How I Got The Shot - Red Bull Illume With Ale di Lullo

Ale di Lullo has been shooting mountain biking since his university days, and using a camera since he was just eight years old. He's shot with the biggest names in the sport and captured some of the most iconic shots in mountain biking. His photos stand out instantly, with bold composition and hyper-saturated colours, and have been featured in our Photo of the Year contest and on magazine pages around the globe. It's safe to say that behind the lens, he is one of the most talented and respected photographers in our industry. Recently di Lullo won the "New Creative' category in the prestigious Red Bull Illume contest. We caught up with Ale to find out when the idea for this project was born and how the whole event unfolded.

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How many years have you been shooting for?
I've always taken pictures since I was 8 years old and I had the chance to get familiar with the developing process in the film era thanks to my family that was always into photos and decent film camera gear when I was a kid. I made my first MTB shot in 2003 and never stop since then...

Digital came out when I was doing the university studying graphic design and new media communication and instantly made me realize that photography had a new beginning so I remember that I trade the project and development of a website for a local camera and electronic shop for a Canon 1D... and now I have no idea how to build a website anymore!

Where are you based?
I Live on Lake Garda, Italy, but I spend several months in Northern California and BC.




Why do you shoot mtb?
You know I've been working as a road painter, bartender, gardener and graphic designer during and right after the university but meanwhile I was doing mountain biking and obviously it was the best time then... so I had this skills on software like Photoshop that at those time was a big thing, I had a powerful computer, another big thing at those times and I had a bad ass digital camera plus I was really fascinated from the early mountain bike videos like New World Disorder and Kranked, I had this NWD3 and Kranked4 VHS that were playing continuously every night at my house where I was hanging around old school mountain bikes with my buddies... Mountain bikes became my lifestyle and I just tried everything I could to make that lifestyle to keep going. Worked out so far.


What else do you enjoy shooting?
There are actually not so many things that I like to shoot beside mountain bike. I have an attraction for all the other extreme/action sports and I'm waiting for some call to come.

I love natural landscapes and details in nature and I like to take candid portraits. But in general I don't dislike any kind of shooting but I like to have a reason to shoot or a project... I don't go to shoot something just for fun.


How many days a year are you on the road?
I spend never less that 6 months on the road... I have 29 flights segments in this 2016 already and another couple of planned overseas flight sheduled before the end of the year... good for mileage!

How many times have you entered Red Bull Illume?
I entered Illume since 2010, so this is my third one, being the contest every 3 years.

Have you made it to the finals before? Tell us about that.
I had some shots selected in the sneak peek 2010, then I had a shot of Wade Simmons selected in the top 250 and in the coffee table book in the 2013 edition. This year I raised the bar with 4 shots in the book and a category winner.

A photo posted by ale di lullo (@aledilullophotography) on Nov 10, 2015 at 7:41am PST

Tippie!


Whose idea was this shot with Chase? How did the whole event evolve and do you get to work with Chase a lot in general?
Aaron Chase is actually the first riders that I met back in 2004/5 cause I was working to develop the bike park in the Riva del Garda /Torbole and Cannondale was involved in the project. After that we always stayed in touch but we didn't get many clients in common so the chances to shoot together were just a few. I try to involve him in my 2014 Deep Summer Photo Challenge, but in the end it was not making sense with the idea for that so didn't happen. But it's honestly one of the guys that I like to hang out with the most so we made a couple of road trip together and it was always good times.

When I came out with the idea of shooting thru a car windshield the rider's choice was a no brainer... he is a friend, he lives in the area and he is the true pioneer of street riding in mountain bike! I still remember his epic segments in NWD when he was doing things that the most of the pro riders didn't even know it was possible to do on a Mountain Bike.

Aaron was really excited when I told him the idea, we actually start to work on something similar a few years back in Las Vegas but didn't work. It was last year during a road trip in Colorado that we got started in the process, came up with an action plan and most important we find a moment where we were not both busy!

