Matt Dines Photography

Santa Dash

2012-01-30T13:34:00.000-08:00

Forgot to mention on the last post - thanks to everyone who donated in the last few weeks for the Charity 'Santa Dash' that we did towards the end of the year! Between me and my flatmate Sarah we raised around £300 towards Henshaws Society for Blind People. A great cause and even though it was torrential rain on the day, there is something quite satisfying about running 10k through parks in Santa suits along with hundreds of other sodden Santas. Below are a couple of pics and a pre running warm up video:

Hot Toddy

2012-01-27T09:20:00.000-08:00

I've got a couple of hours spare this afternoon so thought I would update from my previous post with latest goings on..

So as stated previously, we did a really cool wedding at the Lowry Theatre at Salford Quays. Pictures can be seen on the previous post. Its a great place for a wedding. The reception was in an upstairs area set away from all the crowds of the theatre goers. As the sun was setting it created amazing light through the windows surrounding the whole room. Was great to see some Danish traditions towards the end of the night also, the bride being surrounded by men looking for a kiss as soon as the groom left the room, the couple having to kiss every time the crowds stamped their feet and finally with the groom having the end of his socks cut off.. no idea what the meaning is in all this but good fun and great for us to photograph!

Speaking of doing shoots at Salford Quays, am soon to be doing a Pre Wedding shoot there for a couple getting married later this year so I am looking forward to again using the great architecture as a backdrop for this.
2012 is looking like it might be our busiest yet for weddings. September is now fully booked with weddings and we have others scattered throughout the year now to look forward to shooting and keep us busy.

Its always nice to have thank you from clients so when this came through the post fairly recently it made my day:

One final wedding related note - I'm hopefully doing a couple of Trash the Dress shoots in February and hopefully if the ideas we want to go with come through then i'm hoping for some really quirky images! Will keep you posted on that one..

So in none wedding related news, just before Christmas I was asked to do a photoshoot for both Barnardo's and KFC.

KFC was launching a corporate charity partnership with Barnardo's, focusing on its experience of hiring people who were not previously in employment, education or training. My task was to go and photograph the young people who were in work experience, with the images to be used for a conference regarding the project. Was great to be involved in something positive, seeing how the experience was actually helping these people who might be struggling to get any experience without this help. Definitely the kind of work I would like to do more of in the future..

That's enough for now. It is Friday afternoon after all and even though i've eventually been hit by some kind of bug that is doing the rounds I am forcing myself to go out and be sociable for a bit tonight. Hot Toddies all round!

Latest Wedding - The Lowry, Salford Quays

2012-01-20T06:57:00.000-08:00

Latest wedding Images taken at The Lowry Theatre and around Salford Quays.. really great venue for weddings and a definite contrast to most weddings I have photographed before. Was a lot of fun:

Tonight Matthew...

2011-12-04T06:23:00.001-08:00

It's Sunday afternoon. It's cold. So it's turn the fire on and blog time. I'm not feeling too chatty today though. I think because yesterday I did a 10 hour shift loading and moving heavy crates. God knows why I signed up to it. Actually I do know. It's because its Christmas nearly and I need the extra pennies. Anyway, that combined with lots of running recently means my body is so upset me with right now. I feel like i've aged a lot in the last few days. So.. backtracking to my last blog - here are a few images from a wedding we got to do in London a while back:

It was great to do a Wedding further afield and Sabina and I had a great road trip down to London armed with flasks of tea and full on picnic food. Davenport House in Greenwich was a great venue and the whole thing was far less stressful than I anticipated a London wedding to be. Added bonus was ordering Domino's pizza to the hotel room afterwards. Winner!

In other news, I have sold 3 images through New Blood Art recently which was a another handy bit of cash before Christmas. It had all gone rather quiet with New Blood recently so it was a nice surprise to get some emails confirming that I had sales. I keep saying this but I must find time to do some new work and submit it online. Life is going so darned fast at the moment though. Today is the 1st day ive been able to sit down and relax and still in the back of my mind i'm aware that weddings need to be edited still. But that is tomorrows job I have decided.

