set a camp at 5000m high, it was -20° at night for ten days; plus, on top of managing your body, energy and physical ability, you also have to manage your equipment and safety. All these aspects are challenging.

You can find more of Jeremys work on Instagram, @Jeremy_bernard_photography, at Neuf Dixieme and @andreabasecamp for more information about his project.

The Emerging by Black Diamond category is specifically created to shine a light on the youngsters, the newbies, the fresh talent, and essentially the next generation of adventure and action sports photographers. This is a category that levels the playing field, giving everyone 25 years and younger an opportunity to compete at the same level as the pros and they did not disappoint!

We are super stoked to finally share the unbelievable creativity coming out of these photographers who made it to the semi-final stage:

Moritz Ablinger
Chris Anderson
Keiron Berndt
Andrew Dixon
Nick Green
Ian Harland
Nick James
Peter Kaiser
Manuel Kokseder
Pablo León
Jb Liautard
Kristiyan Dimitrov Markov
Thomas Meurot
Marco Müller
Aarón Sio Pretel
Patricio José Díaz Rios
Scott Robb
Gonzalo Robert
Anna Rossini
Mathieu Ruffray

Our partner and sponsor of this category, Black Diamond, is all about climbing and skiing and is known for engineering the best gear possible. Everyone was super stoked to have them on board, especially the young photographers. Why? Well, because the category winner of Emerging by Black Diamond wins a three-day photoshoot with the equipment and apparel manufacturer. On top of that, they’re rewarding a prize for the Best Mountain Photo with a product deal worth up to $5,000 which will be shared with the public at the winner’s unveiling at the end of the year.

A new collection of semi-finalists will be announced every week, so make sure you follow us on social media and visit our website to stay up to date.

This is the moment we have all been waiting for! Here are the first semi-finalists of the Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2021, which were selected by our official jury. Let's start with Creative by Skylum, the category where anything goes because images can be enhanced digitally or altered in the darkroom to bring an idea to life. It’s the category with the most freedom, giving photographers the opportunity to let their imagination run wild.

Of course, we’d like to say a huge round of congratulations to everyone who brought their ideas to life and pushed the boundaries of creativity in adventure and action sports photography. These photos will be printed in the limited-edition Red Bull Illume Photobook, to be released towards the end of the year with the unveiling of the final Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2021 winners.

Creative by Skylum semi-finalists:

Didier Barontini
Jan Burkert
Jason Colledge
Marco Dullnig
Oskar Enander
Nejc Ferjan
Ryan Fernette
Enric Adrian Gener
Denis Klero
Kuba Konwent
Marcelo Maragni
Yuya Matsui
Kevin Molano
Andrew Soria
Daniel Stewart
Mikołaj Walczewski
Mitch Winton

It’s no wonder that Skylum is the perfect partner for this category with their award-winning image enhancement software, especially in a category that encourages editing and changing the original photo. You can see the photographers took full advantage this edition bringing across crazy scenes in all of these unbelievable images.

This is just the first category of semi-finalists to be announced, so make sure you stay up to date on our website and our social media channels for even more semi-finalists next week!

Where does your passion for photography come from?
I think my passion for photography was cultivated within my artistic family. My father had a picture frame shop and a lot of artistic friends. My sister is an amazing artist. I have always felt confident behind the lens.

You left Brazil to pursue photography - what are some of your favorite locations to see big waves?
What drove me to pursue big waves was Mavericks. I remember one day in 1993, at my friend’s house, I saw a photo of Jay Moriarity on the cover of a magazine. He was on a giant wave at Mavericks - it did not look real! That image embedded in my mind and was when my pursuit for big waves actually started. Finally, in 2001, I got to see Mavericks with my own eyes, luckily for me, it was the biggest and baddest day ever.

In what way do you think growing up in Brazil has influenced you? Do you find yourself returning there frequently?
Growing up in Brazil was challenging, you have to constantly adapt to new situations. There was not a lot of support and information about becoming a photographer. After moving to California, I continued to visit Brazil every year.

Where do you spend most of your time these days? What made you choose that country? Does it inspire you?
California is the mecca of the surfing industry. In Los Angeles, you can find a flight to anywhere in the world. For big wave surfing I am always flying last minute because it's hard to anticipate the conditions, so I have to wait until the very last minute to make my final decision.

You’re well-known for surf photography, but also shoot extreme action sports like base jumping or mountain climbing. What makes extreme action sports interesting for you?
Outdoor adventure has always been my passion. Extreme sports are interesting to me because of the amount of dedication athletes put into challenging themselves, it’s not only physical, but also mental and spiritual. I also love the community. Plus, to capture these sports you have to be exposed to the elements and this challenge drives me. The picture is the reward.

What's important regarding equipment?
Throughout my career I’ve always believed it's important to experiment with a variety of cameras and lenses so that you can understand the possibilities and perspectives. For some of my ideas I’ve had to adapt. I’ve had to create my own water housing for big waves and flash photography because I didn't find what I wanted on the market at that time. Doing that expanded my horizons. The important thing about shooting extreme sports is trusting your equipment. Most moments can never be recreated, so you have to capture the shot in the moment. I chose SanDisk for all my memory cards after a really bad experience with another company, I lost all of my data and after that, I only use SanDisk.

Did Red Bull Illume have an impact on your professional career?
By far, Red Bull Illume is the best adventure and action sports photography contest in the world and it has inspired me a lot. Seeing all of these talented photographers pushing themselves to capture incredible moments is very motivating to me.

Do you have any projects planned for the coming months?
I have just finished an incredible climbing documentary in Yosemite. I am still working on that.

You can find more of Fred’s work on Instagram, @fred_pompermayer, or on his website.

Red Bull Illume 2021 recap gallery creative 1

Red Bull Illume 2021 Partnership with WhiteWall 01

Every photographer knows the importance of teamwork, especially when your subject matter is adventure and action sports. Red Bull Illume is all about working together, which is why we’re super excited to have WhiteWall on our team for the Image Quest 2021 and as an official partner of the Playground category: for images that showcase the landscapes, locations, platforms, and environments in which athletes play.

WhiteWall is a leading photo lab in Germany with fourteen years of experience, run by a team of passionate experts. They have a global presence with stores in thirteen countries which ship to the professional photography industry all around the world. Their award-winning photo printing uses high-quality prints under acrylic glass, premium backing materials, and handcrafted frames. The trick is their combination of traditional development methods with state-of-the-art technology, and you want to know what’s really awesome? WhiteWall is giving all category winners of the Image Quest 2021 their very own winning image, printed and framed!

When you think about it, the partnership with WhiteWall is a natural fit in the Red Bull Illume journey; from discovering the world’s greatest adventure and action sports images to honoring the art with premium printing. We just can’t wait to find out whose images are going to win! Stay tuned to our website and social media to find out all the latest news.