{"id":20478,"date":"2018-11-16T06:18:29","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T06:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skydiveperris.flywheelsites.com\/?p=20478"},"modified":"2023-10-29T19:24:43","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T02:24:43","slug":"the-falling-star-behind-the-falling-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skydiveperris.com\/blog\/the-falling-star-behind-the-falling-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"The Falling Star Behind the Falling Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"skydiving<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Meet Craig O\u2019Brien, the Man Behind the Blockbusters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To say that Craig O\u2019Brien sits atop the Mount Olympus of camera jumping wouldn\u2019t be any kind of exaggeration: a lofty status well-earned. Twenty-five years into his jumping career, his logbook lists around 24,000 jumps, most of which have been dedicated to committing something to visual posterity.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be fair, Craig got a running start. Born to a sport skydiving family, Craig grew up on the Taft dropzone. In high school, he cut his teeth as a photographer by shooting his brother\u2019s football games. The plan, naturally, was to start skydiving at age 18. Tragically, fate derailed those plans; a crash, which took 14 skydivers\u2019 lives, closed that dropzone in 1982.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t convince any of my buddies to run off someplace further away to check out skydiving,\u201d Craig remembers. \u201cThen, years later, the Jones family reopened the Taft dropzone. I zoomed out there and got right into it. I just put my two passions together\u2014skydiving and photography\u2014and made a career out of it.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He was 29 at the time, living in Bakersfield, working as an electrician. He made the 40-minute pilgrimage every weekend for about four years, learning everything he could from Taft\u2019s legendary DZO, Bill Jones, and equally eminent aerial photo-cinematographer Joe Jennings, who shot occasional projects at Taft with Bill.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Craig was happy. He made decent money, and he was also starting to train with his then-girlfriend, Tanya, who is now his wife, as a skysurfing team. The talented pair realized they needed to take it on full-time if they really wanted to be competitive, so they picked up and moved down to Perris in 1997. They never left.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI came with intentions of staying for two years and then heading back to my full-time job,\u201d he laughs, \u201cbut with all of the things that go on at Perris, I\u2019m able to support my family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Conasters [the dropzone owners at Perris] are great people,\u201d he adds. \u201cThey treat me and my family as part of their own. They\u2019ve supported us from the get-go. That enabled us to achieve the goals we\u2019ve met together.\u201d (The incredible flying O\u2019Briens are, by the way, 3-time World Champions and 5-time National Champions, if you\u2019re curious.)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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