So I bought a ticket to NYC stayed at Aaron's a few days where we finished the preparation phase of the shot and then we went to the city, really early in the morning... Took a couple of shots with the sunrise light in some cool spots and the we went to the designated area, and with the help of Alex, a buddy in Brooklyn we positioned the car, the ramp and everything and an hour and a broken windshield later we did the shot.

Can you tell us how you made the shot happen? It seems pretty tricky, did you have to close the street?
It was a lot of work in the logistic and to find the right time in the season for both of us. Fall ended up to be the only choice and we been lucky to find an Indian summer kind of weather for 4 days in a row. It made things way easier.

The big question was... when the windshield is gonna break? It lasted for 12 attempts btw but it would have been too expensive and complicated to make it with an actual cab so we rented a car (full glass insurance of course) and then we rented the taxi counter from a NJ based movie production company, the same one they used for 'The Sopranos'. Funny thing was that to rent the counter cost twice as much as the car!

We didn't close the street because it was a side one with no traffic at that time of the day.

How did the cab driver feel about having a mountain bike on the windshield?!
The cabby was a friend of Aaron and talented street rider as well. He is one of the OG of the Brooklyn pump track that is only couple of blocks away from the spot the shot happened.


You spend a lot of time traveling the world shooting amazing riders, how does this shoot stack up in comparison to an average day on the job for you?
Well you know I was on a mission I know this was a new idea and I had to do it... So if when I work on an assignment I feel responsible for the client... Here was different cause I was investing my money and my reputation with Aaron to make it happen and with an uncertain result. Because there were so many variables like the weather the locations, the permits, the glass that we had no idea if can take chase shredding on it and so on... but the biggest thing for me was to work in the city, New York City.

How long did it take to get this shot?
One full day in the actual shooting but 1 year to slowly organize it. You can make it in way less time but since the first idea I had and when I propose it to Aaron... Yeah it was about one year and a half ago and then we slowly make it happen mostly following each other availability.
I have to say that taking everything as it was coming made everything turned out perfect that day. We find the perfect weather, timing, light and parking spot exactly where we wanted.

Can you tell us about the gear and settings you used to get this shot.
The gear I used for this shot was pretty easy actually, I've been using a Canon 1DX and a 8-15 canon fisheye lens, ISO640 f5.6 1600th of a second. Aaron was building a portable aluminum ramp and that's it. We only had to choose wisely the car positioning to use the windshield sunlight reflection to hit Aaron as a fill-in reflector.

I was prepared to use flashes especially for inside the car but it worked out without.

Well it was a great week in Chicago at @redbullillume awards ceremony.. My shot of Aaron Chase won the new creativity category so I couldn't be more stoked!! Thanks to @redbullillume and the guys of the team in Chicago for a classy event! Thanks to the judges and the photographers there from all the bad ass sports. Thanks everyone for the inspiration and thanks everyone who helped me and supported me til here. I want to dedicate this prize to the ones we lost in this 2016 #mcgazzaforever #longlivechainsaw and #ripdavemirra #redbullillume #illume #illume2016 #chicago

A photo posted by ale di lullo (@aledilullophotography) on Oct 4, 2016 at 5:00am PDT

What does winning a category of Red Bull Illume mean to you?
They claim it's the Oscar of Action Sport Photography and obviously I want to believe that now! JK.

It's a great format and very challenging cause involve all the action sports... from skateboarding to Surf, snowboard, ski, BMX and also motocross, cliff diving, climbing, base jumping, acrobatic jet flight. So to get a shot in there it's actually pretty challenging and I'm stoked to be the winner of the New Creativity cause is one of the coolest categories to win if you consider yourself a creative kind of guy. But it's exciting for me to be a little bit more part of the entire world of extreme and action sports which have been always my passion... all of them.

So I guess feel a bit like the athlete who invented a new bad ass trick or the one who clear first a line who no one else have even seen before.


Are there any other interesting facts or comments you'd like to mention about this experience?
Yeah, I was already celebrating drinking beers with a couple of colleagues at the event bar during Red Bull Illume that I missed the group shot!

What's next for Ale Di Lullo?!
Keep shooting freeriders and downhillers around the world!



To vote for the people's choice award visit redbullillume.com.

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MENTIONS: @redbullbike

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