Unlucky for some, but not for us !!

We are so very excited to tell you that after a mammoth 5 hour judging session at last night’s MPA Awards for the South Eastern Region, Matt Pereira Photography picked up no less than THIRTEEN awards.

The MPA (Master Photographers Association) was Established in 1952 and with over 2,000 members, it is the United Kingdom’s only organisation for full time, qualified and professional photographers.

The Master Photography Awards are the most prestigious awards for photography in the UK.

You may remember our marvellous success at last year’s SE Region Awards, where we won a whole host of accolades.

Well, this year we may not have managed overall photographer of the year but maintained a very good consistency in several areas. The categories are slightly different this year, but essentially the same really.

Here is a list of what we won …

WINNER – MPA Pictorial, Illustrative & Fine Art Photographer of the Year 2011, SE Region
Award of Excellence (2nd Place) – MPA Pictorial, Illustrative & Fine Art Photographer of the Year 2011, SE Region
WINNER – MPA Press, PR & Stock Photographer of the Year 2011, SE Region
Award of Excellence (2nd Place) – MPA Press, PR & Stock Photographer of the Year 2011, SE Region
Award of Excellence (2nd Place) – MPA Fashion Photographer of the Year 2011, SE Region
Award of Merit (3rd Place) – MPA Family Photographer of the Year 2011, SE Region

Followed by …

One Award of Merit in Children’s Portraiture
One Award of Merit in Family Portraiture
Two Awards of Merit in Contemporary Weddings
Two Awards of Merit in Wedding Photojournalism
One Award of Merit in Contemporary Portraiture

Had the decision fallen to award the Overall Photographer of the Year Award on a points basis (5pt for 1st, 3pt for 2nd, 1pt for 3rd) we would have taken that win as well, for the second year in a row – but, alas, it was not to be on this occasion.

Nonetheless, we are thrilled again to have scooped so many wins and merits. Here are all of the winning images:

WINNER – MPA Pictorial, Illustrative & Fine Art Photographer of the Year 2011, SE Region
Taken in a backlit alley in Brighton as a bit of an experiment!

Award of Excellence (2nd Place) – MPA Pictorial, Illustrative & Fine Art Photographer of the Year 2011, SE Region
My gorgeous girlfriend, Helen, in Lanzarote earlier this year. She endured this jump with a really sore and stiff neck, but knew that I was on to something …

WINNER – MPA Press, PR & Stock Photographer of the Year 2011, SE Region
This image was taken as part of a set for Helen Nathan, mother to four gorgeous daughters … you may think that there are only three in the image, but there is one more. Namely Flossie Crums, featured on the McDougalls flour packet !

Award of Excellence (2nd Place) – MPA Press, PR & Stock Photographer of the Year 2011, SE Region
This is one of my all-time favourite shots from the last 12 months – you have heard me talk before about the amazing singer/songwriter Rachel Golding. This is an “accidental” shot from her PR shoot, taken as I was just doing a lighting test !

Award of Excellence (2nd Place) – MPA Fashion Photographer of the Year 2011, SE Region
Having won this category last year, it was a shame to only come second this time around, but I am pleased with another ‘podium finish’. This shot of the gorgeous Anna Quirk from Bookings Models, was taken for a Yarwood White bridal fashion shoot.

Award of Merit (3rd Place) – MPA Family Photographer of the Year 2011, SE Region
Another podium finish in the Family category, which we won last year – a beautiful and intimate family portrait taken for a Baby Surrey magazine Welcome to the World feature..

Award of Merit in Family Photography
Just outside the top three – a cracking family shot of Sian and her boys!

Two Awards of Merit in Contemporary Wedding Photography
Rachel and Simon, seemingly on a destination wedding, but very local indeed!

The lovely Sarah and Richard, partaking in their first dance.

Two Awards of Merit in Wedding Photojournalism
Two completely different days, weather-wise – the first was Katrina and Richard on a nasty day, down on the South Coast …

… followed by a gorgeously hot day for Emily & Rich, at Chiddingstone Castle.

Award of Merit in Children’s Portraiture
Just William, on the sand dunes in Northern France …

Award of Merit in Contemporary Portraiture
And the final award, once again with the very talented Rachel Golding …

All in all, a fantastic day in the company of some very, very good photographers. A massive thanks goes out to all of my models, parents, subjects, babies and everybody involved in helping make each and every one of these images. Without you, the people, none of it would ever be possible …

And of course, a big thank you to Ray Lowe, our judge for last night … what marvellous taste he has!

It’s been a little busy over the last few weeks, as it always is this time of year when things start to close out for the season.

However, there’s been a good reason for being a little quiet on the blogging front and that’s due to the fact that i’ve been working on a new website, in conjunction with the ever fantastic Flourish Studios.

I wanted something that looked similar to my old website, but more Google friendly, and a little faster, too. As a photographer it’s all about the images, and so as the previous layout worked well, there was little point straying from that design too much. Of course, with the funky new branding that Flourish have created for me over the last year or so, we needed to update the look and feel of the website too, and I think that’s been done rather well.

Why not go take a look and let me know what you think ? The URL has not changed and so it is still www.mattpereira.co.uk. I’d love to know what you think !

This weekend we will be exhibiting at the Modern Bride Contemporary Wedding Show, at Excel in London’s Docklands.

Modern Bride is “The UK’s new too-hot-to-miss wedding event modernbride is the glamorous, fun, and hassle-free way to find every perfect essential for a unique wedding. It’s where you’ll find a great range of hand-picked companies, offering everything for brides who want great style and quality for money with an essential hit of glamour.”

The show is open from 10am til 5pm each day. Catwalk shows are at 10.30am, 12 noon, 2pm and 3.30pm
Nearest DLR station is Prince Regent.

I will be exhibiting at stand 108, along with a selection of lovely assistants throughout the weekend.

We also have a number of Free Entry tickets available, so if you would like one, email me at enquiries@mattpereira.co.uk or call me on 01252 416 431 and we’ll arrange to meet at the door.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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!

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!