Jendra Jarnagin

Jendra Jarnagin is a veteran cinematographer that recently completed season 1 of the Warner Bros. Television series East New York on CBS.  Her work has been showcased at the Whitney Museum, the UN, and numerous film festivals worldwide including Sundance, Tribeca, and the Camerimage International Festival of Cinematography, and also seen on PBS, ABC, Hulu, Amazon, AMC, Paramount+ and ABC.

The NYU Tisch graduate is known for her work on the female vigilante revenge thriller Asking For It, which premiered at Tribeca and was released theatrically by Paramount.  The bold and stylistic ensemble drama stars Vanessa Hudgens, Ezra Miller, Kiersey Clemons, Alexandra Shipp, Luke Hemsworth, Gabourey Sidibe and David Patrick Kelly.   Variety singled out “Jendra Jarnagin’s neon-slicked, Polaroid-Americana photography” and IndieWire stated “the cinematography by Jendra Jarnagin is often impressive, capturing the drabness of Joey’s inner world reflected around her, and then contrasting it with the neon exuberance of the all-female compound…”

Jendra’s work on the early web series, Puppy Love, was written about in American Cinematographer magazine, for her pioneering use of the Red One Digital Cinema Camera. The anthology comedy series from the producers and writers of Sex & the City featured an all-star cast and was one of the first professionally produced online series, winning a Webby Award.  Other notable credits include the feature films Entangled (Samuel Goldwyn), and The Sixth Reel (Wolf Releasing), and the online series In Between Men as well as ad campaigns for Maybelline, Estée Lauder, Pureology, Adidas, Canon and Lincoln.

Jendra is a 2022 winner for the Zeiss & Women in Media Altitude Awards presented at CineGear Expo, and a member of the Television Academy.  Jendra enjoys inspiring others as a frequent speaker, moderator and panelist at conferences, trade shows and festivals such as NAB, Sundance, Slamdance & CineGear, as well as guest lecturing at NYU, Brooklyn College, SVA and more.  As an early adopter of digital technology, she was often among the first to work with many newly released cameras, and is a frequent guest on podcasts, including a recent interview for American Cinematographer. She was one of the first artists featured on the industry leading Cinematography Podcast.

At the start of her career, Jendra’s passion for lighting led her to work as a gaffer and electrician for 10 years. Working on projects such as Sex & the City, Law & Order, The Sopranos, Analyze That, and Vanilla Sky developed her strong foundation in lighting and crew leadership.  Jendra’s work and zeal for travel has brought her to 27 countries.  In addition to adventure travel, her hobbies include SCUBA diving, (including filming underwater) skiing, and creating imaginative costumes for Burning Man theme parties.