Two pale pointed heels with sparkling ankle straps sit on a wooden floor in a shaft of light, beside a curtain.

Jodi
Weisz

Sydney photographer

Based: Sydney, travelling worldwide
Experience: 6 years photographing weddings. Close to 200 weddings.
Selected work: Weddings, documentary, photo essays, film.
Press: Australasia’s Top Emerging Photographer 2022, overall winner and Documentary category winner, for Tension. ARTEXPRESS 2020. Exhibited at Hazelhurst Arts Centre. Featured in Capture, PetaPixel and Digital Camera World.
Contact: Details here

I’m Jodi, a documentary photographer based in Sydney. No forced posing, no ticking boxes. Just the day as it actually happened, and how it felt to be there.

A man in a navy work jacket and white tee stands on cobblestones beside a red brick wall and a jasmine-covered fence. — Jodi Weisz001

A groom and bride touch foreheads on a lit staircase, her long veil and satin gown trailing down the steps. — Jodi Weisz002

A bride in an off-the-shoulder white gown holds a calla lily bouquet and smiles before black-framed doors in a brick wall.

A smiling bride in an off-the-shoulder gown holds dark calla lilies and looks up at the groom in a tuxedo, in a field.

A smiling guest in black hugs a bride in a veil and sparkly gown while other guests look on at an outdoor ceremony.

A bride in a veil and satin gown smiles and embraces a woman in a backless dress among guests at an outdoor reception.

A bride in a sparkling tulle gown and veil kisses a groom in a dark suit on a grassy hillside under an overcast sky.

A smiling bride in a long white gown and veil glances back over her shoulder in a hallway before open double doors.

A bride in a strapless lace gown stands beside a bed in a sunlit bedroom, looking down toward an open balcony door.

A young boy in a black suit stands between groomsmen at a church as a bride in white looks on.

A bride in a long tulle veil and lace gown holds a bouquet and walks past a brick building, her train lifted behind her.

A groom in a dark suit kisses a bride in a long satin gown and veil on a lawn near a statue, with palm trees behind.

A smiling bride and groom in white embroidered robes and crowns stand hand in hand beside a candlestick in a church.

A white satin wedding dress hanging from a white hanger on a black-framed window, with a clipped hedge and tiled roof behind.

A smiling bride in an off-the-shoulder satin gown stands in a doorway between white wardrobes, hands on her hips.

Smiling bride in an off-the-shoulder white gown with hands resting on her hips, in a bright hallway with a guest behind.

Where it started

I didn’t pick up a camera to become a photographer.

At 13 I had a severe brain injury and spent a long stretch stuck at home, recovering. My parents had an old point-and-shoot lying around. I picked it up and didn’t really put it down.

I photographed my friends doing everything and nothing. Sitting around, mucking about, the hours that don’t seem worth remembering at the time. I didn’t know it then, but it was how I stayed close to them.

A few years later I was the party photographer guy in my small town. Mostly because everyone my age was getting a hospo job and I really didn’t want one. I wanted to make something and get paid for it. So for five years I photographed every good night out. No brief, no shot list. I just wanted to get everything down before it disappeared, and somewhere in all those funny, strange, sentimental moments, I figured out what I loved.

I still shoot the same way. Weddings just have better speeches.

And I’ll be honest, I love weddings more than I probably should. I get to be there for all of it, quietly, watching how people look at each other.

What I see

I try to blend in. Unobtrusive, almost hidden.

But I’m not just standing in the corner watching the clock. I spend the day getting to know people, chatting, finding out who’s who and how they’re connected to you. Before the day, I want to know you too. Your quirks, your love for each other, what you’ve been through together.

The thing I find most impressive is watching two families come together. It’s probably the first and only time everyone is in the same room. All walks of life.

And I see love. Lots of it. In people’s reactions, their eyes, the way they hold each other, how excited they are. You can see how much someone values another person.

I’m there witnessing a commitment, and a bit of history that gets carried on for a lifetime. I don’t take that lightly.