THROUGH THE LENS OF JENNI BENNETT
A common friend introduced Mark and Jenni Bennett, and the middle school sweethearts would wind up spending the next thirty-six years together. Their family business highlights each of their unique talent sets. A few years after walking down the aisle, Mark’s passion for the outdoors inspired him to start a full-time fishing guide business that has led to a storied career as one of Florida’s top tarpon guides.
Long removed from middle school studies, Mark’s learning became better aligned with his passion for the outdoors. Mark shares, “I love technology and that’s why I dove into Humminbird’s MEGA Imaging. It’s the absolute best for seeing fish”. For years, Jenni and I would use our eyes to find fish, and when we didn’t see them, we moved on. But after using Humminbird sonar, the difference in finding fish is night and day,” shares the guide of 26 years. Simply finding them isn’t enough. “I love getting screenshots of the tarpon because that’s confirmation that the fish are there, even though they don’t ‘show’. And my clients love seeing that we are near the fish.”
Mark continues: “I can find fish every day for my clients so much better than earlier in my career thanks to Humminbird, and I have a collection of incredible screenshots to show for it.” But a guide’s day is full, and it was difficult for Mark to run the boat, find fish, help clients, and untangle lines, let alone play photographer. “And this is where it all started,” reflects Jenni. “So much goes on at once when you're tarpon fishing, and one day when I asked Mark what can I do to help? He told me to run up top and grab a camera from the tower and take pictures of the fish as they jumped.” Jenni scrambled up the tower and with each rung, she moved closer to her destiny. Tucked in the tower was a tiny, yellow disposable Minolta film camera.
Keeping one of saltwater’s most explosive athletes in the frame isn’t easy, but Jenni’s gifts took form and on one of her first shoots, she found quick fame when the client landed the tarpon, and she landed a prized cover photo for Sportfishing Magazine. Not only that, in the same issue she had another airborne fish as a lead image on one of the editorial pages. Jenni still beams when talking about the moment she cashed that first check, “The two images sold for about $2,000 dollars and I was blown away. I used that to buy my first real camera.” Since then, Jenni’s work has appeared in countless magazines with dozens more cover shots, all sharing the incredible experience of catching one of saltwater’s most prized species.
“I love being on the water – especially in the Everglades. There’s so much life there and you can see every kind of wading bird imaginable. The whole environment there is incredible, and we love sharing it with our clients. Many come from urban areas and don’t get to see anything like what we experience daily. That’s what makes all this so special. We take people on their dream fishing trip and that’s special to me, so I try hard to capture those special moments through the lens,” remarks Jenni.
Jenni’s photos are world class and together Mark and Jenni find, catch, release and record thousands of lifetime moments for anglers. Jenni shares, “I make sure that every angler on our boat gets a boat-side photo capturing their big fish moment. They’re so appreciative of all the images and they’re quickly shared across all kinds of social media pages. It’s fun seeing my work out there with people that are so proud of their day on the water, and I’m really grateful to have played a role on such an important day for them.”
View the below video to hear Mark Bennett talk about his story:
Mark and Jenni Bennett’s story is one of many that show the positive impact that the Johnson Outdoors family of brands have on communities around the world. Click over to our new Outdoor Adventure Blog to read about other stories that are similar to Mark and Jenni’s.