With the year drawing to a close, it’s been a while since I have had a pre-wedding shoot to put on the blog, so today sees the last one of this year. Vicky, Dan and I were super lucky with the weather, given how awful it has been over the last few days. We met up nice and early at the gorgeous Pembroke Lodge, in Richmond Park, and shot some images in the brisk morning light before a hearty cooked breakfast. Then we went out for some more, to wrap the session up.

I am only going to post a few images here, as they have a photo guest book coming on the wedding day and i’m keeping the majority of the images as a surprise!

So, here are my faves from this session with a super fun couple – cannot wait for the wedding day in just six weeks!!

Thanks for a great session guys, and see you soon!!

This little cutie was one of our recent Welcome to the World shoots for Baby Surrey Magazine. Six month old Gabriella had refused to sleep before I arrived, so she was a little grizzly. But we let her sleep for some of the shoot, and were able to get some beautifully intimate family shots. My faves from the session:

Playing Suckey-Nosey with mum!


Even the dog was up for a shot!

I am very pleased to announce that Matt Pereira Photography has been awarded the rather prestigious MPA UK Pet Photographer of the Year 2010. To sit alongside all of this year’s regional awards, I was awarded this accolade at the recent Master Photographer Awards in Birmingham. This is an annual event where some of the best photographers in the UK all descend on the Hilton Metropole in Birmingham to mix it up and celebrate the best of the best.

The image in question only brought me 3rd place in the regional judging, but I was lucky enough to hold off the other entrants at a national level. The winning image is this one, Archie, a gorgeous Bengal kitten, who belongs to Caroline, my amazing graphic designer and studio manager of Flourish Studios. Archie had never been out of the house before, and so trying to photograph him at the front door was interesting, as his inquisitive kitten nature kept enticing him outside. The sun was very strong on that day, which allowed the vibrant colours of his fur and eyes to glisten.

This is an enormous achievement and my first time of asking at the national awards. Against such stiff competition too. Next year I will be going for a few more categories, so watch this space!

One thing that I love about my job as a wedding photographer is a cool couple’s unwavering positive attitude, even in the face of the most adverse weather conditions. Despite some pretty slick planning for a beautifully organised day, the lack of control over the cold, the wind and the horrid rain on Friday 24th September 2010 didn’t unnerve this couple in the slightest. Many brides would have been devastated with the weather on that day, but as Rachel arrived at Losely Park and emerged from that car like a resplendent butterfly, she barely acknowledged the conditions.

Simon, standing at the front of the room & looking decidedly dashing in his black and white Fred & Ginger shoes, welcomed Rachel with gleaming smile, as friends and family looked on … and mum cried.

After the ceremony, and a bit of a wet walk to the chapel, we headed on over to the gorgeous gardens for an unbelievably non-rainy drinks reception. Thankfully something happened, and for that 90 minutes we were able to get some lovely group and couple shots as the wind and rain had subsided – result!

Once the emotional speeches were done, and a very tasty dinner was complete, Rachel & Simon treated us all to a fantastically choreographed first dance routine – twice! Most expertly done indeed!

If you were a guest at the wedding, or just an interested friend, please click HERE to register your email address and we will let you know when the full set of images are available online for viewing

A quick shot of the venue whilst it was not raining, but still cloudy and moody..

Some of the finer details…
A final check…
The butterfly …
A proud dad…

The flowers…
A moment…

Loving the attention …






The bold boys …


From the dance …
My fave from the photobooth …

I recently read that photography is becoming a rather attractive ‘solution’ in these financially difficult times, where redundancies continue to loom for some corporate workers. The falling cost of decent camera equipment, combined with the romantic thought of a seemingly easy creative job, is attracting more and more people. These days there seem to be a steady influx of new photographers, all vying for the ever decreasing volume of photography work. Many of these new “businesses” are also happy to charge a pittance for work of a standard that is well below what it should be.

One problem that this creates is an increase in the promotion of this low quality work, and, if this continues, I feel there is a real danger that the overall acceptable standard will be lowered and will suffer as a result. The people who will really suffer, however, are all of those brides, grooms and families out there who will be led to believe that “average” is the best they can get.

It is hugely important, therefore, that those of us who strive for good quality imagery ensure that we continue to evolve in a way that keeps us ahead of the competition – whether it be new or old. This will not only ensure that we continue to develop our own skills, but hopefully it will also allow us to bring fresh, new ideas to the market and we thereby fulfill our roles as ambassadors of this profession by raising the bar to demonstrate what should be the acceptable level.

A few years ago I attended a Brett Harkness Funky Flash training course. This was a life changing day for me, and I am not joking. This was the day that I learned about controlling off-camera flash, taking full control of my camera and started my journey into something very special. That course allowed me, over the last few years, to produce some very special shots and formed the basis for the fundamental understanding of lighting that I used this year to win my Fashion Photographer of The Year award.

Brett’s gritty style and technical approach was perfect for me two years ago – I was revved up for some real nerdy technicals. Now that some time has passed, however, I started to feel that I needed a bit of ‘realignment’ in the right direction. I wanted a similar but alternative approach to the same type of lighting, to serve as a “creative update”.

Enter another Master of the Speedlite, Damien Lovegrove. Damien’s friendly and relaxed approach to teaching is key the the success of his courses. There were only only five students in attendance so we all had ample time to shoot throughout. After starting the day with a coffee and a chat about how the sessions would develop, we headed out into the gorgeous sun and got started. Within an hour I was quite literally drooling over the images on the back of my camera. As the day unfolded, I was blown away by the simplicity of the setups and the resulting imagery – just amazing.

Damien has a relentless enthusiasm and unwavering patience. Although i’m not sure he needs too much of the latter, as his very simple explanations made it easy to understand what he was doing at all times – even the most complex of setups were easy to follow.

Our gorgeous model Natalia, from Gingersnap Models, was an absolute delight to work with – very friendly, very happy and very beautiful – so easy to photograph.

As you view the images which follow, it’s important to bear in mind that Damien set up the lighting but the poses were mostly directed by me, and expertly followed by the ever-willing Natalia.

These were taken at 10:30am in bright daylight.

This was the setup for the following shot:

A similar setup here, below, in the long grass, as the sun toyed with us:

Totally loving the ruffled hair look below:

These two following shots were taken with an on-camera Orbis Ring Flash. Very similar to the style of light used in an FHM-style shot …

This simple one-light setup uses the sun as a kick-light…


producing some utterly stunning results. The second of these shots is my absolute favourite from the day.

This shot below was lit just from behind – initially I thought that it left Natalia’s face too dark, but it looks nicely moody though..

An extra light at the front, produces this setup:

and see how her face pops with the extra light…

The final setup of the day …

and another cracker to finish off with!

Checkout Damien’s website for upcoming courses – highly recommended!