Joe Jennings began
skydiving at age 21 and fell in love with the thrill of the sport. To
share the
experience with friends he taped a tape recorder to his wrist and would yell
into it during freefall.
His progression into camera flying was rather natural since his father, Jack
Jennings is also a
fine nature photographer. Joe also had some video shooting experience
and began doing that to
share his thrills in the sky.
But production work demanded film and although he had
experience shooting 16mm, commercial
jobs and Hollywood meant learning to fly with a heavy 35mm film camera mounted
on his helmet. He
once flew with an IMAX camera which is even heavier.
After some time, Joe began to "burn out"
of the skydiving sport and almost gave it up, when he
met "sky surfer" Rob Harris. Rob was one of the best in the
world at the time and Joe was so inspired
with the challenge of chasing Harris all over the sky that he refers to it as
feeling like a human jet. The
thrill of filming a "sky surfer" renewed his enthusiasm and he dove
into the challenges of filming this
wild sport.
In 94 and 95 Rob Harris and Joe Jennings won the World
Sky Surf championships and then won the
extreme games and X games the same year. Joe credits working with Rob
Harris as having built him a
skydiving career beyond his wildest dreams. He has had the opportunity
to film and photograph some
of the greatest skydiving athletes in the world and film Hollywood stars and
celebrities in movie films,
commercials and TV. Below are the accomplishments of this extraordinary
freefall photographer.
JENNINGS PRODUCTIONS E-MAIL
Resume / Joe Jennings:
Cinematographer, Aerial DP, Cameraman
Skydiving Cinematography in 35mm with video assist. Still photography
in 35mm and 2 1/4 formats. Member USPA with Master License and Professional
Exhibition Rating. IMAX Camera Flyer.
Freelance: "Air Force One" / Paramount Pictures, "Extreme Games"
/ Skysurfing, "Drop Zone Special"/ MTV Sports, "BASE" /
MTV Sports, Mountain Dew commercials / "Mel Torme", "James Bond",
"Scream", "Duet", Pepsi "Goose" commercial, Levis
commercial, "Action Man" Toy commercial, "Body Glove" commercial,
Coke commercial / Japan, Dominos commercial, Dr. Pepper commercial, VISA commercial,
MCI commercial, Hewlett Packard commercial, Shell commercial, Squirt soda commercial,
Dateline NBC, Blossom TV show, "Extreme Magic" / Fox Special, "Jocks"
/ Comedy Central, "Sky Hawks" Canadian military documentary, Budweiser
- promotional, Inside Edition, Current Affair, Hard Copy, 20/20, Good Morning
America, Real TV, Extra, "The Pretender" TV show, "Spy Games"
TV show, "Worlds of Wonder" / Discovery Channel, "How’d They
Do That?" / The learning Channel, Entertainment News / CNN, Navy Seals
Team , USPA Nationals, Golden Knights US Military team, Black & Decker commercial,
BMW commercial, CNNF "Business Unusual", Bell Affairs commercial,
"Bay Watch" / tv show, George Bush skydive, "Station Wagon Drop"
/ Le Poing J, Intel Pentium II commercial, Pontiac commercial, AXN TV ten episodes,
Conan O’Brian tv show, "Amazing People" tv show, IMAX / MacGillivray
Freeman Films, Ford commercial / Argentina, Blue Cross Blue Shield commercial,
City Bank VISA commercial / Hong Kong. Upgrade commercial / Israel, EDS commercial
"building an airplane" - airing on Rose Bowl, Truth "body bags"
Anti smoking commercial, Charlie's Angels movie, Energizer "B.A.S.E. commercial,
Peugeot commercial, "Triple XXX" action movie. "Stimoral"
gum commercials, Coke Israel commercial, "Manzana Lift" commercial,
Mexico.
Jennings Productions:
Created "Air Delivery", a mid air pizza delivery commercial.
Sold 200 + spots throughout the United States, Canada, The West Indies, Kuwait,
Equador, Syria, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Spain, and the Dominican
Republic. Jennings Productions is a film, betacam, and non - linear production
and editing facility.
Photos Published including Covers and Centerfolds:
Photographs published: Parachutist, Skydiving, Skyhawks, Outdoor Magazine,
Opus, Camcorder Magazine, USA Today, Fritt Fall, Para Mag, Fallschirm Sportmagazin,
LA Times, California Magazine, Videography, Pizza Today, In The Oven Magazine,
LA Weekly, Newsweek, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, People Magazine, Blue Sky
Magazine, XXL,MTV
Sports 1999 Calendar - cover, others.
World Champion Skysurf Team: Team Cameraman with Rob Harris
World Champion RW Team "Airspeed": Team Cinematographer - promotions
Gold Medal (Intermediate) - Line Camp Skysurfing Competition Eloy, AZ
Bronze Medal (Advanced) - World Skysurfing Championships, Emporiabrava, Spain
Gold Medal (Advanced) - World Skysurfing Championships, Eloy AZ
World Champions at ESPN’s "Extreme Games"
Gold Medal (Advanced) - World Skysurfing Championships, Germany
1st Place "Artistic Expression" Camera Flyer Award
Gold Medal with Patrick De Gayardon - "Boards over Switzerland" World
Meet
"CAMERA FLYER OF THE YEAR" AWARD
EMMY AWARD / MTV SPORTS "DROP ZONE SPECIAL"
EMMY AWARD / "EXTREME GAMES" ESPN/ESPN2
EMMY AWARD / "X GAMES" ESPN/ESPN2
Gravity Sports Film Festival: 1st Place "Aerial" Category
Super Bowl’s #1 rated ad: Pepsi "Goose"