For City businesses
Law firms, insurers, asset managers and professional-services partnerships book differently to a start-up in Shoreditch. A hundred-partner firm needs every portrait lit and cropped the same way, because six different photographers over six years is exactly what an inconsistent “meet the team” page looks like.
Compliance review matters more here than in most industries: a photo that suits a creative agency’s Instagram can look wrong in a regulated firm’s annual report. I shoot corporate photography from £250 with that built in from the first frame, not fixed later in the edit.
The buildings set the tone: glass towers on Bishopsgate and Leadenhall Street, Georgian conversions near Guildhall with lifts too narrow for a tripod bag. My studio sits in Shoreditch, giving wider East London coverage and putting most City addresses within thirty minutes.
What you get
A City booking is priced by the day, though the building logistics below often decide how long a “half day” runs on site.
| Booking | What it covers | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Half day (up to 4 hours) | Executive portraits, a short event or a small team session | £250 |
| Full day | Executive portraits, all-hands, office imagery or conference coverage | £500 to £700 |
| Executive portrait session | One or two executives or partners, formal portraits | From £250 |
| Add headshots to the day | Individual staff headshots booked alongside a half or full day | From £150 per person |
| Out-of-hours or weekend | Evenings, weekends or bank holidays | Loading added at quote stage |
See full pricing across every service if you’re comparing this against a headshot day booked in the same visit. Every quote is confirmed before the day, not adjusted afterwards.
Getting into the building
This decides whether a City shoot runs to time, not the photography. Most towers want photo ID registered with security about a week ahead, and anyone above ground floor usually needs a visitor badge and, in some buildings, an escort.
Some lobbies will not allow a tripod without prior notice; handheld with a fast 35mm or a 24-70 covers most of what a tripod would. Goods lifts need booking separately from passenger lifts, and loading bays on streets like Fenchurch Street run to windows, not open access.
- Company name and floor, plus a contact for security registration
- Confirmation of tripod policy and whether a goods lift needs booking
Send that a week out, and see recent work across London for what a well-planned building shoot looks like once edited.
Procurement, POs and insurance
This wins a City booking, more than the portfolio does. I carry £5m public liability cover as standard, with certificates supplied before the day. Invoices go out against a PO number if you supply one, on 30-day terms, and I don’t need payment on the day itself.
NDAs get signed without back-and-forth; most legal teams in the City send one before I even raise it. If yours has a standard version, send it over when you confirm the date.
- PO number, if you are raising one, and the invoicing contact
- Certificates of insurance, sent by email ahead of the shoot
None of this holds up a booking. It just needs sorting before the morning, not during it.
Executive and partner portraits
Fifteen minutes a person is the usual slot, and four of those go on getting someone to stop performing “photo face” and just stand there. That’s the real constraint on this job: not the kit, not the light, the clock.
A boardroom photographs badly nine times out of ten: fluorescent panels overhead, a laminate table throwing a green cast, glass walls behind the chair reflecting the corridor. I’d argue the boardroom is almost never the right spot, whatever the booking email suggests. A corridor with window light or a reception desk with a plain wall usually beats the room everyone assumes is “the smart one.”
When a headshot booking is enough
Twelve partners needing one clean portrait each for the website and LinkedIn don’t need a corporate day. Book headshots instead: a fixed station, one backdrop, five minutes each, priced per person rather than by my time.
Where the full day earns its price: a board pack going to investors, a firm-wide rebrand, or genuine event coverage alongside the portraits. If you are only after headshots, say so when you enquire. I’d rather quote the cheaper job accurately than upsell a half day nobody needs.
Send me the building, the headcount and a date, then tell me the date and the postcode and I will reply within one working day with a price and what your building needs for access.