A couple of weeks ago we got to do a wedding at the Lowry Theatre in Salford Quays. Lovely couple and a great venue. Not one I had ever considered before for weddings but it totally works with all the great architecture. Pics will be up soon.

At the end of October I moved back to Manchester and moved into a house in Old Trafford. I'm really settling into it and over the last few weeks have made it quite homely. I've never owner a property before and so am loving the fact that I can decorate it and do what ever I want to it for once. I haven't actually done too much yet but one thing I was planning on doing was to get rid of the Hexagon archway into the living room. However this Hexagon is a grower and the more I see it the more I like it. For a recent house warming I decided to embrace the Hexagon with flashing blue lights. The picture doesnt do it justice. It really is amazing. At some point I need to have a Stars in Your Eyes party with a glitter curtain hanging from the Hexagon, a smoke machine to add drama and of course I will be Matthew. Other people have said it is like a portal from Star Wars. I can see that.

I have recently been to couple of brilliant gigs - Ane Brun at the Deaf Institute was absolutely fantastic, such a lively and dramtic show and so unexpected. Her new album is also brill. Then also was The Antlers at Sound Control. Again the live performance was amazing, very haunting and emotional. They write some right bloody sad songs those Antlers. Don't listen to them if you're hungover. You have been warned..

Oh yes I mentioned about running before - I have been practising for a 10K Santa dash which I am doing in 1 weeks time. Details are HERE so please do donate if you so wish!

Anyway, i'm too hungry to continue so i'm off.

2011-10-06T13:49:00.000-07:00

Autumn is certainly upon us today. It has been horrible. I stepped outside and was pelted with hail followed by gale force winds followed by a downpour. And I had no coat. So that was fun. But I shouldnt complain, last week saw the hottest October day in history and I thoroughly enjoyed lazing outside in the sun pretending it was the middle of summer.
Exciting news (well for me only) - I am moving into my own place very shortly! I am hoping for middle of October although have still not been given the exact date but soon I shall be a home owner living back in Manchester. Joining me will be the lovely Miss Bulmer who will staying with me - on the back of the promise that she intends to bake lots of treats. I will be documenting all this as soon as I have the keys! Happy days!

September once again was a busy month with a couple more weddings to photograph as well as finishing a back log of editing from previous weddings which has now all been finalised and sent off to the happy couples. Towards the start of September I did a wedding in my home town of Congleton at the impressive gothic Town Hall building. It was great to do a wedding so close to home and even better because I already knew the couple. It was a very unique vintage themed wedding and you could tell a lot of preparation had gone into making a personal and memorable day for everyone. Small details including the home made birdcage table plan and over hanging tree with fairy lights helped create a great atmosphere. As did the Ceilidh Dance at the end of the evening! I had to get involved with that one so I put my camera down and started busting some moves with everyone! A big congratulations go out to Yeng & Paul! I hope you both had a great day. Here are a few images:

The other September wedding saw us down in London for a wedding in Greenwich which again was a lot of fun. I'll save details of that and images until the next post.

Outside of the photography world I started a part time position at the Ministry of Justice a couple of weeks ago as an administration officer. It seems like its going to be a very good side job to my photography work. It fits around my freelance work perfectly as it's flexible working hours meaning I can to some extent choose when I go in. With the run up to Christmas already approaching and wedding season nearly ending I think its come at the right time. But as well as that I will also at some point be doing some festive offers shortly for portraits and other shoots in time for you to give lovely Christmas presents to your nearest and dearest.

One last thing and although it's horrible to end on a sad note I feel I need to make a mention.. I found out only recently that a friend of mine had her life tragically taken away from her earlier this year in an awful accident and so this post is also a tribute to her and her life. She was a very talented and promising photographer and although I hadnt really seen her in the last year or so I remember many good times and laughs we had when working at Jessops together back in the day. Rachel - I hope you are having a blast up there and taking many a nice picture! RIP! x

Summer Weddings, French Stick and Trips up North!

2011-09-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've done a post on here. Quite a lot has been going on during the summer keeping me occupied with weddings and other shoots as well as little trips away. All this has meant no time to keep up with my blogging. So I'll try and do a little recap of the last couple of months..

