Royal Photographer On Shooting A Royal Wedding

From House Beautiful

Chris Jackson has been royal photographer for Getty images – one of the world's most used photo agencies by news publishers – for just over 13 years.

During this time, he's photographed Prince Harry in Africa, Prince George on his first day of school, Princess Charlotte's christening and, perhaps most iconically, Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding in 2011. (FYI, he married Kate Middleton's personal stylist, Natasha Archer, last April.)

With Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding soon approaching (19 May), and Jackson set to take the helm of royal wedding photographer for the ceremony, we spoke to the photographer to find out his insider secrets to getting the wedding photograph of the century, and what it's like to shoot the most famous family in the world.

My job at William and Kate's wedding was to get the 'just married' shot

'The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's 2011 wedding was a big team event for Getty, there were around 30 photographers covering every different angle of the wedding. There’s difficulties of getting around on a day like that so everyone has a different role.

'My specific job was to capture them walking out onto the steps of Westminster Abbey as a married couple. I was standing on the Crimea War memorial, 30 feet from the front of the Abbey, to capture the arrivals and the departures too, but obviously the key picture was the full length shot of the Duke and Duchess as husband and wife.'

Preparation is key

'Ahead of the wedding, we interviewed various people about the best way to take the photos. I did a number of recces in the run up of the actual event, making sure I had the right lenses, checking the distance of the front of the abbey and where I was going to be positioned.

'We had a team of editors and a technical team who ran cables under the road between where I was at the memorial and the editing team who were in the conference centre across the road.

'On days like that mobile phone reception doesn’t always work in the way you want it to, as there are huge crowds of people, so to make sure it’s reliable you have to have a hard line from the back of the camera under the road to the editing team.

'Once I’d taken the picture, the images were whizzed to the back of my camera, then to the editors who did a quick Photoshop, and then it was off around the world within minutes. It was a huge sense of relief when I looked in the back of the camera and saw I hadn’t buggered it up!

'I also had to memorise the correct exposure to make sure I caught the detail of the lace on the Duchess' dress when she walked outside after adjusting the light for inside the wedding too.'

It's an unforgettable experience

'These big, historic events only come a handful of times in your career. You certainly feel the excitement on a day like that – I was up at 2am checking my equipment.

'When I got down [to the Abbey] at 5.30am, there were people who’d spent the night camped out as it was a beautiful spring day – it was really exciting. I'll never forget the moment when the Duke and Duchess stepped out of the Abbey and crowd roared.

'I feel very lucky to be able to do my job. One of the great things about it is you have a front row seat to these massive historic moments.'

I can't wait to photograph Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's wedding

'The details haven't been finalised of how I'll be photographing the wedding but it will be another big one for Getty and you can feel the excitement building.

'Again, it will be a team effort because you can’t cover everything as a single person. You’re one cog in a team and we'll have team meetings beforehand to discuss how we’re going to cover things and the best possible way of getting a rounded coverage.

'I’ll be covering everything in the run-up to the wedding and, when it comes to the day, it will certainly be a huge event with crowds of people and we already know about the carriage ride. There’s a huge amount of preparation to get the shot you want.'

Meghan adds a nice dynamic to photographs with Harry

'I’ve photographed Harry a lot over the years with charity work and official royal duties and up until recently, he's very much been a solo royal, so to speak. It's been really exciting to see him with Meghan and a whole new dynamic. It's meant photographing him in a whole different way.

'[Their relationship has] heralded a whole new change in that area of royal photography. Ever since the Invictus Games 2017, we’ve seen Meghan and Prince Harry do their first public walkabout in Nottingham, join the family at Christmas, visit Birmingham, Edinburgh and Belfast to name a few.

'She seems very natural with the crowds, she takes her time to talk to as many people as she possibly can and there’s been a great turnout everywhere. It’s keeping me on my toes and keeping me busy. It means we’ve got a lot of really memorable royal family photographs now, which is really great.'

Meghan and Harry are very comfortable in each other's company

'I remember very clearly the first moment I photographed them together at the Invictus games in Toronto last September. It was exciting because no one knew what was going to happen.

'We sort of knew that Canada was where she filmed Suits but didn't know she would be there for definite. It was great to see Meghan come out with Harry at the wheelchair tennis and it just all seemed very natural. She was a natural in front of the camera and very relaxed. They were clearly very comfortable in each other’s company and it made for some lovely pictures.'

I've built up a good knowledge of the royals

'As with all members of the royal family, everyone’s got different personalities. Over time you build up knowledge of your subject, which makes this photography job very unique as you’re photographing the same people. You’re very much getting to know your subjects over the years by photographing them day in and day out.

'They certainly all have different traits and are therefore different to photograph.

'The Queen is incredible and unique in her own special way. Prince Harry has a great sense of humour and you learn to expect the unexpected so to speak. You've got to be quick off the mark with him to capture some of his momentary interactions.

'Over the years, you learn to always keep an eye on every engagement right to the end. Sometimes you think it’s finished and then a young boy will run across and give Prince William a massive hug or something. You have to keep one eye on what’s going on.'

They're very used to getting their photo taken

'They understand it's part and parcel of what they do. For example, it’s important that when you’re on a royal tour, people back home can see what’s going on. The images you take are projected around the world and show people what’s going on.

'I’m sure it’s pretty safe to say not everyone enjoys having their photo taken the whole time, I certainly wouldn’t, but they definitely understand it’s part of the job and we're there to document the process.'

These are my three favourite royal photos

'Prince Harry in Lesotho showing children images on the back of a camera is a favourite. That whole trip was amazing and Prince Harry has a great relationship with children.'

'I love Prince George looking into the pram at Princess Charlotte's christening. He's great fun and that's a very natural, candid photo and something that was quite unexpected.'

'The Queen among the ceramic poppies at the Tower of London is another favourite. It's quite poignant and, visually, it works too.'

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