Jennie Quimbita

We all love the magic of cinema. My great passion is to be a part of this wonderful, collaborative process we call filmmaking.

Even as a young girl, I knew it was all about the images – that they had the power to tell amazing stories without using a single word…so by the time I was 17, I took up photography. I was so head over heels with it, my dad built me a darkroom in the garage. This room became my second home, where music bounced off the walls and beautiful images slowly revealed themselves to me.

Many years later, I was still image-making, but now as a commercial still photographer. I started with 35mm film, but then digital technology came along and I developed a love–hate relationship with it. I liked the fact that I could get instantaneous results, but I hated losing control of my photos when digital artists took over and retouched them until they were virtually unrecognizable.

I became obsessed about keeping the integrity of my shots, so I learned everything I could about computer photo retouching and design.

At that same time, the photographer I was working for decided to offer conceptual advertising as part of his studio services. Because of all my imaging skills, I was promoted to become the studio’s designer/art director.

After years of designing, retouching and color correcting images, I realized I wanted to create more than just singe-image stories. I wanted to work with moving images.

My partner, a jazz pianist and aspiring filmmaker, encouraged me to take a film course with him at our local college. That’s where I discovered the art of editing and felt the need to pursue this newly discovered craft.

I knew then I wanted to become a film editor. It just makes sense – it’s a natural progression that allows me to expand my skills and go from enhancing photographic stills to editing motion pictures.

So far, I’ve had many terrific experiences working on sets, assisting in a variety of roles as part of the whole filmmaking process. I'm currently co-directing a short close to my heart look forward to seeing it come to life. Although my chosen career path is fixed on pursuing editing, I’ve discovered exactly how collaborative this medium is and how important it is to have a good crew working together to craft an unforgettable story.

If my years in image-making have taught me anything, it’s that nothing comes easy. It takes hard work, dedication and persistence.

As Tom Hanks says in A League Of Their Own, “It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”