Ryder Wins Surf Category at Illume Awards 2026
Portuguese photographer Beatriz Ryder took the top surf prize for an image of Shaley Mercado riding a wave in the Solomon Islands.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Surfing
Beatriz Ryder won the Surf category of The Illume Awards 2026 with a photograph of professional surfer Shaley Mercado straddling a wave in the Solomon Islands. The winning image was taken during a commercial shoot for surfing brand Rip Curl and will be featured in The Illume Photobook 2026.
Why it matters
The award recognizes photography captured during a brand shoot in a remote Pacific location, highlighting how commercial assignments can produce award-winning work. It also gives the winning image wider exposure through the published photobook.
The winning photograph was captured at 30mm, 1/4000 sec, f/4 and ISO 500 on a Nikon Z9 with a Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S lens. The Solomon Islands sit roughly 2,000 miles from Australia's northern coast in the Pacific Ocean.
The players
Beatriz Ryder
A Portuguese photographer whose winning image earned the Surf category of The Illume Awards 2026.
Shaley Mercado
A professional surfer who appears in the winning photograph riding a wave in the Solomon Islands.
Rip Curl
A surfing brand that commissioned the commercial shoot during which the winning image was taken.
The details
Ryder shot the image from in front of the accommodation, where a shallow, fast wave broke. The trip crew was an all-girls group with athletes at different stages of their careers, and Ryder received surfing and photographic equipment prizes including a Leica D-Lux 8 camera.
Timeline
2026: Illume Awards 2026 Surf category winner announced.
2026: Winning image featured in The Illume Photobook 2026.
Season Trajectory
The Illume Awards are an annual competition whose winning images are compiled each year into the Illume Photobook, so Ryder's Surf category win becomes part of that yearly record. The result adds a commercially commissioned surf image to a program that showcases photography from across the sport.
The winning photograph will appear in The Illume Photobook 2026, giving readers a printed collection of the year's top entries. For surf photography fans, the image shows how a commercial brand shoot in a remote Pacific setting can produce award-level work.
The takeaway
Commercial assignments can yield work that stands up in competitive photography awards, and this win shows that a brand shoot in a remote location can produce exceptional images. Readers interested in surf photography can watch for the image in The Illume Photobook 2026.
Further reading
For more on the sport behind the photograph, see Surfing coverage on Wisevoter.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Digital Camera World.