June and July was a busy couple of months for us with regards to wedding photography. We started off with a Liverpool wedding in the Hard Days Night hotel (the couple are big Beatles fans!) Its a great hotel and Lynn & Andy seemed to have a great day. The highlight for us was the John Lennon suite where the couple stayed for the night. Very white, bright and cool and complete with a replica white piano!

The following week, it was over to Preston where we documented the wedding of Susan and Stephen. It was an amazingly sunny warm day.. lucky for the couple really as the wedding ceremony was all outside and it really did look amazing! Below is an article I was sent from the Lancashire Evening Post:

The next wedding took us further towards Blackpool where it was the turn of Laura and Ashley to tie the knot. We had got to know the couple quite well before the wedding as we had already done the Pre Wedding photo shoot with them and we knew that they had put a lot of effort into making the day somewhat unique! It was great to work with them again and we all had a lot of fun in creating some fantastic pictures. A particular highlight was venturing down to an old boat dock where the rusty boats were a perfect backdrop to compliment the Vintage theme of the wedding. Pictures below:

Other than weddings I managed to fit in a nice trip to Paris where I sampled many a beer in the sun and got through my own body weight in French stick. I got to see all the sights including the charming Montemarte area (Amelie anyone?), the far too touristy Eiffel Tower, the very relaxing perfect afternoon drinking haunt of the Canal St Martin, the bars and restaurants of the Marais and the lovely parks and gardens. Oh and the cemeteries.. famous grave hunting is my new favorite but slightly morbid past time. Its a lot harder than you think!

July was a particularly fun time for the family also as we had relatives from America come to stay with us.. We tried to think of the best areas to take them to give them an impression of what our small country has to offer. It turns out it offers quite a lot! Mother was project manager for the south and took them to London. I was quite jealous as I couldnt go. I stepped forward and took on role as project manager for the north. After their 'amazing time' in London, the pressure was really on. So off we set and in an 8 seater van we ventured to the Lakes, power ballads blasting. I needn't have panicked. The sun was out and the scenery and small villages really were quite stunning. Rowing on the lake at Keswick was a lot of fun. Off again up to Edinburgh where a 1 night stay in a converted mental asylum went down a treat. It really was very cool. After exploring the city both by foot and open top bus we left Edinburgh and set off down to the east for our final destination, Northumberland. Again, the scenery was brilliant and if you are into your castles Northumberland is the place to go. I recommend Bamburgh. Go to the amazing tea shop (I forget its name) grab a tea and a scone, walk down to the cricket pitch which is set at the foot of the castle (which is also on the beach) and spend the afternoon watching the match. It was at this point I felt the North might have succeded over the south. In terms of offering an authentic British experience at least. Loved it!

This last picture really makes me laugh. It is quite ridiculous how quickly the whole family got dressed up. We didn't need much persuasion.

That's it for now, I have gone on way too much and as usual its waaaaay too late!

Blurry chickens

2011-06-10T09:46:00.001-07:00

I have for the last couple of months been living in the heart of the Cheshire countryside.. and its been pretty fun. I'm really embracing being surrounded by nothing but fields and trees. I keep marching out of the house armed with my camera attempting to capture some amazing scenery or some crazy wildlife shot. It's not really happened though, but I have had fun trying.
I wake up most days to the sound of chickens and ducks. They are sweet things really. And they provide eggs! Really yellow yolked fresh eggs.. I like that a lot. So to say thanks to my little feathery friends I did a photo shoot with them:

A lot of the time I got close to the chickens.. they legged it away.. so the pictures became quite blurry. But looking back at the pictures. I quite like them. I like the way it shows the chickens in their environment just doing what they do. So I took more like it:

I might turn it into a project.. The Blurry Chicken Project. I could be like the Martin Parr of the chicken photography world. But then the more I think about it, the more I think I am just becoming far too attached to country life. I also have many pictures of cows. But I shall only treat you to one such delight:

So, aside from chickens, ducks and cows I do actually have some kind of life. Eurocultured Festival was lots of fun. The weather tried to put a downer on the vibes but we refused to let it happen. Most of it was under cover anyway so we rocked up mid afternoon and the beer was soon flowing. In fact the beer was flowing so much that we actually forgot most of what was going on and just stayed in the same pub for most of the time. Special thanks go to my friends for throwing drinks down me meaning I got to know the hand dryer very well by the end of the night. All good fun.

