Red Bull Illume is the world’s greatest annual adventure and action sports photography contest. It recognises the unsung heroes from around the world who capture the most jaw-dropping moments!

It was founded in 2006 by Ulrich Grill, a passionate photographer, and former Red Bull athlete.

The current contest has 10 categories, is free to enter and anyone from amateurs to professionals can submit their images to be judged by 52 industry professionals.

Over the years Australian photographers have left their mark with some incredible images and the 2023 edition was no different. This year saw the contest partner with photography giants Canon and saw five local photographers make the final 250 selected images from around the world.

Each image (and one video) wasn’t only a spectacular moment captured but often, a moment that almost doesn’t sound real.

I’m sweating, cold sweating. The tension suffocating the air is vulnerable to being cut with the tip of my ice pick. My back brushes the rock behind. I squeeze myself in, tighter into the crack, as I try to remain composed and motionless. My friend Mason, one of New Zealand’s up and coming climbers, is on the wall. He is attempting a winter onsite lead of the route Blow Up (M8) on the western face of The Remarkables, over Queenstown.

As the sun transitions to western afternoon light, it ignites a sharp glowing seam that crawls its way up the route. I take a deep breath and raise the camera. 24mm – too tight. I loosen the focal length to 14mm as the frame starts to take shape. Still too damn tight. I try to push my body back further.


Mason flakes an arm, the pump causing him to vent out a pained scream as the blood drains. It was now or never, the frame is only centimeters off. In a split decision, I rip the screen out and thrust the back of the camera into the rock behind me. I line up the image you see, aptly named The Ignition.

This image was shot during one of Australia’s worst recorded flood disasters in 2022. What was typically a beautiful deep blue, was chocolate brown as a result of runoff and sewerage overflow.

There were no photographers in the water at the time, which was unusual for Cape. I took the opportunity and hopped straight in. A putrid yellow foam surrounded the lineup. It wreaked of sewage.

I ended up vomiting for a few minutes after swallowing some of the foam trying to catch a breath.

Swimming alone, a week after a fatal shark attack at a bay nearby – in water so dirty you couldn’t see your feet, was an experience like no other. The colour of the water, the foam, and the swell all lined up for a spectacularly unique setting. I actually ended up dislocating my knee coming out on the rocks. I was sick for a week following that session. I ended up getting surgery on my knee too.

Turns out by slowing down life and embracing boredom again into my life, my dreams have come back that ignite new passion projects. One day as I was driving to my local crag, an idea hit me like a lightning bolt where I conjured the concept of illuminating a crack from within on an iconic trad climb. After all, the crack is the feature of trad climbing and I wanted to search out the perfect fissure. Moab UT has always brought me back time and time again and teaming up with Angela Van Wiemeersch, we found ‘Seventh Serpent’ in Long Canyon.

As per usual, my timing is atrocious and a heat wave had descended onto Moab which meant we only had a few precious shaded hours in the afternoon to rig the lights into the crack. I’ll always be a nervous wreck in these situations but when I raced back across the canyon to set up my position to capture, what a spectacular feeling it was to witness the crack come alive as the darkness enveloped around us.

For a while I wanted to create a piece that focussed solely on the athlete mid-air. Stripping everything else away, all the distractions and making it solely about the rider, their style and their skill. I hit up Luke Parker who I’d shot with a few times and we organized with our local indoor park Rampfest for an after hours shoot. Luckily it’s one of Luke’s local spots so he was familiar with the jump and confident to hit it repeatedly in some low light.

Colored lighting is my happy place so I knew it would play a role here. I wanted to give the shoot a little something extra to help Luke stand out in the darkness so I chose red and blue edge lights which gave it a stereoscopic 3D glasses vibe. We then expanded on this in the post-production stage to get the effect we wanted.

It was late May 2022 that a series of extreme swells focused on southern portion of of Tahiti. This is the where the worlds most deadly surfable reef resides. “Teahupo’o”, also known as the “End of the Road”.

Metaphorically is is often the end of the road not just for vehicles quite often it may be many surfers. These condition are irresistible for may of worlds’ most extreme surfers and those who document them. The 25th of May was the first in series of the swells and saw perfect conditions, with a huge 12-15 foot waves groomed by light offshore winds. The ultimate prize for any surfer. Sometimes surfers may find themselves out of position as an extra large set of waves approaches. Three surfers found the themselves in this position. Two emerged unscathed out the back of the wave. The third Rodrigo Reinoso, was not so lucky. Caught in the breaking monster Rodrigo found himself suspend at the top of a virtual waterfall, about to be launched backwards over the falls. A surfers worst nightmare.

Ironically three days later myself and other photographers were in a similar predicament as our boat was caught inside the impact zone on an equally big swell. We were launched into the air and deposited in the impact zone. Fortunately, none one was injured but very expensive photographic equipment now lives at the bottom of the reef. The price we pay.

These are you incredible Australian photos in this year’s Red Bull Illume contest showcase the breathtaking beauty and adrenaline-pumping action captured by talented photographers.