I don't wish to make price comparisons with other photographers difficult for you, but I don't have set rates.

To get a quick idea of prices, however, please visit the pages on this website that correspond to the type of photography you are looking for. For example, visit the portraits > view packages section.

My client base is varied and exciting, and I find people connect with me a lot more when I provide them with a quotation that takes into account their specific budget, photographic needs, and special dietary requirements. (Okay, maybe not that last bit.)

I write every quotation from scratch after a quick chat with you - even family portraits and basic headshots!

Furthermore - and this is an important point - I believe that if you are merely looking to find the photographer with the lowest hourly rate, there's no doubt that you will be disappointed with the results. This is not to say you shouldn't choose according to a budget, but the reason is that there are literally thousands of people in London with a digital SLR who will jump at the chance to get paid to take photographs. When choosing a photographer, it's very important you look closely at what you are getting!

Mat Smith Photography will chat through any budgetary limitations you might have and be honest and up-front about what's possible, and this will be reflected in the quotation you receive.

I'm perfectly happy to disclose how I come up with prices! In most cases the only factors affecting the quotation are location, time, and equipment requirements. However there are some other more subtle factors that can affect the price: whether a client requires the full resolution files or not, how many prints are included in a package, the type of prints, the chance of repeat print business, the client profile, whether or not I am able to use resultant images in my portfolio, the circulation and credit of images and their exposure, and whether or not concession may be granted in special cases or charity work.

From the moment you receive your first email notification that a PDF of your meeting notes was uploaded to your private client area for your approval, you will probably start to understand I take planning and communications very seriously.

Mat Smith Photography has Professional Indemnity and Public Liability Insurance by Hiscox, and a certificate of insurance can be provided upon request. Despite this, you should always take out insurance to cover all aspects of your wedding, including your photographer.

Mat Smith Photography takes your wedding day very seriously. Your wedding photographs are backed-up throughout the day using mobile data backup equipment. The images are then triplicated (is that even a word?) ... copied again, once they get back to the studio.

As if that's not enough (WARNING: Geek Alert), during the editing process, a secondary backup of the digital negatives is stored on data redundant drives in a separate, secure location. Sorry for getting all geeky there. I just needed to point out that I understand things can go all kinds of wrong, and that I like to make sure this never happens with paying clients' work!

Not at all. I'll fill in the gaps where necessary, and chase-up the details at a later date.

Chat with friends. You may be surprised to learn how many say they were disappointed with their wedding photos. I have a few theories about this, but for now I'll say the following: if you care about your wedding photos, you must take the time to meet various different photographers.

If you are 'phoning around, looking for prices and comparing them to the photos you see on a website, there is a high likelihood you will be disappointed with your wedding photos.

Step 1. Find a photographer. Fall in love with their photos. Ignore prices for now.

Step 2. Meet the photographer.

Step 3. Keep meeting, until he or she agrees to take the photos at the price you are able to afford.

This is not timewasting. You are not wasting the photographer's time. You want beautiful photographs and you love their work. Photography is passion.

Write me a quick "hello" using the wedding enquiry page. Call me on 07970 938694. Email to info@matsmithphotography.com.

As a wedding client of mine, you have unlimited meetings with me. The first is a no-strings meeting that I give when you are choosing your wedding photographer, during which I ask a lot of questions about your day, and learn what you are looking for. Sometimes I like to have a cocktail, sometimes it's best to get straight down to business. After this meeting, I will take about two weeks to formulate a plan and come up with a formal, detailed, written quotation with three packages, and I will email this to you. The middle package will be around the price and features that you said you were looking for, and the other two will offer more and fewer options with respective pricing. During this two weeks, we can still chat about anything that changes. I put an awful lot of work into this process, and so I ask if you settle on someone else for your wedding photography, that you let me know as soon as possible. Otherwise, the next stage...

Secure your booking by paying a 40% deposit, then sit back and let me take control of the wedding photography plans. If you prefer, you can plan everything without me and trust I'll turn up and do the right thing, but in most cases the wedding day plans take account of the photographer.

