A lot of people dream of being able to live their life on the road, taking awesome pictures, and getting paid to do it. In so many ways, cannabis and lifestyle photographer, Max Jackson, has been able to make this dream his reality. For the last several years, he’s been lovingly calling the road his home, while simultaneously building his resume as a standout photographer for cannabis, adventure, lifestyle, and landscape shots.
It takes a certain type of wanderlust, as well as ingenuity to embark on a path such as Max’s. By breaking his way into the cannabis industry he was able to combine his existing keen eye for lifestyle photography. Specializing in this niche form of photography has enabled him to travel across the US and make a living.
Recently taking up roost in the Los Angeles-area for the last year, Max Jackson has become a reliable shooter for Respect My Region. Whether it’s capturing the vibe at one of our events, or framing some potent kush for review, he always delivers. We caught up to chat with him as he prepares for his next big adventure.
Max Jackson — Traveling Cannabis & Lifestyle Photographer
I asked Max two key questions right from the start, how long he’s been doing cannabis/lifestyle photography, as well as his reasons for taking up the cannabis aspect. He said that he’s been shooting for quite some time now. “I’ve been doing photography for about eight to ten but making money off of it for about five years. For cannabis, it’s only been about two years.”
“There were some things I knew I didn’t want to shoot. I had done landscape photography previously and had wanted to travel from Alaska to South America, living on the road. I thought that was fun but so did everyone else. The other avenue I wanted to pursue was adventure photography, hiking, and mountain climbing.”
“In that avenue, you have to push the limits, physically, with other athletes and be in really good shape. That sort of thing can put you in sketchy situations and dangerous areas. I really didn’t want to die taking photos. On top of that, I didn’t want to shoot weddings, even though you can really make a lot of money. “
He asked himself “how can I combine my hobbies and other things I’m really passionate about”? Then it came to him. “I could take pictures of weed!” He started working in his local dispensary in Alaska for practice and it worked really well. They loved the content he made.
(Fall sunset in Alaska by Max Jackson)
(Forbidden Fruit x Eve, a 1:1 CBD: THC grown by Eve Farms)
Engaging With The Clientele
I had asked what companies he had enjoyed most working with. Max immediately said “Wild Creek Farms in California.” He mentioned to me that Wild Creek was the first one he had shot. “I went there in the wintertime for their winter harvest, so it was snowing. They opened up the sides of the greenhouse to let in the cool air, and it was a great atmosphere. They had some of the trippiest flowers I have ever seen. I was allowed to take home some of the flowers I clipped to shoot in the studio.”
To comment on the quality of Wild Creek’s product, he avidly says that “their flower is some of the best, by far, in California.” “I’m a snob with flower. I focus on the terpenes rather than the THC levels. They’re currently building more greenhouses, and are about to come in hot.”
(Watermelon Short Cookies #4 by 710 Labs)
The Road, and “Home”
Previously, I mentioned that Max has made his living while working on the road. When asked about what he calls home, this is what he had to say. “I would call Florida home because that’s where my family is. I’m currently sitting in my parent’s driveway in Jupiter, Florida, because of the Coronavirus. I ended up getting out of LA right before everything shut down completely, and drove right back to Florida.”
He also mentioned his plans for buying property in The Last Frontier. “I’m gonna buy land up in Alaska fairly soon, and to be honest, Alaska is really home for my heart.”
Project: Ambulance
Living on the road for over three years in his 4-door Jeep Wrangler may have been nice for a while, but Max felt the itch to expand his on-the-road living space. After 18 months of searching on Craigslist, Max found the best solution to his space problem, an ambulance. By February the perfect one was in his driveway.
“I’m really excited,” Max says. “Living on the road has really helped me be able to do cannabis photography, show up to a facility in the middle of nowhere, and have everything I need. I’ll have my equipment, my studio, electricity, and a place to sleep. Most farms won’t have a place for you to sleep when you go shoot for them.”
(Max converting this former Washington Fire Rescue ambulance into an offroad tiny home. Photo by: Lucas Casel)
A Unique Experience That Shaped The Beginnings of a Great Photographer
When Max was 20, he shot an event for a well-known company for fun, via a photography club he was a part of. “The company liked my photos and asked if they could post them on their social media accounts. I said sure.” They asked for high res, un-watermarked photos and he didn’t really know any better to not do so, as would most people.
“Fast forward a couple of months and I’m in a well-known sports chain-store. I see an advertisement photo that looked uncomfortably familiar, so I looked in my folder for that event. Sure enough, it was in there.” The company had ended up using about 20 of his photos in a plethora of affiliated advertisements and marketing projects worldwide.
(The Aurora Borealis dance above Denali, North America’s tallest mountain at 20,308ft)
Max tried to talk to them, and tell them “Hey, what you did was not okay.” At that point, they couldn’t come to terms. “They filed a suit to try and scare me into submission after I didn’t accept their really low offer.”
It really was a really insulting low-ball offer, on top of them continuing to use the photos and not giving credit to him. “I filed a counter-suit, and it was really wild. I created a GoFundMe, and surprisingly it went viral. It got picked up by a couple of bigger publications shortly after, and the case got settled within 24 hours.”
“I felt it was really important to keep going, even when the big company is throwing money at you, to get you to go away. If I let them, they would just keep getting away with that sort of thing. We didn’t have a big team of lawyers, my dad and I did most of the work on our own.”
Podcast Recommendations For The Road
When asked about what he does on and off the road, he admitted to watching more Netflix than he thinks he should, as most of us are probably doing these days. “When I’m driving I listen to a lot of podcasts, there’s a lot of cannabis podcasts that are really good. Periodic Effects is a great cannabis science and business podcast, so is Marijuana Today. Gary Vee is a must-have for motivation. ‘The Enormocast’ is a climbing podcast that gets me through long stretches on the road.”
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