How to Photograph a Roller Disco

Pretty in pink and all that glitters.

Skating the night away. Zürich. May 2025.

When I shoot color, I shoot COLOR.

99% of my work is B&W… and when it’s not, color is the story.

This weekend I headed to the local (yep!) monthly roller disco here in Zürich, where the theme was Planet Pink — my favorite color. As someone whose first time-machine stop would be Studio 54, I couldn’t resist. I grabbed my skates and prayed that I and my camera would both return home in one piece.

My goal: I wanted a flashy, saturated, almost-garish, analog look.

Here’s what I did:

Ektar 100 film inspiration. I created a custom in-camera “recipe” for my Ricoh GRIII inspired by the famously vibrant, contrasty, and cool-tinged Kodak film.
Direct flash. I love a good blown-out highlight. I’m actually new to using flash at all for street photography as I find it intrusive in most cases, and I love the challenge of working with found light. But for this? PERFECT. I wanted it fixed and on-camera for a vintage point-and-shoot feel. I used a Pentax AF201FG — a nice simple TTL for this dynamic environment.
Diffusion lens. I used a physical Kenko Black Mist No.1 filter on my camera. In daylight, it subtly diffuses — by night and and flashing lights, I knew it would amplify glow and glare and help achieve a vintage texture.
Motion & shutter speed experiments. I mostly shoot on P (auto), but I also played with slow shutter speeds and techniques like tracking individuals against a moving background to capture the velocity and vitality of the scene.

I did venture out on my skates, but my favorite shots came from a strategic stool on the edge of the slightly-raised bar area, where I found myself becoming a balance support for more than a few incoming skaters! Harrowing front-line work. : )

Another interesting aspect about this setting was that the “street” was a circuit, i.e. if I missed a cool-looking skater, I only had to wait for them to make another loop around the floor.

Here are some favorite photos: