
Incredible pictures from the Redbull Photography Contest - muratmutlu
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/08/winners-of-the-red-bull-illume-photo-contest-2013/100583/
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saosebastiao
I need to find a good periodic reminder that if I ever find myself in need of
inspiration on branding strategy, to look at Red Bull first.

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jakobe
But unfortunately it takes lots and lots of money to apply Red Bulls branding
strategy.

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snowwrestler
It takes a lot less than you might think. It's the same branding strategy that
outdoor sports companies follow, and they are generally not rich companies.
There's far less money in the outdoor industry than the tech industry (I've
worked extensively in both.)

Adventures sports are cheap. The athletes don't need much money to be happy,
and the main cost of sponsorships are transportation.

But, that doesn't mean adventure sports are the right brand strategy for every
company. It works for Red Bull because that's their business. It would not
work so well for Uber.

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31reasons
>It works for Red Bull because that's their business

Red Bull sells sugar water. How is it their business?

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jborden13
Branding is their business. Caffeinated sugar water is their product. Red
Bull's target market is presumably males aged 13-26, who respond positively to
sports and testosterone-driven imagery. This positive response means more
sales of said sugar water.

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danmaz74
Beautiful - but I'd like to also see all the pictures before photoshop.

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yankcrime
Why? It's part of the creative process - a good photographer will consider all
tools available to them, including post-processing, in order to achieve the
shot they envisage.

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adulau
It's two different forms of art. You have photography and post-processing.
Both are arts and doing both together is even more difficult.

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Sharlin
Post-processing in digital photography usually denotes the process equivalent
to developing the film in film photography (which can be a complex process
where multiple choices can be made that affect the result). Sharpening, noise
reduction, brightness, contrast and so on. These are an integral part of the
workflow - nobody would simply publish raw images straight from the camera
(turning the raw sensor data into a JPEG involves multiple choices that
_someone_ has to make - it's either the photographer or the engineers that
wrote the default conversion algorithms built in the camera.)

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adulau
There are various movements in photography. You still need to use some
techniques while doing some photographies but usually for straight
photography, it ends when you press the shutter.

But I suppose that Henri Cartier-Bresson expressed it in a better way:

"Of all the means of expression, photography is the only one that fixes a
precise moment in time. We play with subjects that disappear; and when they’re
gone, it’s impossible to bring them back to life. We can’t alter our subject
afterward.... Writers can reflect before they put words on paper.... As
photographers, we don’t have the luxury of this reflective time....We can’t
redo our shoot once we’re back at the hotel. Our job consists of observing
reality with help of our camera (which serves as a kind of sketchbook), of
fixing reality in a moment, but not manipulating it, neither during the shoot
nor in the darkroom later on. These types of manipulation are always noticed
by anyone with a good eye." Henri Cartier-Bresson - "American Photo",
September/October 1997, page: 76

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Sharlin
Post-processing in the sense I referred to usually has the goal of
_replicating_ , not altering, the moment of firing the shutter. Cameras (film
OR digital) do not see the way the eye sees; the image straight from the
camera (which, as I said, does all sorts of automatic processing to be able to
create the image in the first place) is rarely a faithful presentation of what
the photographer saw -- not to mention the subjective _mood_ of the moment
that the photographer is trying to capture.

I think it's a very small minority of photographers indeed that are purist
enough to consider things like cropping, levels, and white balance "altering
the subject" in some reproachful way.

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micampe
Here's a video from that ship wreck BASE jump site:
[http://youtu.be/YSuo0j2xsj8](http://youtu.be/YSuo0j2xsj8)

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wavesounds
Awesome pictures! But Kelly Slater[1] didn't win the US Open of Surfing this
year. Alejo Muniz did[2]. I find it odd that someone from Surfing magazine
would get this wrong. Perhaps this pictures from 2011 not 2013?

1\. [http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/08/winners-of-the-
re...](http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/08/winners-of-the-red-bull-
illume-photo-contest-2013/100583/#img17) 2\.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Open_of_Surfing#U.S._Open_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Open_of_Surfing#U.S._Open_Champions)

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lars
The photo contest actually picked photos from the last three years. Some of
the snowboarding photos are also from 2011.

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wavesounds
Ahh I missed that, thanks

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marincounty
Redbull? Pay for injuries at your advertising functions. Yes--even during
practice. If you didn't dangle money in front of these kids; they wouldn't be
"pushing the envelope ".

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pkananen
That's not true. I never got paid and I pushed the envelope all the time.

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coldtea
He was talking about "those kids".

You might have "pushed the envelope" unpaid, but a lot of those go the extra
mile for the Red Bull pay/fame, including trying BS stunts that don't end
well.

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notdrunkatall
And that is their choice.

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coldtea
Only if you're a hardcore "all is personal choice" type, that denies
psychology, fame and money as lures, peer pressure, people with reduced
capacity to resist to such things (especially immature early 20-somethings),
etc.

People don't make choices in a vacuum, and they don't make perfectly rational
informed choices either. People make choices influenced by tons of BS input,
in which a lot of that input is designed to dupe them and lure them out of
their money or use them in some way.

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Refefer
Infocus tip: You can easily scroll through the images with the keys 'j' and
'k'. And seriously consider checking out the other infocus galleries; Alan
Taylor curates well.

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erichurkman
Don't forget The Big Picture from boston.com for similarly awesome content:
[http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/](http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/)

I really wish all news sources provided high resolution photographs with their
articles. This is 2013, I should not have to squint at a 250px wide photo.

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dlsym
I don't want to sound bitchy - but this is the second time today I see content
here where my first impression is: This doesn't belong here. Please post this
to Reddit.

What's comming up next? HN AdviceAnimals?

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jcfrei
my thoughts exactly. posts like this make me wish for a downvote button. Or
are there for users with very high karma, like there are for comments?

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dlsym
From the FAQ: "There are no down arrows on submissions."

:-)

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adamlj
Wow the Bouldering is amazing. So much fun and so dangerous!

