Bring more than you think you need. Solid colours photograph better than busy patterns, and necklines matter more than you would expect: a crew neck, a collar and something with a V will all read differently. If you are an actor, bring what you would realistically be cast in. If it is for business, bring the jacket you actually wear. We will hang everything up and work through it together.

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 licensing is included?

All rates include usage for personal, professional and casting platforms: Spotlight, IMDb, your website, LinkedIn and social media. For commercial or press use, extended licensing applies and is quoted separately. For fully bespoke creative direction, concept development or production-heavy sessions, we will have a proper conversation first.

I am autistic, ADHD or anxious about the day. What do you actually do about it?

Send you the running order before the day, so you know what happens and in what sequence. Keep the studio to one room, one photographer, no waiting area and no audience, and keep it quiet. Give direction out loud and specifically, with no “just be natural”. Break whenever you want, and bring one person if that helps. If flash is a problem, say so when you book and the session is lit without it. Anything else that would help goes in the booking email, no reason needed.

Do you work with trans and non-binary clients?

Constantly, and the UNiTE series on the About page is part of why the studio exists. The name and pronouns you give me are the ones on the booking, the gallery and the files. How you want to be seen is the brief; there is no house idea of what anyone should look like in a portrait.

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.

Check availability See sessions

Packages & pricing

Two ways to do this.

Every creative portrait session is at our studio at Cell Studios in Clapton, East London. Colour, creative light and projection are included as direction, not as an upsell.

Medium format film

£650
Most booked
What’s included
- Up to 3 hours
- Up to 4 outfits
- 6 frames scanned and retouched
Colour, projection and creative light, shot on medium format film and developed at Rapid Eye.

Digital is shot alongside and delivered unretouched. Contact sheets and frame selection at around two weeks, final scans at around three.
Digital

£475
What’s included
- Up to 3 hours
- Up to 4 outfits
- 6 retouched images
The same session, shot digitally.

Private gallery within five working days, final retouched images within two weeks.

Prices are what you pay. We are not VAT registered, so there is nothing to add.

Extra scanned frames or retouched images are £45 each. A second person, including two extra finals, is £75. Hair and make-up is on request.

Every session includes a private online gallery to choose from, with high-resolution and web-ready files.

Film is unpredictable, which is the point. Frame selection is made together from the contact sheets.

Just need a professional headshot? Signature is 90 minutes, £350

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. Made on purpose, while the thing it marks still matters.
Being seen properly

For anyone whose photographs have never quite looked like them. Shot to your gender, your body, your styling and your boundaries.
Something for yourself

No brief, no client, no platform. Colour, light and direction used for the pleasure of it, and files worth printing large.

Trans and non-binary clients are photographed here as a matter of course. The studio is one quiet room with no audience, the running order goes out before the day, you can bring one person, and the session can be lit without flash if you ask.

Creative portraitDigital
Portrait sessionDigital
Creative portraitMedium format film
Colour portraitDigital
Two peopleDigital
Portrait sessionDigital

Before you book

Everything you might want to ask.

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.

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 do not need to know how to pose: you are directed the whole way through.

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 looks, and you choose your favourites from a private gallery afterwards.

When do I get the images?

Digital: private gallery within five working days, final retouched images within two weeks. Film: contact sheets and frame selection at around two weeks, final scans at around three weeks.

Either way you get both high-resolution files and web-ready versions with standard crops for social and print.

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 and 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.

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.

Check availability

portraits on your terms.

Two ways to do this.

Medium format film

Digital

One session, many reasons.

Marking something

Being seen properly

Something for yourself