About Jackson Gardiner (me)

Hi there, I’m Jackson Gardiner. I’m a photographer, writer, kind of but not really a student, and creative based in Toronto. For as long as I can remember I wanted to do something interesting. I wasn’t sure what that was for a long time and honestly still don’t, but that’s why I’m here. I want to push myself to do more and look for more in life.

I grew up in a small town in Ontario, Canada along Lake Ontario. I couldn’t really ask for a better place to spend my childhood. Going to the beach after school with my friends or hiking in the forest in the spring nurtured my appreciation for nature - its important for anywhere I want to live to have a body of water or forests nearby now. Like I said, I never knew what I wanted to do growing up, but really I just changed my mind every few months and could never stick to anything. For a while I wanted to go into science, the next month urban planning, and after that, linguistics. I ended up beginning my studies in linguistics at the University of Toronto in 2022, only to take a gap year in 2024 that I feel may last longer than a year.

Now we’re in the present where I still don’t know what I want to do but I’m starting to be okay with it. Although it stings sometimes, I won’t figure anything out without trying new things and being something.

When I was a kid my older sister got a camera and I always wanted to use it and take photos, it was so much fun. I stayed enjoying photography, whether I was the photographer or being a model, and tried to start a photography account in high school but quickly gave up. A few years later I started to get the itch to get out there and take photos of anything that I thought was pretty. I decided to buy a used Fujifilm XT-20 and have since been using it for my photography. Over the past two years I’ve seen my skills and ideas grow. I have a long way to go in my learning but I’m having fun regardless.

Thanks for reading! Make sure to check out my blog where I post essays, journal entries and articles as well as the gallery of my photos.

-JAG