Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Rutledge. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Mark Rutledge has been behind a camera since he was eight years old, but for the past 24 years, it has been his work as well as his passion. Mark’s first love is the still image, and after receiving his Fine Arts Degree in Photography, he entered the world of fine art and commercial still photography with clients such as American Airlines and General Electric.
In the last 22 years, Mark has increasingly turned his talents to motion pictures. He has employed his unique style and vision as the Director of Photography for countless commercial projects as well as 19(soon to be 21) feature films, working with some of the greatest talents in Hollywood.
Based in Dallas, Texas, he nevertheless travels the world for his work.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Being self-employed is sometimes a roller coaster, especially in the film business. Everyone I know that is still around after all these years are definitely not the office, 9-5 type. It’s difficult not to be able to always plan too far in the future because I never know my schedule too far in advance…I could get a call and be on a plane tomorrow for anywhere in the world.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I absolutely love my job and working in film: the new challenges every day, the scope and scale, the collaboration and teamwork, new ideas, etc., are immensely satisfying. I’ve worked on action films with explosions everywhere, to romantic comedies to heart-wrenching documentaries, and I love it. For completely diametrically opposed reasons, and what really keeps me motivated is my still photography and personal work.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I never wanted to be in the movie business in the first place! I got my start when my good friend in college (aspiring director William Kaufman) needed some promo stills for a feature film he wanted to do. That lead to an offer to shoot a teaser for fundraising and then an offer to shoot the film. My film school was on the set of a feature film, mine and the director’s first… and we shot on actual film! That snowballed, and 24 years later, I’m about to do my twentieth feature film. Also, I played tuba in marching band in high school!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.markrut.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/markrut
