january 2007 - Professional Photographer Magazine

Whether it’s coaxing a sincere smile out of
an anxious bride or catching an unguarded
expression on the face of a down-on-hisluck
man on the street, Mark Ridout has a
knack for making people comfortable in
front of his camera.
“It’s not always just about taking great
pictures,” he says. “You have to build rapport
before you start shooting. I like meeting new
people and bonding with them.”
Ridout’s home is the quiet town of Lindsay,
Ontario, but he draws customers from both
sides of the border. He started out with mainly
local clients, but his popularity spread rapidly
by word of mouth. He’s never spent a dime
on advertising, not even in the local phone
book. Ridout shoots about 25 weddings a year,
and that’s his ideal workload. He’s covered weddings
all over Europe, the United States and the
Caribbean, and most frequently, sunny Cuba, a
popular spot for Canadians to tie the knot.
Traveling for weddings is Ridout’s favorite
gig. He hangs out with the family and their
friends in the days leading up to the wedding
and becomes one of their own. The result?
They let down their guard.
“Look at my pictures,” says Ridout. “They’re
genuine smiles, not fake. I love shooting weddings,
having fun, talking to everyone. We
always have a good time.” For destination
weddings, Ridout usually allows himself a
few days post-wedding to go exploring with
his camera. Some of his best impromptu
portraits are the result of striking up a
casual conversation with complete strangers.
“I put a lot of stuff from my travels on my
Web site,” says Ridout. “People can see that I
have a good eye, and that I can incorporate
my design sense into wedding photography.”
Ridout’s interest in photography began at age
17, when he set up a darkroom in his
parents’ wine cellar. In college, he operated a
lithographic camera, training his eye toward
the printing industry and eventually
becoming a four-color stripper, working on
“Look at my pictures. They’re genuine smiles,
not fake. I love shooting weddings, having fun,
talking to everyone. We always have a good time.”