The recent spell of good weather meant it was time to get the ghostly pins out once again and don my summer shorts. Sabina and I finally got round to making our home made cameras..

It started off as a matchbox:

And revealed itself as a fully functioning pin hole camera (with added daisies for effect):

I say fully functioning - no idea if it's worked! In fact I have a strong feeling it probably hasnt. But we shall see.. im hoping for something at least. I'll get it developed this week and reveal all.

So you wouldn't expect when out walking in the quiet country lanes with a home made camera to have a near death experience.. but that's what happened to us. Walking down the lanes and we spot some nice horses in the distance. (We both mutter to each other how we don't really like horses as they freak us out). All of a sudden, a horse from the other side of the field rears up on its back legs and lets out a horrific noise. The frantic horse then proceeds to gallop at a rapid pace right towards us. We in turn 'cack our pants' and do a little dance on the spot. The horse reaches the hedge and tries to jump over. Realising it can't quite do it, it keeps rearing up, somewhat possessed. I decide its my bright red t shirt that has startled it, Sabina yells at me to 'TAKE YOUR TOP OFF!!'. No matter which way I turned the horse chased me. In the end I hid behind the hedge, crawled army style passed the field and on our way to safety.. it really was quite traumatic. And we got no sympathy from my family when we returned to tell the tale.

Other than that, Sabina and I have made great progress with developing a name and website solely for our wedding work.. I wont reveal anymore now as things are still to be decided but we hope to have everything up and running in time for when our next batch of weddings begin. All quite exciting stuff though!

May 2011

2011-05-26T05:50:00.000-07:00

Today is a miserable miserable day.. I haven't left the house yet as the rain will not cease! I hope it gets nice for the weekend as I am hoping to go to the Manchester Eurocultured Festival which is normally lots of fun. Well it has been in previous years anyway so come on weather, sort it out and shine down on us please!

For the last bank holiday at the start of May a few of us decided to get back to nature and venture over to the beautiful countryside of Snowdonia.. the weather was sunny and dry and had it not been for the near gale force winds it would have been perfect. We stayed at the Lake Gwynant campsite and I would recommend it to anyone. Amazing scenery, weather and some good skills with the BBQs and firepits meant we were well fed and not quite frozen solid during the evening. Although it was touch and go, we managed to climb to the top of Snowdon without being blown off the edge.. it was a great walk - i'd love to do the 3 peaks challenge now!

Well wedding season is pretty much upon us and so we are starting to get busier with final meetings before the big day.

Last week saw us venture into the 'Pre Wedding Shoot' territory and it is something I am keen to get into further down the line as not only can we get creative with the couple and take them to locations of our choice, it also allows us to get to know the couple better and for them to get used to being photographed before the big day.

So for this one, the couple are having a vintage inspired wedding and so they wanted to capture this with the pre wedding shoot. We scouted around the Preston area looking for suitable locations and stumbled across a gem of a field perfect for the shoot:

I never got round to making the home made camera that I mentioned in the last shoot as other things kept getting in the way.. but next Friday is officialy 'Creative Day' in my diary so hopefully I will be doing it then..

One last thing before I go - a huge congratulations have to be mentioned on here to one of my best mates who has finally given birth to little James - here's to many sleepless nights for you Georgie.

2011-04-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

Hello hello.. and a warm welcome - for it is now warm hurrah!

I've been out in the sun the last couple of days attempting to get a tan to my normal pasty white skin. But it's not happened. Think we need a few more days of sun before that happens. But the forecast for tomorrow is cloud. Is that summer over I wonder?

