When Dutch photographer and filmmaker Marc Ressang first arrived in Shanghai five years ago, he was fresh out of university and nearly broke all of the time. To make ends meet during those first few years in Shanghai, he did a lot of nightlife photography. Ressang originally came to Shanghai from the Netherlands for an internship in marketing, but later decided to turn his hobby into a full-time gig.
五年前，荷兰摄影师兼电影人Marc Ressang初到上海，那时的他刚刚走出校园，经济拮据。为了生计，在上海的最初几年里，他接了很多拍摄夜生活的摄影工作。最初从荷兰来到上海的时候，Ressang的身份还是市场营销实习生，但之后，他决定将自己的爱好转变成正职。
“In Shanghai, I still like shooting late at night,” he says, “There is always something unexpected. I bring a small camera with me every time I step out of the house, just in case I run into something weird.” There is always “plenty of weird stuff going on late at night”, according to Marc, especially in a city like Shanghai. One of the most extravagant things he ever witnessed while he was out shooting was “when one of China’s richest men walked into a nightclub, ordered 140 bottles of Dom Perignon, sprayed 10 of them, had a few sips and then walked out again.”
“现在在上海，我仍然是喜欢深夜出去拍照，”他说，“这里总有意想不到的事发生。每次出门，我都会随身带个小相机，有备无患。”据Marc表示，“深夜里总会发生大把奇怪的事”，尤其是在上海这样的城市。外拍时，他目睹过最奢靡的一个场景就是：一个中国顶级富豪走进一家夜店，点了140瓶名贵香槟Dom Perignon，打开，喷洒了其中10瓶，嘬了几口，随后就走了。”
“Fast forward three years, and I just couldn’t keep up physically with going out five nights a week until the early morning,” Marc admits. Needless to say, staying up every night also prevented him from being productive and having a life during the day. “Having so many interesting nightlife shots that never got published – the promoters usually weren’t very interested in photos of their patrons making fools out of themselves,” he explains, “I decided to put together a one-night-only photo exhibition at Basement 6 to show the 100+ pics that never made the cut.” And so, his photo series When the Sun Goes Down in the East was born.
Marc承认: “三年之后，一周通宵达旦个五次，我的身体就实在吃不消了。”自不必说，这样的方式让他在日间无法拥有好的工作效率和正常的生活。“我有太多有意思的夜生活摄影作品没有发布出来——推广人员通常都不愿意在照片里看到他们顾客出丑的样子。”他解释道，“我决定把这些照片放到Basement 6，做一个只展一个晚上的图片展览，展出上百张没有被采用的摄影作品。”于是，他的《When the Sun Goes Down in the East》图片系列就此诞生。
Ressang describes his photographic style as being “observational, real, and (even) cynical at times”. He tries not to fall into clichés or repeat himself, admitting that he can get bored pretty quickly. Regardless, he always tries to have a camera on hand when he is out and about. His main goal is to document culture in its every form, which could be anything from quirky dog outfits that he sees on the streets of China, to ancient religious rituals on a tropical island in Southeast Asia. He makes an effort not to romanticize other cultures, and tries to show that a lot of elements are actually universal or similar to our own culture.
Ressang是这样定位自己的摄影风格：“观察而来，真实可感，时不时（还）带点讽刺”。虽说他容易陷入倦怠情绪，但他尽量不让作品落入俗套或者或重复自己。而无论何时出门在外，他一定会随身携带一个相机，从各个层面记录文化，可以是中国大街上狗狗们的奇装异服，也可以是东南亚热带岛屿上古老的宗教仪式。他力图不去粉饰其他文化，同时也希望展示出有普世价值的文化元素，或者是那些与自身熟悉的文化相似的影子。
As a filmmaker, Marc Ressang has also adopted a more documentary approach with his subjects. His sense of composition and timing from his photographic work has had a huge influence on his approach to filmmaking. As a result, he says that he tends to work quite fast and doesn’t usually worry about details, for better or for worse.
作为一个制片人，Ressang还采用了更多偏纪实记录的方式表现其主题。而他摄影作品的空间感和时间感对他影视制作过程中也产生了很大的影响。因此，他更喜欢快速的工作节奏，不会太在乎细节，不管那是点睛之笔或者毁堤蚁穴。
For Marc, filmmaking is now his main bread and butter – but he enjoys taking photos more than anything. As a result, he has decided to keep photography as his passion project instead of forcing himself to make a living out of it. Currently Marc is trying to get a foothold in documentary projects for both photo and video. At the moment, he is chasing a number of cultural stories in the far corners of China and around Southeast Asia, but they are all self-funded and unsponsored trips.
Marc现在主要收入来自于他的制片人身份——但他最爱的还是摄影。他决定依旧保持这样的状态，把摄影作为自己的爱好项目，而非维持生计的工作。现阶段的Marc正立志在纪录片领域的摄影和视频制作上树立风格，找到自己的位置。目前，他正在挖掘中国边缘之地以及东南亚各区的文化故事，这个项目的旅程没有赞助，全部依靠自筹资金。
