In that time, he’s witnessed the evolution of the club and DJ photography
business. When he was first frequenting clubs, photographers focused on
taking pictures of the revelers, which posed own challenges – like trying to
avoid getting drinks spilled on the equipment – and generally resulted in
photos only the people in them cared about. Ressler saw this and decided
to photograph the performers instead. Then came the touring trend.
“There was a pretty big boom of touring
with DJs as dance music got bigger
and bigger,”
“Now that things are slowing down, in recent years, it’s a bit harder to tour
with a DJ, as often times they use friends or photographers willing to do
work for well below what they are worth. “
In the past year, Ressler has been all over the United States and all over the
world, including Australia, Indonesia, South Africa, Croatia, and Panama.
He speaks highly of the relationships touring together fosters. Spending
time with the artists, “you learn a whole lot more about them and it makes
it a bit easier to shoot for them knowing what they like and don’t like,” he
says.
Through all of this, the self-taught Ressler strives to capture the epic scenes
that encapsulate the feeling of the show, all while dealing with the low light
challenges of photographing DJs and festivals. “It’s a fine line of balance
between the right shutter speed and the right ISO,” says Ressler. “I like to
keep my photos very natural.” Even though it means carrying extra weight,
Ressler brings all of his lenses with him anywhere he goes. “I never know if
I can get away with using tilt-shift, if I need a low-light prime, or if I can use
an ultra wide angle. I like the variety.”