Mel Butler Photography has over 30 years experience in the photographic and creative industries, specialising in music and event photography, weddings and press photography, graphic and web design and social media management.

It started in the garden shed in 1986, which doubled up as Mel’s photographic darkroom and her father’s large stash of Scottish & Newcastle products. After acquiring a 35mm Konica compact camera that Christmas, Mel started to document the alternative subculture of Middlesbrough, spending many hours in the make shift darkroom shed developing and printing from black and white 35mm film.

After a painful 5 years in secondary education, Mel went onto study art and design at the now named Northern School Of Art – formally known as Cleveland College of Art & Design – in Middlesbrough where she specialised in photography.

Spending several years in administrative job roles, Mel got a lucky break working for motorcycle publication Back Street Heroes as an Editorial Assistant – implementing her flare for detail and composition. She continued working for both Back Street Heroes and 100% Biker as a freelance photo-journalist after she left the publication when it relocated to London. In 2004, Mel returned to college to study Graphic Design and achieved a HNC in the subject and went onto Huddersfield University, where she graduated with a BA in Digital Photography and won the Penguin Book Cover Competition of 2005 for the cultural icon ‘Hell’s Angels’ by Hunter S Thompson.

For the past 2 decades, Mel has forged out a successful freelance career in the creative industry, providing creative services to numerous clients mainly in the music industry.

She lives in the North East of England with her husband John and four cats.