Meet Jackson Grant, the Melbourne wedding photographer shaking up the industry

“Not everything needs to look as desaturated as a Mumford and Sons album cover, doll.”

When you think of wedding photography, you probably picture the stock standard set of shots: details from the couples’ respective dressing rooms – carefully laid rings soon to be slid onto fingers and wedding outfits gently dangling from coat hangers – followed by the post-ceremony photoshoot involving lots of holding hands, walking into the sunset and staring lovingly into each other’s eyes.

Nice, simple, classic? Sure. But definitely not the kind of shots you’ll find among Melbourne-based wedding photographer Jackson Grant’s galleries.

Interested to hear how others navigate the world? Head to our Life section.

Since shooting his first wedding in 2014, Jackson has carved his own space within the “over-saturated” industry. Rather than shooting the same frames at a new wedding every weekend, he limits himself to 25 weddings per year in order to really give each one his all. Jackson approaches every single event in an unconventional manner that captures more of what the couple doesn’t see and the moments that make their day different.

As a result, Jackson’s photos are bright and bursting with energy. While the couple is a main feature, of course, he makes sure to document every part of the day so the newlyweds can look back and see all the moments they missed.

Because when you’re old and grey, don’t you want to look back on photos of you, your other half and all your nearest and dearest having the time of your lives at the biggest party you ever threw?

When did your photography journey begin? What made you want to pick up the camera? 

It all began on Mum’s lil’ eBay camera back ’round 2010 – how glam. Remember those slide-down lil’ underwater point-and-shoots? I loved a MySpace selfie (top-down angle, of course), and I frothed an edit full of stickers ‘n over-saturation. From there it was pretty much a game of luck, really!

Fanged it down the Hume Highway and started a life in the big smoke, copped an invite through one of Mum’s friends to some dazzling duo’s wedstival, bought along me fresh new cam (not the MySpace one, could you imagine?) and realised I was a sucker for a portrait over a landscape any day.

What drew you to wedding photography? 

It’s a confidence thing, for sure. It just suits my personality far too well. The ol’ JGW JPEGs are really resonating with the thumb-tappers of Insta nowadays, but it was a whole other story pre-COVID. I had such a laughable, pigeonholed approach back then, where I felt the need to only shine emphasis on the couple. Nowadays, I’m tackling a much more guest-heavy approach down the barrel. Grandma puffin’ on a duzza out the back holds so much more merit than the couple themselves mackin’ on at sunset, in my opinion.

How do you set yourself apart from other wedding photographers? 

I’ve learnt that among every weddo, there’s a format (a trap) of reactive shooting [that] can really box you in. You rock up, ya snap the cufflinks and the earrings, all whilst forgetting that the couple aren’t gonna give two shits about those shots in 40 years.

I strictly stopped doing that and started getting hella fucking deliberate with it. I limited my bookings to 25 a year (trust me, that’s nothing) to maintain my creative intelligence, and I’ve really begun to see the positive repercussions of doing so this year. Setting yourself apart in an over-saturated industry where your subject matter will always be the same means finding inspiration elsewhere (and on a weekly basis).

The term ‘candid’ rolls around the industry often, but until you convey the value of posed portraiture being a breeze by highlighting how fun the experience can be, couples simply don’t know that this method of shooting exists or just default to it ‘not being us’. All they’ve usually got to look at prior is their best friends’ wedding photos from years back or the websites of those SEO top-dawgs who climb the Google ranks.

Your photos capture a sense of fun and energy that is often missing in more traditional styles of photography. What influences your work? 

The influence is certainly in the approach. I lean in pretty far most weekends. It’s exhausting, but I’m hooked on ‘third wheeling’, so to speak. The way I see it is, I’ll probs never see the couple or guests again, so I may as well put a dint in it and give it my all.

Dan O’Day highlighted a ‘two for them, one for me’ tactic at a workshop I attended yonks back, which really ramped up the confidence and shook up the workflow. Getting the ‘safe stuff’ where they look a million bucks, but then honing in on their natural chemistry that inch more, risking a preconceived composition that you want, but you know they’ll froth.