Last night me and Sabina spent around an hour trying to get a BBQ going, chucking anything that burns on it in the hope of a cooked sausage. We finally got it going only for it to start to rain once the coals got hot.. In typical British manner we sat in the rain saying how it was just a brief cloud and it would pass. It was only when the rain got heavy and the CD player stopped working we realised it might be time to move inside. Oh how I love the British Summer!

So what's been going on lately.. well since my last post I've had a number of opportunities to try out my 50mm lens and am slowly getting to love it.

Amongst other things, I did some portrait shots in the studio for a family:

I documented a charity night in Sale featuring an eclectic array of bands and musicians finished by the brilliant covers band - 'Guitar Heroes'. The night which was named Sustainable Beats was a fundraising evening organised by my good friend Fiona and was in aid of Action For Sustainable Living (AfSL) and their work within Trafford as well as raising awareness for the work that they do in the area. For more info:

http://www.afsl.org.uk/

And before I finish I will just add a few photos for my good friend Gemma who has this week jetted off over to South Korea to work for the next year.

As a big horse woman (to clarify - not an actual giant half horse/half human - just a woman that likes horses big time!) I went along with her to one of her last visits to the stables and took some pictures of her with Henry. I'd just like to point out - horses really freak me out. They are huge! But I got some nice pics anyway and again it was a great experience to play around with the new lens.

Anyway, hope you like them Gem and hope you are having fun!

That's it for this post. By my next post I am hoping to have made my own camera and taken some pictures with that.. so we shall see how that goes. And once they have been scanned in I will get them online (if it works).

Enjoy the rest of the Easter weekend!

2011-03-18T09:19:00.000-07:00

February saw our 1st wedding of 2011 - located at a small cosy venue in Lower Peover in Cheshire. The day saw Laura and Simon get married in front of friends and family in a amazing conservatory building fortunately with the sun making an unexpected appearance shining through. The wedding was intimate and personal with little touches such as the wedding tree and personalised table plans making it seem extra special. The playlist was particularly nice as well I thought as I remember singing along to Noah and the Whale, Guillemots etc.. hope no one noticed.
A few images from the day are below:

The other day I bought myself a 50mm 1.4 lens. It was strange how excited I got about it. Its probably not right that I was that excited but you know.. I really wanted it. I've not had the chance to test it out yet apart from earlier on today when I played pooh sticks on Chorlton Ees and took a couple of shots. I cant wait to get out and use it properly.. pictures will be on here soon I am sure. But below is evidence of our pooh sticks fun anyway. In fact its been quite a summery day today.. a burger for lunch (with onions of course), a walk down by the river and then a pint of ale in the beer garden.. cant complain really.
Im not actually as evil as I look in the picture below. I look like some weird guard of the bridge that comes out of the shadows whenever people cross and I challenge them with Pooh Sticks to see if they can cross.

I haven't got much more to report at the moment. Im moving out of my flat again in 2 weeks.. I cant be bothered with the actual move. Its annoying as hell.. but I shall soon be based in the hearty Cheshire countryside during the Summer and am quite looking forward to it. Im sure I will be in Chorlton a lot of the time still. Keeping in with the summery vibe.. I am totally addicted to all 3 of the Shins albums at the moment. They have such a summers day dreamy vibe to them. Im sure they will be played a lot of the next few months. I dont care that I am about 5 years too late in being addicted to them. They are wonderful!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bof3xzdUmJU

2011-02-03T05:47:00.000-08:00

January was an unusually good month for me this year. I managed to miss out on the usual doom and gloom thanks to a good friend of mine who was getting married in Canada. So as I was venturing so far I thought I might as well turn it into a mini travelling adventure and so did a 17 day trip taking me to Vancouver, Whistler and San Francisco.

It was a really good time to visit. Crowds were low, skiing in Whistler was great, the weather in San Francisco was perfect for sightseeing and I had none of the January blues which a lot of my bitter friends and family seemed to have.

