Rukes’ Top 10 Shots of January 2014: Holy Ship!!! Edition
Rukes Top 10 Shots of January 2014: Holy Ship!!! Edition
Some pictures are worth a thousand words but in Rukes’ case they may be worth a thousand drops. The preeminent DJ photographer has spent much of his time on the road with the world’s biggest DJs, documenting the debauchery from an angle few ever get to experience. Whether it’s backstage at festivals or in the booth at international hotspots, Drew Ressler has built a career on capturing every moment of the dance music explosion. As he travels the world, navigating the never ending party that is dance music culture, the photographer better known as Rukes will be showcasing his favorite moments from each month with us.
See through his lens with Rukes’ Top Shots of January 2014.
As I always say, the two biggest events where the most collaborations are born are probably Holy Ship and Stereosonic, due to DJs always travelling together for a while, rather than just going in and out of a festival. It’s always great for photos of people you probably won’t ever see in the same place again, such as Disclosure, Tiësto and Diplo hanging out together in this photo.
Photo Credit: Rukes
I love this photo for obvious reasons. When Pharrell came on the main stage, I was in great position to get a nice wide shot, and then I saw he had a very “Michael Jackson” pose which added to the photo. Plus this was also the debut of “the hat”.
Photo Credit: Rukes
Holy Ship always has a lot of WTF moments, especially when people start to get wasted. In this interesting photo, someone from the audience stole a giant loaf of bread from the buffet and brought it to the front row of the RL Grime x Baauer set. Then RL Grime got the loaf of bread and started nursing it next to Baauer during the set. He might have said “I loaf you, bread!” but that could have been in my head.
Photo Credit: Rukes
One of the most famous photos from Holy Ship is the one where Zedd was playing and Dillon Francis came behind him, put his head on his shoulders and smiled; it’s been converted into the Titanic scene most often. So I told Zedd we need to do the same photo in reverse, and it went pretty well! Next up we will have to do the Zedd/Kill The Noise “scary” photo in reverse if Jake comes on the next Holy Ship!
Photo Credit: Rukes
Holy Ship of course has it’s DJ-oriented events to partake in, such as Gina Turner’s regular Yoga sessions every year. Others included Laidback Luke teaching Kung-Fu, Zedd hosting Poker and Zedds Dead hosting a cigar bar.
Photo Credit: Rukes
The epic shot that summed up Holy Ship this year. It took a lot of planning, especially due to the spotty cell phone service. Dillon and I would discuss ideas on the best way to announce it, then I would come across Zedd and tell him what we thought and come up with new ones, and we went back and forth until all three of us were together and solidified the “Announce Tiesto, have Dillon Francis come out, then have Tiesto come out for real and shame his son.”
Photo Credit: Rukes
One great attendee of Holy Ship was this girl in the wheelchair. The main stage is on a covered pool deck, so the ground is a bit uneven, but for most major gigs, both on the ship and the beach, everyone made sure she had the front-row seat she wanted and regularly #SHIPFAM came to life and a bunch of people raised her wheelchair up over the crowd!
Photo Credit: Rukes
The iconic shot that I love to get the beginning of Holy Ship. When the boat is still docked in the port and literally EVERYONE on the boat, who just boarded a few hours earlier, are on the main deck to watch the steady stream of headliners on the main stage, not knowing how crazy this journey will actually be.
Photo Credit: Rukes
Two festival masters together at the Holy Ship pre-party: Gary Richards (HARD) and Adam Russakoff (UMF).
Photo Credit: Rukes