Lisa and David married at Knutsford Methodist Church, then hosted their reception at Arley Hall. David works for the BBC and was able to get Jean Martyn, a finalist on the 2011 series of Britain’s Got Talent to perform whilst they signed the register who was so much fun. The vibe during the service was amazing with possibly the loudest singing I have heard at a wedding ever! A pleasure to be part of Lisa and David had an amazing day. Some words from David after the big day “Just to say the photos look amazing!! Thanks so much. Delighted if you want to feature any on your site……thanks especially for all you did on our wedding day! It was a fantastic, fantastic day. We were rather swept up in everything on the day (as you probably expect) but you were a very reassuring, calming presence and so many people commented on how good you were. Thank you.”

All images copyright Matthew Priestley Photography Ltd.

Sarah and Jamies Married at St. Vincents Church in Altrincham then it was onto the centre of Manchester for the wedding reception at the wonderful Stock Resturant. They were both really keen to use the classic archetecture as a backdrop for a few pictures so we headed off round town to do exactly that. It was a truly great day and I enjoyed every minute. Some words from Sarah, “Jamie and I love the photos. We couldn’t be happier with them and we haven’t stopped looking at them since we got them last night! You really captured every emotion of the day. Thank you so much! ”

I have worked for 9 St John Street Chambers in Manchester for 6-7 years. I visit the Chambers 2-3 times a year to photograph new members and re shoot existing ones.

Two years ago I shot Ceri and Andy’s wedding at Sandhole Oak Barn, Nr Congleton, Cheshire. Ceri made her own cake for the big day and I was so impressed I suggested she go into business making cakes on a commercial basis. This week Ceri launched her new business Mr and Mrs Cakes. Anybody getting married, or indeed having any type of event where a cake is required I would strongly recommend they contact Ceri. I wish her all the very best for her new venture I think this time next year she just might be giving up the day job!

Its that time of year again! I submitted a portfolio of images into the regional BIPP awards and managed to scoop the top Gold award in Reportage Wedding Photography, Silver in The Creative Wedding and a number of merits in the Architectural and Fine Art categories. See the winners below.

All images copyright Matthew Priestley Photography Ltd.

Gold winner Reportage Wedding Photographic Category

Merit winner Reportage Wedding photographic Category.

Silver winner Creative Wedding Photographic Category.

Merit winner Archetectual photographic Category.

Another commission from The Manchester based Motor Retailer RRG to shoot exteriors of a number of their dealerships. We were lucky with the weather on Monday just gone and it makes such a difference to the look and feel of the pictures!

These jobs are always great to do as the design and look of the dealerships, particularly Lexus allow for lots of creativity.

All images copyright Matthew Priestley Photography Ltd 2012.

I first worked with Lisa and Darren some 9 years ago when they only had two very young kids. They now have four so we met up again in February just gone and spent a couple of hours over at Dunham Massey having a blast. The kids were just fantastic!

Lisa sent some lovely words after collecting an acrylic print and portrait book after the shoot,

“Just a quick email to say how thrilled we are with the photos, they really are superb.  Also many thanks for the way you handled the family, particularly Flynn, I think it was probably perfectly obvious to you on the day that he was different to the others, but credit to you, you worked with it, never said a word and got some wonderful photos of him with the family. Rest assured, everyone who asks about these photos, we will point in your direction! Best Wishes, Lisa, Darren and of course the children”.

All images copyright Matthew Priestley Photography Ltd.

Twice a year I meet up with a group of old friends and we walk the fells and climb the peaks of the Lake District in Cumbria. The landscape is truly awe inspiring and despite travelling through many countries around the world I have yet to find any where that comes close to the beauty and ruggedness of this part of England. I always carry a compact digital camera with me when out walking and below are a selection of images taken over the last 10 years.

I attended a one day workshop, run by the legendary British landscape photographer Joe Cornish a couple of years ago. Joe started the day by saying he could no longer make a living solely from taking pictures of the landscape. He now supplements his income by teaching. Digital technology lies behind this. Years ago landscape photographers could rely on print sales and sales of stock images to make a good salary. Stock image prices over the last 5 or so years have crashed due to the massive growth in supply. No longer do you need to spend thousands on equipment to obtain great pictures. The advancement of post production software has also helped more people produce stunning imagery. Image librairies are inundated with submissions and hence the price has fallen.

Landscape photography remains a passion of mine and I only wish I had more time to commit to it.

As mentioned above all the pictures below have been taken on digital complacts then processed through Lightroom and Photoshop.

All images copyright Matthew Priestley Photography Ltd.

From time to time over the last 10 years I have run community based photographic courses for a variety of organisations throughout Greater Manchester. For the last 4 months I have run a course at a community centre in Salford. All those attending were keen amateur photographers who wanted to gain a greater understanding of  basic photographic principles. We looked at some technical stuff around aperture, shutter speed etc and spent time looking at the work of professional photographers. Each week the group were given a brief to shoot and the following week we ran a crit of the work produced. The course concluded with a day in Blackpool. The temperature was freezing but the light was fantastic and we all managed to produce some interesting pictures.