In order to get influenced, the homework has to be done. It’s always been a non-negotiable to meet these couples in person (where it’s geographically possible) and not over some rushed FaceTime call. Getting as much of the juicy goss as poss, so that you can be two steps ahead of the game when their fast-paced rodeo rolls around. It’s also your one chance to step in and highlight different ways of doing things! Sharing different avenues couples can go down means that they won’t end up resorting to some winery-wedding factory template.

Anyway, influences lately? It’s the composure in Lukasz Wierzbowski’s stills, it’s the warped nature of Madeleine Palmer’s paintings, it’s the depth in Tim Hecker’s new sounds, it’s the lighting design in Pablo Larrain’s film, Ema. It’s the intrusiveness and timelessness of Rennie Ellis‘ past works.

Can you walk us through your approach to shooting a wedding – what you want to capture and what mood you want the photos to carry? 

Look, a chef doesn’t give out their recipes lovey, but me workflow on the day is a balancing act between respecting what’s happening and those around mwah, whilst twisting that ‘threshold knob’ an extra bit more. I’m there to champion and aim for variety in what the guests are up to, and to give couples what they don’t actually see on the day.

At the same time, sometimes the environments you’re placed in don’t allow for ‘what you want to capture’. Not every moment amidst these fast-paced shindigs will be vibrant, planned out or loud. Bridesmaids faint, Nan falls off her chair, and there’s a hat with a feather through it on the seat where Dad would’ve been sitting. Your eyes need to be on your surroundings, not your camera’s viewfinder. You need to actually pay attention to these people’s lives. Just because you’re in and out, doesn’t give you the right to make the process feel transactional.

The one common thread for the ‘mood’ of each shot is for them all to have soul. I literally go through what I’ve nailed it down to (after culling the shit no one wants to see) and ask myself, ‘Does this have soul to it?’ I’m one happy camper scoring a snap of Nan chucking on her lippy, otherwise a macro closeup of some kid ‘picking a winner’ does the trick.

What are some showstopper scenarios you’ve witnessed at these things? 

• Two guys walking past one of their exes while en route to their own wedding reception.
• A bride fainting mid-ceremony, then a bridesmaid having a chain reaction and also fainting (surprisingly, I didn’t document this).
• This hasn’t happened yet, but I’m that chuffed to bear witness to a Welcome to Country that will be performed by a local Elder in Honeymoon Gap, a secluded lil’ nook within Alice Springs.

What advice would you give to aspiring wedding photographers? 

• Don’t be greedy. I learnt the hard way. You can configure shortcuts aplenty and photograph 70-plus weddings annually the exact same way, if you play your cards right, but good luck upholding an honest sense of expression in your work. Irrespective of where you sit financially and who you’re putting food on the table for, don’t abuse the creative profession. Create a limit on how many weddings you take on each year, stick to it and don’t burn yourself out.
• It’s easier said than done, but be rid of the self-comparison aimed at creatives in other disciplines. Your work can be just as valid and thought-provoking.
• Get your lingo right from the start. This is a huge takeaway. Just because our predominant demographic covers hetero couples, does not mean the term ’bridal party’ can be thrown around wherever and whenever. Get used to blanket terminology like ‘wedding party’. It’s so easy.
• Edit to your own stylistic preference. Not everything needs to look as desaturated as a Mumford and Sons album cover, doll. Oh and unless you’re using expired film, I should let you know that the sepia filter is only allowed in one world, and that world is the Ballarat Gold Fields.
• Source inspiration from anywhere but the industry itself.
• Take a quality-over-quantity approach from the start. A photographer’s responsibility is to curate a fitting mood. You come home with 8,000,000 flicks, so when you’re culling ‘em down, ask yourself, ‘Do they really want ten different angles of the same dried-up bouquet?’
• Lastly, if you’re using that squiggly font for your branding (you know the one), ya might wanna look into a rebrand, darls (#sorrynotsorry).

To see Jackson Grant’s work, head to his website.