JONATHAN”JONNY” MEYER · FILMMAKER Director/Cinematographer & Aerial Imaging Specialist
Published Photographer and national Emmy Award–winning filmmaker with twenty-five years across documentary features, narrative television and theatrical films, network news, and commercial production. Based in Washington, D.C., with Federal Government and FAA authorization to operate in the Special Flight Rules Area Jonny navigates professionally for clients and producers within the most restricted airspace in the country. Jonny works and operates in teams and on professional sets, anywhere in the world.
CAREER
Raised in Cleveland Heights and Geneva, Ohio, Jonny left two years of philosophy at Hiram College to start at the absolute bottom of the film industry 25 years ago. As a union grip and electrician, then rising through the ranks and positions to dolly grip, gaffer and key grip — Jonny was hauling gear, lighting stars and moving cameras past politicians, thinkers, subjects, and making film and TV sets look remarkable on screen. Learning by doing, he never looked back. His professional career began in theatrically released narrative feature-film projects. His formative years unfolded in Little Rock, Arkansas, where work surrounding the Clinton Presidential Library introduced him to the discipline of commercial filmmaking in teams and long-form documentary production and the weight of filming history firsthand. Leaving behind professional lighting work, Jonny moved into the camera department and rose from 1st AC to Operator, DP, and now Director/DP. He is known to produce projects for broadcast and private use by corporations and clients. In addition to his filmmaking, Jonny is an accomplished editorial and commercial photographer whose work has been published at regional, national, and international levels. His clients include notable organizations such as the Mayo Clinic, UBER, and widely circulated magazines.
Over the past fifteen years, Washington, D.C. has become his primary stage. He has worked on productions with four of the five living U.S. presidents — including Joseph R. Biden as Vice President, Barack Obama through documentary and White House coverage, and Donald J. Trump on January 20th, 2025, the day Trump first sat behind the Resolute Desk. He has filmed in private chambers of the Supreme Court, supported production for the FBI, and collaborated on agency- and contractor-related multimedia bridging innovation and intelligence. He produced, shot, and directed material for Creative Future's events with the bicameral Creative Caucus, bringing artists and elected officials into the same room to address the future of American creative work. Some of Jonny’s professional clients include Getty Images (Archive), AUDI, BMW, National Geographic Society, McDonalds, Five Guys, SABRA, Hologic, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, The Cleveland Cavaliers and The Washington Wizards, and he routinely operates for productions attached to DISNEY, FOX, HULU, NETFLIX, NFL Films, CNN, and global news organizations. Director collaborators Jonny has worked with include Oliver Stone, Errol Morris and Ken Burns, Taylor Sheridan, Steven Frears, Doug Liman, Tyler Perry, and Ali Wong.
AERIAL & TECHNICAL WORK
Jonny is an aerial cinematographer and coordinator. His experience spans Helicopters and UAVs. He works in collaboration with former highly decorated military pilots to rapidly gain authorization and trust to operate in Washington's Special Flight Rules Area. He designs, manufactures, and builds tools for photography and cinematography along with special effects robotic imaging systems, along with work designing drone platforms for aerial cinema and other value streams. As an example, his Getty Images archive — a comprehensive study of DC by air was shot in 8K RAW from a RED V-RAPTOR with Angénieux zoom optics aboard a Eurocopter AS355 and covers the Mall, Monuments, White House, Pennsylvania Avenue, the Supreme Court and the Capitol, alongside DC, MD, and VA neighborhoods and sites. His work has been licensed for use in major productions and media streams including a Marvel Studios release.
MENTORSHIP
Jonny has mentored camera operators in Arkansas and D.C. who have gone on to join the Society of Camera Operators and work major productions of their own. His sets are known for the kind of steadiness that allows others to take risks, grow, and fail safely.
BEYOND THE SET
When working at home, he is constantly developing new tools and object-based workflows to innovate creatively using aircraft, cameras, robotics and automation systems, and special effects.
His work across news, documentary, television, commercial, and aerial cinematography shares a single through line: take care with what is real, and treat people with dignity.