Hi!!!

My name is Kara Rittenhouse, and thank you for taking a look at my work. I'm just a mermaid living in a watery world trying to share my creative vision.  

 

I started out in Winter Park, Florida (near Orlando) going to film school at Full Sail University.  After graduating from both the Audio Engineering and the Film & Video programs I got a job at Panavision Orlando as their Lighting and Grip department's repair technician. Knowing that working with cameras is what I wanted, I ended up leaving there to work at a rental competitor that dealt with Arriflex cameras, and there I REALLY had hands on learning in both being a camera assistant and loading film.  After 6 years of working in the Central Florida film market, I ended up getting a job installing Audio/Visual systems commercially as the film industry had gotten too slow.  Realizing I was wandering away from my creative intentions, I transferred with that company to   southern California to really give it another go in the Mecca of the film industry.....Hollywood.  After a year of working with AVI (Audio Visual Innovations,) I resigned and began  accruing hours toward my Union eligibility mostly on Hallmark and Lifetime movies.  In a couple of years I was ready to play with the big boys and girls.  I was fortunate enough to be offered a job on the Fox show "Bones".  For about 9 years I was happily toiling away there, making life-long friends and learning invaluable life lessons.  

 

After a cruise to the Bahamas, I realized that mermaids don't just snorkel, they (at least) scuba dive.  I was soon certified and diving in places like Belize and Panama.  While in Belize, I realized that my little GoPro camera, while it has its place, was NOT representing the beauty and wonder of what I was seeing in our world's oceans.  I had to get a big girl camera.  And now, it is my passion. This transition lead me to buy a property in Bocas del Toro, Panama where I could swim out 200' to a reef and shoot to my heart's content.  I was even featured on an HGTV show, "Caribbean Life".   

 

The moral of the story is I finally found something I could do that utilizes my creativity and that combines my two favorite things to do in the world, photography and swimming.  I also realized that with practice, I could capture dream-like portraits of people in pools as well.  Not everybody feels the way that I do about water so I have expanded my love of photography to headshots and portraits.  

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I humbly thank you for taking some time to learn about lil-ole me.  

 

If you have any questions, please use the contact form below, and I will get back to you as soon as

mermaid-ly possible!