John Carrithers is a photographer, filmmaker and artist from Houston, Texas who has created a variety of film content ranging from feature length documentary films to 15 second commercials. His photography work includes architectural, lifestyle and portrait photographs. Whether the image is moving or static, his passion is telling a story with light.
Carrithers grew up in Arizona where he was introduced to filmmaking on the set of independent films working as an assistant camera operator. After leaving Arizona, Carrithers moved to Miami where he worked on a magazine-style TV show called Ocean Drive as a director, camera operator and editor. During this period he supported the general programming of the show, but also directed and produced his first documentary short about Herman Leonard, a renowned jazz photographer who captured candid images of some of the greatest jazz musicians of the twentieth century. This experience sparked a passion for documentary film.
Carrithers proceeded to work on three feature length documentary films as a cinematographer. Mother’s at War is a documentary film about women combat veterans (directed by Laura Browder). Relocation Arkansas is a documentary about Japanese Americans interned in Rohwer, Arkansas and the generational effects of that experience (directed by Vivienne Schiffer). 38 Pieces is a documentary about the Byzantine frescos Dominique de Menil rescued from the black market in France in the 1980s, restored to their original condition, housed in an architectural jewel in Houston and eventually returned to their rightful home in Cyprus (directed by Francois and Susan de Menil).
In 2010, John formed Carrithers Studio with his wife and creative partner, Delicia Harvey. Together they created short documentaries for for the Houston arts and non-profit community. For the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston they made several films including; Odyssey , a film about Cai Guo-Qiang large-scale gunpowder painting and Ganzfeld, a short film about James Turrell’s retrospective across three museums. For the Menil Collection they created several films over a decade including; Terra Inferma a film about Mona Hatoum’s work and Rediscover The Menil Collection, a film about the reimagining of the museums permanent collection. Their most ambitious project was Breaking Boundaries, a film that tells the story of the Houston Ballet from its founding by Ballet Russe dancer Tatiana Semenova in 1955 to the company's current visionary artistic director, Stanton Welch.
Today, John continues to explore the world through photography and film.