LGBTQ Graduation Photographer in London

A graduate emailed me the week before her ceremony because the official photographer’s queue was running at ninety minutes and her nan had a train to catch at four.

She wasn’t after anything elaborate. Twenty minutes outside in the gown, her family in a few of the pictures, and enough left in the afternoon to get everyone to Euston.

Hiring an LGBTQ graduation photographer in London comes down to the clock far more than the camera. The ceremony belongs to the university and runs on their schedule. The hour either side of it is the only part of the day you actually control.

Nearly everything worth photographing on a graduation day happens outside the building.

You probably can’t bring me into the hall

Most London ceremonies only let the university’s own photographer work inside the auditorium. Their team handles the stage shot and then runs a studio queue in a side room, which is where the afternoon quietly disappears.

On a busy day that queue eats the hour you’d set aside for lunch, and you pick your pictures off a screen afterwards while somebody waits behind you.

So I work the outside instead. Gown on, family gathered, before or after depending on how your slot falls.

The gown is on a clock

Hired gowns get collected on the morning and go back the same day, usually within a couple of hours of your ceremony finishing. Nobody mentions this when you pay for the hire.

Practically, your window for photographs in full academic dress is short and fixed. I’d rather know the return deadline before we start than find out about it while your mum is standing in the returns queue holding a hood.

Book the shoot around the gown, not around the ceremony.

The name on the programme

Universities read out whatever name sits on your student record, and changing that record is a separate piece of admin from changing it anywhere else in your life. Some graduates get it sorted months ahead. Some find out where they stand while they’re queuing.

If yours is going to come out wrong, tell me first. I’ll shoot the walk differently, and we’ll spend the time afterwards making pictures where you’re called what you’re actually called.

Where in London this happens

Graduation days cluster around the Southbank and the Barbican, and each one hands you a completely different background inside a two minute walk. Concrete and long raised walkways suit a gown far better than most people expect them to.

Bloomsbury is the other pocket. If your ceremony sits up near Senate House you’ve got garden squares on almost every side, which is where I’d take a family that wants shade and somewhere to sit down for ten minutes.

Rain, and why the Barbican helps

July in London does whatever it likes.

The one real advantage of a Barbican ceremony is that those raised walkways stay covered for long stretches, so a downpour costs you a location rather than the entire shoot. Down on the Southbank you’re relying on the underpasses and the space beneath the concert hall, which works fine until every other graduating family has the same idea at the same moment, and they will.

Bring somebody whose only job is the umbrella. Gowns drink water like a bath towel and they will not dry out before the return deadline.

Family photos, and who gets introduced how

Graduation is one of the few days where your university life and your family land in the same square of pavement, and for queer graduates that overlap isn’t always straightforward.

Sometimes a partner is in every picture. Sometimes a partner is in the ones nobody else gets sent, and I’d rather ask you that quietly beforehand than put you in a position where you have to announce it on the day.

What it costs

Portrait sessions through queer.photo usually start around £500 and move with the length of the shoot and how many people end up in it. A graduation session sits near the lower end, since the whole thing is done inside an hour.

Every photographer on the roster sets their own rate and shows it on their profile, so you can work out what a graduation shoot costs before you send anybody a message.

What you get back, and when

A graduation set is small on purpose. You want a handful you’d genuinely print, plus the group shot with the people you did the whole course alongside, and past that the returns diminish quickly because everyone is in the same outfit in the same square doing the same thing with a rolled-up certificate.

Most photographers on the roster turn a session this size around inside a week or two. Ask before you book if you need them faster, because graduation season stacks up hard in July and again over the winter ceremonies.

Choosing the right fit

Look for somebody who has photographed people in gowns before. The sleeves catch wind and the hood sits wrong on about half of everyone who puts one on.

Past that, the same thing matters here as it does anywhere else on this site. Read a few photographer profiles properly, and pick the person whose pictures of people look like pictures you’d actually want to be in, rather than the one whose website says the most reassuring things about inclusion.

If you’d rather look before you read, start from the portrait pages.

And if you want something more formal for LinkedIn while you’ve still got the good shirt on, I’ve written separately about queer headshots in London.

Common questions

Can you come inside the graduation ceremony?

Usually not. Most London venues only allow the university’s official photographer inside the hall, so a private photographer works the time before and after the ceremony instead.

How much does an LGBTQ graduation photographer in London cost?

Portrait sessions usually start around £500 and rise with the length of the shoot and the number of people in it. Every photographer on the roster sets their own rate and shows it on their profile.

How long do I get to wear the gown?

Hired gowns are normally collected on the morning and returned the same day, often within a couple of hours of the ceremony ending. Check your return deadline before booking so the shoot fits inside it.

Can my partner be in the photographs?

Yes, and you decide how visible that is. Say so beforehand if some of the pictures are just for you.

How quickly do I get the photos?

Most photographers on the queer.photo roster deliver a graduation set within a week or two. Ask before booking if you need them sooner, since July and the winter ceremonies are the busiest stretches of the year.

Ready when you are. See portrait options, or find a photographer.