But all good things come to an end so I am now back to reality. The last couple of weeks I have been looking at promoting myself further, looking at new ideas, editing techniques and getting very very tempted to invest in new equipment. Me and my friend the other night were chatting away about cameras and lenses etc and before we knew it, it was 12am.. Photography is such a geeky profession haha. But at least I have others who share my passion! PHO-TOG-RA-PHY!!
Anyway, here are a few images from my recent trip away:

Picture 1 - Alcatraz hidden in the fog
Picture 2 - Painted Ladies, Alamo Square
Picture 3 - San Francisco Cable Car
Picture 4 - Golden Gate Bridge
Picture 5 - Golden Gate Park
Picture 6 - Vancouver
Picture 7 - Cold Whistler
Picture 8 - Alcatraz at Sunset

2011-01-24T12:59:00.000-08:00

It seems I need to get a bit better as this blogging.. I've been told I don't do it enough by other people in the blogging world so from now on - more effort will be made.
So whats been going on? Well quite a lot recently. I havent wrote anything since... the start of November! God.. time really does fly.
The end of the year was a busy couple of months with numerous different things going on. In the photography world I did a nice winter wedding up in the countryside of Pendle Hill - a nice scattering of snow the night before and a gorgeous sunny day made for a great backdrop for the portrait and group shots.. I like it when nature gives you a helping hand -

Other photography work nearer to Christmas was a very festive task of documenting the Christmas lights in Manchester and Leeds. Was quite a fun task really apart from it was finger numbingly cold. It took 2 of us a few days to get the whole lot done as the best ones were taken at the hour between daylight and darkness. Doesnt give you much time to rush around the city with tripod in hand.

Other than that I had quite a decent run of gigs to go and see in the build up to Christmas - taking me all over including a lovely intimate gig by The Irrepressibles in Manchester, a very energetic gig up in the otherwise depressingly quiet Blackpool with Vampire Weekend (bouncy floor at Empress ballroom - love it!) and a bit of rock pop with the family at Biffy Clyro at Manchester Central. All good fun.

Finally, one other evening worth a mention was Children In Need where once again myself, along with a few family members, friends and many others manned the phones for the night taking call after call from the generous public donating their hard earned cash. Another great but very tiring night had by all!

Finally, straight after New Years I jetted off to Canada and USA for Lesbian wedding celebrations, skiing (or rather tumbling) and 24 hour train journeys. But i'll save that for the next blog as its getting late.

:D

2010-11-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

Hubble bubble toil and trouble...

OK so I might be a day late for that one but never mind - Hope everyone had a good Halloween!

Well, just thought I would make you aware of a current offer I have going on:

With Christmas creeping ever closer I currently have an offer on portrait shoots in the studio:

• 1 hour photo shoot in a relaxing, warm studio based in Chorlton, South Manchester.
• Photos from the shoot provided to you on a CD saved at poster size quality for you to print as you wish. (No hidden costs)
• A great gift idea for all the family – Kids Portraits, family portraits, Individual Portraits.
• 1 hour Photo Shoot and CD of images all for £80
• Optional Prints from a specialised professional photo lab from £5 per print.

If interested, please don’t hesitate to get in touch for further details or to arrange a booking!

mattdines@hotmail.com
07834241053

I've posted a few examples below of portraits that I did last week, but whatever your style - just let me know and we should be able to get some good shots!

Anyway, that's it for today. I'll do another blog with other goings on in the next couple of weeks.

2010-09-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

Hi again..

I can't believe we are nearly in October already. These weeks are flying by. Im not enjoying these dark mornings. They are not so fun! Anyway, best get used to it as the summer is well and truly over. Its annoying me though really as at the moment it's not quite cold enough to wear my thick coat but too cold not towear it.. dilemmas dilemmas!
Weather aside, the last few weeks have been quite busy which is always good. I spent the most of last week editing 2 weddings I have done recently.. They both turned out well and I hope both couples were happy with the results. Wedding editing is so time consuming - I always underestimate how long it will actually take. So it's been plenty of brews and late nights recently. Im very glad for the likes of Spotify during these times.
Other wedding news, got quite a few booked up for next year which is great. Seems like the website, blogs and facebook etc are worthwhile after all as people are getting in touch far more regularly.

