Portrait sessions · Clapton, East London
portraits on your terms.
Not a headshot for a job title. A portrait session built around how you want to be seen: your face, your body, your styling, your pace.
Packages & pricing
Two ways to do this.
Every creative portrait session is at our studio at Cell Studios in Clapton, East London. Shot mainly on medium format film, digital when the concept calls for it. Creative lighting, colour and projection are included as direction, not as an upsell.
| Package | Price | Time | Looks | Finished images |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medium format film | £650 | Up to 3 hours | Up to 4 outfits, 3 setups | 6 frames scanned and retouched, digital shot alongside and delivered unretouched. Around 3 weeks. |
| Digital | £475 | Up to 3 hours | Up to 4 outfits, 3 setups | 6 fully retouched, private gallery within 5 working days |
Prices shown are what you pay. We are not VAT registered, so there is nothing to add.
Extra retouched images are £35 each. Every session includes a private online gallery to choose from, high-resolution and web-ready files, and delivery within two weeks.
Just need a professional headshot? Signature is 90 minutes, £350.
Film is unpredictable, which is the point. Frame selection is made together from the contact sheets.
| Add-on | Price |
|---|---|
| Extra scanned and retouched frame | £45 |
| Extra retouched digital image | £35 |
| Second person, includes 2 extra finals | +£75 |
| Hair and make-up | On request |
Who it’s for
One session, many reasons.
People book a portrait for very different reasons. What they have in common is wanting a photograph that belongs to them rather than to a job title.
Marking something
A birthday, a transition, a graduation, the end of a hard year. A portrait made on purpose, while the thing it marks still matters, instead of found later in somebody else’s camera roll.
Being seen properly
For anyone whose photographs have never quite looked like them. We shoot to your gender, your body, your styling and your boundaries, and we ask rather than assume.
Something for yourself
No brief, no client, no platform. Colour, light and direction used for the pleasure of it, and files worth printing large rather than posting once.
Selected work
Click any image to open it larger
The detail
Everything you might want to ask.
The two session tiers, then the practical questions people actually send before booking.
Session styles & Before you book11 ANSWERS
Session styles
Medium format film, £650
Up to three hours, up to four outfits and three setups, shot on medium format film. Developed and contact sheeted at Rapid Eye. Six frames are scanned at high resolution and retouched, and digital is shot alongside and delivered unretouched as a web gallery. Delivery is around three weeks. Film is unpredictable, which is the point. Frame selection is made together from the contact sheets.
Digital, £475
The same session structure: up to three hours, up to four outfits and three setups, with six retouched images and a private gallery within five working days. Creative lighting, colour and projection are included as direction on both tiers, not as an upsell.
Photographing two people
A second person is an add-on rather than a separate session: +£75, which includes two extra finished images. Couples, friends, a parent and child or a duo are photographed together and separately within the same booking.
Before you book
What should I wear?
Bring more than you think you need, including at least one thing you feel unmistakably like yourself in. Solid colours and simple shapes photograph well; heavy logos and fine stripes rarely do.
If the portrait is meant to mark something, bring the object, the jacket, the instrument or the jewellery that belongs to it.
I hate having my photo taken
Most people say this. It is the single most common sentence in the studio, and it is why the sessions are built the way they are: we talk first, nothing is rushed, and you will see images as we go rather than waiting nervously until the end.
Your name, your pronouns, your body and your boundaries are part of the brief, not something to be worked around.
Do I need to know how to pose?
No. You will be directed the whole way through. Where to put your weight, what to do with your hands, which way to angle your shoulders, when to breathe out. Most of what looks like a natural pose in a good portrait is a small physical instruction given a second earlier.
If something feels strange, say so. Nothing here depends on you performing confidence you do not feel that morning.
What actually happens in the session?
We talk first, before anything is photographed: what the images are for, what you have brought, and anything you would rather we avoided. Then we set up the first look, which is always the straightforward one.
You see the images on screen as we go, so nothing is a surprise at the end. We change the lighting or the clothing between setups, you choose your favourites from a private gallery afterwards, and the retouched files come back within two weeks.
Can I use the images for work as well?
Yes. Portrait sessions are delivered for full personal use, and there is no extra fee if one of them ends up as your profile photo.
Commercial use by a company or a brand is licensed separately. If that applies to your shoot we will say so plainly and quote it before the day.
Can you arrange hair & make-up?
A hair and make-up artist is available on request at an additional rate. Tell us when you enquire and we will arrange it and quote it up front.
When do I get the images?
Within two weeks, usually sooner. You choose your finals from a private gallery, and you get both high-resolution files and web-ready versions with standard crops for social and print.
Where is the studio?
Cell Studios, Unit 0.9, Grosvenor Way, London E5 9NE, five minutes from Clapton Overground in East London.
Ask about access when you enquire and we will tell you exactly what to expect before you travel.
Tell us your dates and what the portrait is for. You will hear back with a straight answer, usually within one working day.
From the journal
Worth reading before you book.
What to wear on the day
Why the neckline matters more than the colour, and what to actually put in the bag.
Which session is right for you?
An honest comparison of the sessions, including when the cheaper one is the right one.
Nervous in front of the camera?
What actually happens in a session, and why the studio is built for people who find this hard.