Either way, you can expect me to keep you updated with my plans as they progress, and I will ensure they tie-in closely with yours. I like meetings (drinks), and hope that I will be able to get into your lives a little bit, as I'll be the closest person to you both throughout the most important day of your lives.

I'm the kind of person who will likely have phone numbers printed out and stored in three different places on the day. Where necessary, I will do a timed dry-run of your wedding some time in the preceding week to check traffic, light, and weather. This is in addition to the trips I make to scope out the venues a number of weeks beforehand. There is always a Plan B for inclement weather. I will have chatted to you about where we'll shoot in case of rain, and I will have probably checked that you have made similar contingency for other aspects of your day. Before the big day, I will have already met face-to-face with your registrar or vicar - or at least called them - checked details with venue staff, and researched online the loveliest opportunities for portraits. I don't wait until I get back to the studio to back-up my photos; this is done using mobile backup which comes everywhere with me.

I love the spontaneous moments, but strongly dislike unforseen surprises!

In many cases, the wedding photographer will be closer to both bride and groom during the day than anyone else. For that reason, it helps to get a photographer who is flexible, handy, charming, and on-top of the day's plans; one who will ensure your day runs smoothly.

If there's an extravagant scheme for transport that involves someone having to call ahead to the best man to let him know to start a phone chain to let your guests know that the wedding party has set off, or to ensure - on pain of death - that the bride doesn't accidentally bump into the groom because they are getting ready in the same hotel, I will be that person. Hint: every wedding has at least one such extravagant scheme!

I'm one of those wedding photographers you can rely on to tell your mother she looks gorgeous, pass messages on from your best man, and charm your grandmother.

Yes. I am well-connected, please just ask. Specifically, I have make-up and hair people I like to work with.

Yes. The term "wedsite" is a somewhat unsubtle concatenation of the words "wedding" and "website". For example, you may like to direct your wedding guests to e.g. www.jennyandjim.com for information about your wedding day, maps, guest lists, hotels in the area, links to the wedding gift list, and engagement photos of you both. Perhaps you would like to go green, and ask your guests to respond to their wedding invitations online. (Don't worry, we'll make sure Grandma and Great Aunt Dorothy are included even though they can't use the Internet!)

Once the wedding is over, you can also display photographs of your wedding for guests to download directly. Mat Smith Photography offers custom designed "wedsites", and can take care of everything from managing your guestlist to putting the finished photos on and making them password protected if necessary. Your "wedsite" is quoted for two years of being online, and after that there is a year-upon-year fee for its continuation.

This is a bespoke web design service which integrates with the photography services of Mat Smith Photography. If details change in the lead-up to your wedding day, you may telephone or email through site updates and discuss directly with the web designer.

Prices start at £525 including VAT for consultation, setup, webspace, domain name, custom site design, and managed site updates before your wedding day, and site online for two years in total. A sizeable discount may be available if you are also employing the services of Mat Smith Photography for your wedding. Please make an enquiry.

Yes. Although...

I have no idea! But some people, mostly the other side of the Atlantic ocean from here, have it in their heads that a wedding dress is something merely to be worn on one day, and that trashing the wedding dress once the wedding is over is a symbol of rebellion against the social norms of the over sentimentality usually invested into the day itself, and they take an idealistic stand against the momentary nature of the wedding day in favor [sic] of the more permanent things it represents such as lifelong commitment, True Love, and eternity. Truthfully, I just made up the above, but I do know that it's a new craze to take yourself, your groom, your photographer, and your dress for a swim in the sea for photos, and yes I will happily partake in such an arrangement, it sounds like fun, but your mother might disapprove.

If I come to your place, which is my preference as it allows for easier 'costume' changes, I can usually have a very good range of images representing different styles shot within a two hour period. As a guide, this would yield around 10 very good headshot portraits.

I honestly believe you can be made to look like a prince or a princess without the need for extensive editing!

That said, I have been asked to remove spots, obliterate bags under eyes, tighten skin, rework face-shape, thin wrinkles, remove feeding tubes from noses, remove fire extinguishers from wedding photos, get rid of pillars, remove bird mess from cars, reconstruct entire window displays from scratch. Wow! As an artist, I have standards and views on such matters. But as a commissioned photographer, I keep these to myself, and perform to the expectations that were set according to the discussion we had before the commission was agreed.

