On the day or after
On the ceremony day you get the gown, the family, the noise, and about forty minutes queueing behind everyone else after the same shot outside the same building. The university’s photographer runs a production line, fine for one portrait but not for anything considered. Booking the ceremony itself is closer to event photography from £350 than a quiet portrait session.
I’d book the week after. Same gown, same cap, no queue, and light that has not gone flat by midday. It runs like ordinary portrait sessions from £200, just with a gown over your shoulder. More on timing sits in planning a graduation shoot, useful if your ceremony and your free week do not line up.
Prices
A standard graduation session runs £200 for 45 minutes and 20 edited images, gown, cap and all. Family can join for the last fifteen minutes at no extra cost. If you want a longer, dedicated family session instead, that is family sessions from £250 and worth booking separately if there are more than six of you.
| What | Price |
|---|---|
| 45-minute session, 20 edited images | £200 |
| Family group added to the session | Included |
| On-the-day coverage, with queueing | £250 |
| Two-hour ceremony coverage | £350 |
| Prints and framing | From £25 |
| Group session, 3–4 graduates sharing | £140 per person |
See full pricing across every service if you are weighing this up against a family shoot or an event booking on the same day.
Where to shoot near the London universities
A few spots come up again and again, depending on which university:
- Russell Square, for UCL: green and central, full of gowns on results day, so go the week after for quiet.
- Somerset House courtyard, near King’s: the classic backdrop, but professional shoots need permission first.
- Lincoln’s Inn Fields, near LSE: even shade under the plane trees, rarely crowded.
- Kensington Gardens, for Imperial: room to spread out, though weekends bring tourists too.
- Mile End Park and the Regent’s Canal towpath, for Queen Mary: quiet, with soft water light in the evening.
- Greenwich Park, for the University of Greenwich: the best backdrop of the lot, but it’s a Royal Park, so some setups need permission in advance.
University grounds and public squares each set their own rules on tripods and commercial shoots, worth confirming before the day. I keep a portrait work across London gallery if you want to see how a few of these look in different light.
Gowns, hoods and hats
A gown that has been folded in a bag for a week does not hang right. The hood is the part everyone gets wrong, twisting under the collar within about thirty seconds, so I’m forever reaching over to straighten it between frames. A few things help before we start:
- Hang the gown on a hook in the car on the way over, not folded on the back seat.
- Bring flat shoes to change into. Heels sink into grass in every park on this list.
- Check the mortarboard fits snugly. Loose ones tip forward the moment you look down.
Everyone wants the hat-throw shot. Almost nobody gets a good one, because a dozen people throw at once and the frame fills with someone else’s mortarboard. I would rather shoot it separately, just you and maybe one friend, thrown twice, caught once. Fewer hats in the air photographs better, not more.
Sharing a session with friends
Three or four graduates from the same course splitting a 90-minute session works out at £140 each, cheaper than four separate £200 bookings and usually more fun. You still get your own set of solo portraits, plus the group shots everyone actually wants for the family group chat.
It works better than it sounds. Waiting your turn while a friend gets photographed isn’t dead time, it is a laugh, and the group shots come out looser and more relaxed because everyone is already warmed up by the third person.
When the university photographer is enough
If all you want is one formal portrait in cap and gown for the family mantelpiece, the campus photographer does that job perfectly well, and for less than I charge. You’ll queue, but you will come away with a competent, well-lit portrait for a fraction of the price.
Where a separate session earns its £200 is everything else: more than one good frame, natural light instead of a studio backdrop, portraits with your family or friends, and images that do not look like the same photograph as fifteen thousand other graduates that year.
Tell me your ceremony date and university and I’ll suggest a couple of good locations nearby. I reply within one working day with availability and a straightforward price.