Royal Photographer Reveals What It's Like To Shoot A Royal Wedding

From ELLE

Chris Jackson has been royal photographer for Getty images – one of the world's most used photo agencies by news publishers – for 15 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, the royal weddings both the Sussex ceremony in 2018 and Cambridge wedding in 2011. (FYI, he married Kate Middleton's personal stylist, Natasha Archer, last April.)

On the day, he's getting ready to photograph the second royal wedding of the year - Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's, ICYMI - we spoke to the man behind the lens 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.'

My favourite memory from Harry and Meghan's wedding this year was...

'The atmosphere: seeing the streets lined with beaming well-wishers, it was incredible and electric. Even the evening before saw huge crowds lining the streets as the Prince came out to greet well-wishers who had travelled from all over the world for the day. One of my favourite images is of the newly married Duke and Duchess of Sussex riding through the streets of Windsor as the crowds cheered. The world’s media had descended on Windsor and it was being broadcast around the world.

I managed to capture them both looking in the same direction, waving, a result and fortunately just the image I needed for a double page spread in the Making History chapter on my book - A huge relief! My colleague who was standing right next to me missed it.

I do really love that element of the job. It is predominantly preparation and skill but also involves an element of luck and the situation you can’t control, that’s a buzz and it can certainly be a ‘hero’ or ‘zero’ moment at the end of the day. You really do just have a split second to get ‘that shot’. I also love the images of Princess Charlotte, stealing a peek out of the car window at the crowds as she arrives with the other flower girls and page boys, all lovely candid moments and the stuff you live for on a day like this.'

It wasn't just the bride and groom I enjoyed photographing on the Sussex wedding day

"I really enjoyed photographing the guests arriving, a wide variety from Meghan’s 'Suits' colleagues to people who have played an integral part in supporting Prince Harry for many years. One of the special things about this wedding was all the charity workers the couple had invited to witness the special occasion first hand. I recognised, and got the chance to greet, many of the staff who had flew in from Lesotho from Prince Harry’s Charity Sentebale – they were without a doubt the best dressed in their traditional and vibrant Basotho clothes. Prince Harry had even invited Mutsu a young orphan he first met in Lesotho on his Gap year – a special and poignant idea.

This was the main difference between shooting both royal weddings

'One of the biggest was location, both stunning venues but distinctly different in feel [the 2011 wedding in Westminster Abbey, and St Georges chapel in Windsor Castle for Harry and Meghan]. The feel was very different for both but equally historic, colourful and suitably grand. Both days were blessed with incredible spring weather and both events saw all the pomp and ceremony the UK can offer in its best light. My position was different for both. For the Cambridge’s capturing those first moments as a married couple on the steps of Westminster Abbey was incredible, for Harry and Meghan I was in the Castle grounds capturing the first moments of an epic carriage ride. Both incredible and memorable days.'

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.'

Why I'm looking forward to capturing Princess Eugenie's wedding

'I have not photographed Eugenie a huge amount but I’m very much looking forward to capturing the atmosphere and excitement on the day of her wedding. I suppose it’s a little different as she is someone who doesn’t participate in the daily rota of royal engagements I photograph and so I don’t capture images on a regular basis – very different to what I know of Prince Harry for example. That aside, a Royal wedding is always a special day and with such a star-studded list of guests and some incredible pageboys and bridesmaids it promises to be a fantastic and special day.'

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.'

Meghan has added a nice dynamic to photographing Harry

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

'[Their relationship has] heralded a whole new change in that area of royal photography [after she joined him at] the Invictus Games in 2017 and [before they were married] we saw Meghan and Prince Harry do their first public walkabouts and visits and join the family at Christmas.

'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.'

The royals are 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.'

Buy nowChris's book Modern Monarchy is published by Rizzoli and on sale for £22.75.

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