Jackson Grant

Jackson Grant is a self-taught wedding, lifestyle, editorial photographer, who also dabbles in film. He's currently based in Melbourne, Australia, but is originally from the border of New South Wales and Victoria.

I grew up on the border of New South Wales and Victoria, around four hours away from Melbourne, the city I now call home. I was there until I finished my high schooling, and moved to the big smoke the day after!

I spent most of my childhood online, it was easier to be the extroverted character I was through a computer when you're from a rural town. I picked up photography as an interest when I hit my early teenage years, I think I wanted a new Myspace profile picture and decided to take it myself.

Upon moving to Melbourne I realized quite quickly that freelancing needed to be my only option, it was a force but definitely in the right direction. Your skillset can be based off who you know rather than what you know which is a slippery slope to losing your creative outlet. Although it is all about balancing commercial and creative work for me at this point in time, living away from our parents means we've got to make our money somehow.

It keeps me sane and gives me purpose. Videography and photography, even through the influence of surrounding creatives, keeps my mind at ease. Although I move on quite quickly to "that next job", it allows me to grasp a feeling of accomplishment.

Outside of the weddings most weekends, I really enjoy editorial and look book work. This simply comes from the enjoyment I get out of buying my own threads. Most subjects I shoot aren't agency based models, and just friends I have known or met from a night out on the town. My first subject matter was honestly drunk under aged friends at parties in my hometown.

It was my first time outside of Australia, and definitely not my last. Beyond the humidity (serious thirty degree days with rain on top of that), my experience was a positive one. I travelled solo for nine days and forgot to actually enjoy myself I was so attached to the documentation. Everything over there gave off a point of difference. When I wasn't stumbling down into an underground four-person dive bar, I wanted to explore all I could within the Tokyo district.

The way I see it is that you've spent money to be in such a country, you won't be there long so if it isn't harming anybody just get the shot out of the way. I don't know an inch of the Japanese language, but from the very few times I was told through body language that I couldn't shoot in certain places, I just awkwardly giggled and left. The slow-shutter flick I got of myself at Shibuya Crossing took a few minutes to get right, so I'm sure everyone had the "just another tourist" mindset, but I wasn't going to see these people ever again.

Once your foot is in the door, you need to understand that you can figure out any newly-found challenge with confidence. If it means being a little conceited then just own it, self-doubt runs through most creatives blood so you might as well keep practicing in the meantime instead of wasting the time that you have comparing yourself to others. You'll have countless times of browsing somebody else’s work thinking "why didn't I do that?", so take it as inspiration and move on to your next task. Knowing your worth also helps, this definitely comes in time. My first wedding I charged what I now know as a pretty low rate, but I wasn't in it for the money as it was my first gig!

To remain inspired is to throw all forms of jealousy out the window, you can only do you in the end. I'm inspired by those who own dissimilar vision within the photographic field, I've made friends with loads of Flickr users internationally through groups and referrals. I like to think of these connections as a two-way street, I see the world through their eyes and they see it through mine.

DEFINITELY. Especially in terms of the way I edit. I used to be so drawn into wanting my digital photos to look like they've been shot on film, but different jobs require a different approach. From time to time you have to keep in the back of your mind that you're working for somebody else, and not yourself.

I have a bad habit of deleting shots as I go, thinking that the viewfinder on my camera will allow me to judge which shot works best. I really need to stop this. On a nine hour day at a wedding, I'll shoot just under 1000 shots and select roughly 300 of those to edit further at a later date.

This particular shot has its memories. The three of us moved in that bewildered state which I cherish so much, that unsettling feeling a photographer gets when exposed to something uneasy yet pleasing. That's exactly what we found throughout the remains of Wye River bushfires - its urban dystopia is dark, but in between, we all caught a glimpse of beauty. A grey wave of trees behind a white desolate beach.

If I am working for myself, or at least don't get told much within a given brief, most of my work is indeed shot sporadically at last minute. I do this as my thoughts will more than likely pile up and remain unfinished, it is best if I just execute the ideas quick smart. If I do have a vision for a shoot with a subject involved, I still attempt to not say too much during the shoot, it removes the unspoken difficulty of over-thinking what you're after in a shot.

You feel more inclined to make the most out of your time being present if you're part of a paid shoot. A few months back I was prepared for an outdoor wedding, and right after the ceremony, the rain began to fall quite heavily. The rain if anything added to the occasion, and you just had to go with your gut feeling! The bridal party all had umbrellas which were used as props, and none of us were afraid of a little mud. With no protection from the rain, my camera somehow managed to remain in one piece. I was definitely a lot more prepared the next time around.

I think my biggest hurdle with being a photographer was the comparison I internally faced with other creatives works, I think intrinsically we all start out this way judging by the amount of self-employed artists that are out there. It is when you simply take what you see from others as inspiration rather than jealousy, and perhaps even apply the inspiration to future shoots, that you'll overcome this. There are so many of us out there, and you've got to be in it for the love. Applaud what you're viewing on Instagram, attend your friend’s exhibitions.

I've mentioned this wonder woman in a few interviews previously, and I won't stop now. My work wouldn't be where it is now, nor would it be of existence if it weren't for Sarah Bahbah, a now LA-based photographer who I befriended whilst she was living in Melbourne.

Photography by Jackson Grant | Interview by Heather Hawke