Andy Jackson

Andy Jackson A look behind the photojournalist

My passion for still photography really started when I was in my mid 20's, I had borrowed my sister's 35mm film camera, following my mates riding motorcross bikes and playing rugby. I did a certificate of photography course at WITT in New Plymouth where I learnt the very basics of using a camera manually. From there I worked for years shooting all kinds of things like.... mainly weddings! �� You know, my sister's friends, my cousin's cousin, aunties best best friend, etc etc!

After working for years as a hobby photographer with a full-time job I finally managed to land a role with The Taranaki Daily News, in my home province of Taranaki. This job taught me so much in a very short space of time, I was working alongside some amazing humans and skilled photographers who willingly shared their knowledge with me. Not only that but there is a legacy of amazing news photographers that have worked out of that office.

The beauty of news photography in a beautiful region such as Taranaki, is you get to do a little bit of everything. General news, feature portraits, sport, events, hard news, landscape & lifestyle, you're dealing with different people from all walks of life, all day ,every day, so you learn to adapt and think on your feet pretty quick. No two jobs have ever been the same and just when you think you know how a partic ular job will go, a new angle would arise.

It's not exactly a ground-breaking statement but news photography is really all about the people, every one of those people have a story to tell. The job isn't for everyone and there are plenty of times I'd been assigned to photograph things I didn't want to. At the very top of that list were MVA's, (motor vehicle accidents). You'd be surprised just how many of these happen in a small province like Taranaki.

On the flip side of that are the hundreds of people I have helped over the years, from bringing awareness to worthy causes, celebrating success, and helping the underdog, there have been many jobs I've been on which I'm proud of, and will never forget.

As a news photographer it's incredibly important not to misrepresent the story, honesty, responsibility, accuracy, and truth are the backbone of photojournalism's code of ethics. The only post production manipulations acceptable are those that are used in darkrooms, a tweak of colours and contrast, dodge & burn and most importantly for me the crop.

It goes without saying that just like in any form of still photography, light is the key, composition, backgrounds and angles are also hugely important, but I've always thought that anticipation, timing and persistence were equally as important to capture that great moment.

I love how humans interact with the world around us. One of my favourite things to shoot when time allows is a cool looking building or scene. I set up where I think the best angle is and then wait with my shutter ready to capture whoever or whatever happens to cruise past.

"Behind my camera is my safe place"

Behind my camera is my safe place, I wouldn’t describe myself as an introvert, but sometimes I can feel a little awkward. When I have my camera in hand I'm on a mission, constantly looking for light, angles, moments, my shyness disappears, I have a job to do.

Visual storytelling is my passion. I'm privileged to have covered many local & national stories over the past 11 years including the Christchurch & Kaikoura earthquakes, Whakaari / White Island eruption, as well as having travelled on assignment to America, Australia & France. It's been an amazing ride so far but as I embark on a new journey in the freelance world, I can barely contain my excitement of what is ahead.

A police doghandler and dog search the Huatoki stream in New Plymouth.

Paige Hareb

"I would like to take a moment to thank Andy Jackson for his dedication to photojournalism and also for being a supporter of one of our programs in the past in his capacity as a photographic journalist reporting on SouperVan the meals service that we did in total over 4000+ meals with no funding Thank you for your help Andy and for the dedication to the craft'