Inspiration: A Love Letter to Action Sports Photography

“We don’t live to ask why… we live to ask why not”

The spirit of this beautiful video—put together by COOPH in partnership with the incredible Red Bull Illume competition—can be summed up by that short snippet. But COOPH’s “love letter to action sports photography” doesn’t stop with that inspirational snippet. As the slideshow rolls on, the narrator continues:

“Action sports photographers are as crazy as the athletes, and they do it all for a single frame… the perfect frame. Blink, and you miss the moment.”

Packed full of incredible images courtesy of Red Bull Illume, if this video doesn’t get your adrenaline pumping, your heart racing, and your mind itching to jump out of an airplane or fly down the side of a mountain camera-at-the-ready… well, we don’t know what will.

Check it out for yourself below: the best “love letter” to action sports photography we’ve ever “read”, followed by just a few of the photos highlighted during the video:

We started with a quote from the video; we’ll end the same way. This is COOPH’s thank you to the photographers behind the amazing action sports imagery that inspires us:

“Thank you for risking it all to remind us that the human spirit is irrepressible, that taking risks is what makes us feel alive, and above all, that we need to take care of this beautiful planet.”

If you want to submit your own action sports photography to the Red Bull Illume competition, click here. But don’t wait too long, the submission window closes on March 31st!