With regards to my work on New Blood Art (www.newbloodart.com)
I have sold another 8 images since my last post bringing the total to 20 so great news. Tomorrow i'm spending a few hours dedicated to brainstorming more ideas for new work that could go on there..
I went to this exhibition last week which was really interesting and provided me with some thoughts to ponder on:

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/exposure/default.shtm

I've always had a fascination with this kind of photography.. I have a few ideas running round my head but cant quite see how to put it together yet. Hopefully that will come in time.

What else has been going on? Oh I booked tickets to go to Vancouver and San Francisco in January 2011 which is very exciting! A very good friend of mine is getting married over there so I decided to go over for a 16 day adventure! I'm hoping there will be many a photo opportunity there!

As mentioned in the last blog I did a shoot in the studio a few weeks back with a hair stylist and some models.. a few of the images are below for you to feast your eyes upon:

2010-08-19T06:55:00.000-07:00

Time for blog number 3. This was meant to come sooner but I moved house at the end of July and you know how long it takes to set the internet up but now I am finally online once again..

So, some good news on the selling work side of things - since joining New Blood Art (www.newbloodart.com)I have sold 12 images. The last sale was for 8 images of my Urban Unrest series. This has pleased me no end. I always liked that project.. but never really thought about selling it until recently. And i've realised that making sales is quite a good motivator to do more personal work. So thats what I plan to do over the new few weeks. I am at the moment trying to brainstorm new ideas. Although I find it quite hard to brainstorm and think creatively when on my own. So i may be calling on some of you creative peeps soon to help give me some inspiration.

In other news, i've been away down south for a few days at the start of August. London followed by Brighton.. took the camera with me but somehow forgot to take any pictures. Think it was a combination of the bad weather and the distractions of good food and a few too many drinks. Much fun was had though!

I've got a couple of weddings coming up over the next 2 weekends so I'm hoping the weather stays nice for that! Also I am doing a hair/fashion photo shoot next week which should be interesting. Its for a hair stylists competition.. the theme they are going with is secret Garden.. so I shall post pictures next time with how they turn out.
Speaking about studios.. i really want one of my own. I might have to look into it.

Anyway, here's a few examples of the Urban Unrest series for those of you who have never seen it before:

June 2011

2010-07-02T04:27:00.001-07:00

Well here I am for blog number 2..

Have been quite busy recently with a number of different things going on. Most recently and definitely the most exciting for me was Glastonbury festival. Wow! It was my first time and now I know what all the fuss is about. We wanted to make the most of it so camped for 5 nights and had 5 days of the hottest weather of the year so far! We just managed to watch the second half of the England v Slovenia match which was a great atmosphere (we didnt watch the England v Germany game though thank goodness!).
Highlights of the festival for me were, in some kind of order of brilliantness..

Muse - absolutely amazing!! (Seeing them again in September - already excited!)
Hot Chip
Dizzee Rascal
Vampire Weekend
Groove Armada
Phoenix

Think I have a slight case of post Glastonury blues now though..

Anyway, in more photography related news. I'm really pleased to have been accepted by New Blood Art to sell my work. New Blood art specialise in original art online by emerging artists and will hopefully help me sell some of my pieces. In fact, at the moment i'm currently on the home page as the Director's Pick so that's great! Details can be found on the following links:

http://www.newbloodart.com/
http://www.newbloodart.com/artist.php?ArtistID=596

Other than that, I did another wedding in June which went really well. It was a beautiful sunny day and both bride and groom looked amazing.. A few images from the wedding are shown below:

Matt Dines Photography

2010-06-03T05:47:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

My photography website is now up and running. If anyone is looking for a wedding / studio photographer then check out the website for full details including example images and prices etc:

www.mattdinesphotography.co.uk

As always, if you are looking for photography geared more towards bands, musicians, actors, live gigs, fashion etc then check out my separate website for examples of work and further details:

www.blackcherryphotography.co.uk

I hope to keep this blog updated with relevant news, updates on shoots, special offers etc as well as general chit chat so keep checking it out...

Anyway, here's a few pictures from last weekend when I ventured down south to Stonehenge and Bath for a bit of camping fun...