For basic headshots, your place or mine. I prefer an indoor, relatively private place where we can concentrate on angles and light. It needn't be a studio, and it doesn't even need to be that spacious; I bring lighting equipment but this only takes up the amount of room as another person would.

We can start at your apartment, then venture out. I can suggest a range of places in London for interesting backdrops. Out of London, I'll have to rely on you for suggestions. I know you may feel self conscious having your portrait taken out in the open, where people could walk past, but this can produce some of the most interesting photographs, so it's worth the short-term embarrassment.

In most cases, you will be presented with downloads or data discs (CD/DVD Rom) of your photographs in the common image format called JPG.

However you may also require 'original files'. This is usually taken to mean that you would like uncompressed, full size versions of the edited photographs, and this can be requested at time of booking.

As for the actual 'original files', these are not available for the following reason. All work that takes place in the digital darkroom is done using 'non-destructive' editing. This means that the digital negatives are always preserved. Digital negatives, however, are of very little use to most people, as this type of image file requires processing. In short, you need special software (the specific camera profiles I use, plus professional grade photo studio software) otherwise these digital negatives will look colourless and bear no resemblance to your finished photos.

When working with agencies or other imaging professionals, digital negatives can be provided.

Although you can wear anything whatsoever you like, I often advise a little coordination. Contemporary family portraiture usually lends itself to smart jeans, pressed white or black shirts, and smart shoes. Polo necks and V-necks are great, hair down and straightened if that's what you do, the key is simplicity. Publicity shots of course require something a little more exciting and dressy, but we'll talk about that together. Depending on the backdrop, please avoid check shirts and the like (unless this is part of a specific look you are going for), and avoid clothing with lots of different colours or patterns.

Of course you can bring a friend. The more the merrier.

I know it sounds a bit David Attenborough-ish, but the kind of portraiture I like the most is where the sitter is in their natural habitat; a sitter's personality is more likely to be exposed in this case. Furthermore this habitat can contribute to the story behind the photograph: as well as being able to reflect in 10 years' time how much more young and glamorous you looked back then, it's also nice to remember that house you lived in too!

That said, I do currently run a humble studio which is adequate for commercial or conceptual work, or for those simple, minimal portraits on-white or on-black. It's also great for family photography.

After the photos are brought into the digital studio, they are immediately backed-up, and your client area on this website is created. You will receive an email any time between 2 days and 2 weeks later depending on the nature of the shoot, with information about how to log on to your client area.

The client area is a password-protected portion of this website where you are able to preview the photographs and select the ones you require. In some cases you may have all photos, in some cases you may have a selection; this will be agreed at time of booking. If there is a limit to the number of photos you can have, the reason for this is that every photo undergoes detailed review and analysis according to quality standards, as well as 'post production' to ensure all images have the same look and feel in terms of the quality of their light. This can be a time-consuming process. As to exactly what 'post production' involves, this is part of the magic.

After the photography session, and before you are presented with photographs, I will send an invoice for the total amount including VAT, which is payable within 15 days. Please pay by bank account transfer, cheque, or cash. I rarely take a deposit for portraiture.

Prints may be purchased from the new online shop. Feel free to direct the guests of your wedding or event to this shop as well.

If you like something you have seen here, please take a look at the Fine Art Prints section, where there is information about purchasing framed pieces.

Once your photographs have been issued via electronic download or DVD / CD-ROM in the post, you may consider one of the excellent free online photo services such as Flickr.com to keep a long-lasting backup or archive of your photographs.

Whilst I do keep an archive of digital negatives for my clients, I do not offer a 'restore from backup' service and once the photography work is complete I am unable to guarantee to be able to issue you with replacement files.

My intention is not to obfuscate such things, but rather that I really do see every job as a unique project. I may, in the future, devise packages for headshots and weddings, but for now, commissions are by quotation only.

The photographer, Mat Smith authored this website from scratch in notepad.

Brunch, actually.

At time of writing: creamy scrambled eggs with crème fraîche and chives on Waitrose own sourdough with fried portabella mushrooms and piccolo tomatoes. Latte, no sugar.