Well, for the second of my animal posts this week, here are a few shots of something a little larger than a kitten! I have always been fascinated with wildlife, from a very early age. I have been to Kenya a few times on some amazing photographic safaris, but unfortunately it’s somewhat of a luxury, and not something you can really do every year – so, I have to settle for second best, and go to the zoo instead!

Last Friday I took a day out and headed on over to London Zoo. I went primarily to visit the new £5.3m Gorilla Enclosure, in search for some shots of their silverback … very disappointingly, I didn’t find out until I was there that there is no silverback anymore, as he died last year … which is very sad. What I found instead were three very sleepy females (and about a million parties of school children !)

One female ventured out for about 3 minutes, to take a drink from one of the bottles of fruit juice that the keepers lob over the fence, and that was my chance to grab a few shots, in between getting bashed about by the excited school children!

I love the closed eyes in this first shot, as if the drink is everything she was hoping for … pure pleasure.

… and then looking about to keep an eye on everything …


… including me, which was a little unnerving!!


Apparently there is a new silverback coming at some point, so I shall be back soon to see what he looks like!

This afternoon I took a couple of hours out to go visit the hugely talented Caroline and photograph her beautiful new Bengal kitten, Archie. Caroline is the Studio Manager for Flourish Studios and is the lead for the team of creative genius behind my ever evolving brand and cracking Wedding Brochure.

This is the first time I have attempted any Pet Photography, and whilst, unlike babies, kittens don’t cry, they do move around rather a lot, unlike babies ! Pros and cons for each, i’d say!!

Archie is only a couple of months old, if that, and is growing larger every week. He’s full of beans, highly inquisitive and moves like he has ants in his pants – apart from when you’re not trying to photograph him, and then he sits as still as a sausage – funny that!

Bengal kittens are one of the most sought after pets in the UK, and there’s often a long waiting list for these “miniature leopards”, so I feel rather honoured to have had the opportunity to photograph him.

So, armed with my trusty camera (and my asthma inhaler – brought on by cats … oh, the irony!) Caroline, Nick and I teamed up to try and engineer some usable shots. Here are the best from the session :

Great teamwork all round !

I took a morning out today, with a friend of mine, and visited Surrey’s Wisley Gardens for the first time. In the past I have often wished I had taken my camera out with me on occasion, so made a concerted effort to do so this time around.
There was not much out and blooming, in terms of flowers, but we did happen across a couple of very friendly robins! So friendly, in fact, that the first one kept hopping so close (just 6 inches away) that he was too close, and inside the minimum focusing distance of my lens! I’ll be taking some mealworms next time round …

Here are a couple of shots that I was lucky enough to get.

Just a quick post to wish everybody a wonderful Christmas and smashing New Year!

I don’t normally post things of a personal nature, but that may well change soon, who knows??! On this Boxing Day 2009, however, I wanted to share something with you all that hopefully marks the end of an awfully painful saga for me. The purchase of a new car! My old car was in the garage for 4 annoying months before it was finally written off, and all because of an accident that happened over a year ago, caused by someone leaving a spare wheel in the middle of the road!

Anyhow, after much pain and way too many courtesy cars, I have finally settled on the lovely car below. This is a shot of Dad and I on Christmas Day after an afternoon drive in the glorious sun!

Merry Christmas once again and wishing you all a fruitful and happy New Year …

The studio will be closed for a few weeks whilst we take a well earned and well deserved break in Southern Italy !

The phones and email will be manned though, as Liz will be in to keep things ticking along.

Please do email us with your enquiries to enquiries@mattpereira.co.uk, or call us on 01252 416 431 to leave a message, and someone will be back to you within 48 hours.

See you when we get back!