Check the gown return time
Hired gowns usually go back on ceremony day, so tell us the return time and the session is planned to finish comfortably before it.
Graduation Photographer in East London
Whether you studied on the Royal Docks or at the Olympic Park, or you are leaving school or sixth form, Kaushik photographs your graduation portrait on the day or on a later date, at an East London landmark or at home.
The short answer
Can I get graduation photos taken in East London?
Yes. Kaushik photographs graduation portraits on location in East London, either around your ceremony day or on a later date at a landmark such as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park gardens, Three Mills or Valentines Park, solo and with family. Gown hire is usually returned on the day of the ceremony, so plan the session around it. Prices are given on request by phone or WhatsApp, and travel from Northwood is set out in writing before you book.
Highly recommend!!! I came from Qatar and found this famous Photographer Kaushik Bathia who took my photographs! Absolutely incredible. He touched up on blemishes and really made the photo look so beautiful!
My daughter and her fiancé went to Kaushik for their photos, and we had a wonderful experience. He is incredibly friendly, patient, and helpful. He really took his time with them and captured beautiful, professional-quality photos. We highly recommend Kaushik Photography!
Really pleased with my photos. Kaushik is very professional and took lots of picture for us to choose from. Our shoot was comfortable and not too long. I would highly recommend him.
Campuses
Here East, the Royal Docks and East London's universities
East London has its own universities and campuses. Here East, the former 2012 Olympic Media Centre on the Hackney edge of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, was reinvented from 2014 as a campus that houses UCL and Loughborough University London. On the Royal Docks, whose three docks were the largest enclosed docks in the world until 1981, the University of East London sits alongside ExCeL and London City Airport.
A portrait near the place you studied marks the achievement in a way a plain backdrop cannot, whether that is the park around Here East or the dockside around the Royal Docks. Campus grounds and buildings have their own rules on photography, so check with your university before planning frames inside them. Public spaces around the campus, such as the Olympic Park itself, are the simpler choice for a gown portrait.
Ceremony day
Working around gown hire, crowds and the family on the day
Gown hire is usually returned on the day of the ceremony, so a portrait on the day itself has to fit between the ceremony and the return time. Tell us both when you book, and the session is planned in the gap. On a ceremony day the formal solo portrait comes first, while the gown and hood are fresh, then relaxed frames, and then the family groups with parents, grandparents and siblings.
The hood is arranged properly before each frame. Crowds around a ceremony can be heavy, so a short walk away from the main entrance to a quieter path or garden gives cleaner backgrounds for the family group. If you graduated from the University of East London, the Royal Docks have open dockside space nearby, and Thames Barrier Park in Silvertown is close for a garden setting.
A later date
The Olympic Park gardens, Three Mills and Island Gardens for a calmer portrait
If your own gown is available for longer, or family are travelling in from further away, a separate date can be calmer than the ceremony day. Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park's 2012 Gardens hold 70,000 plants from 250 species across four climatic zones, and the London Blossom Garden in the north of the park has 33 blossom trees, one for each London borough, which flower in spring. The Park Meadows by the Olympic rings give an open, bright setting.
For something with more history, the House Mill at Three Mills on the River Lea, built in 1776 and Grade I listed, is the largest tidal mill in the world, and its brick frontage gives a graduation portrait real weight. Island Gardens on the Isle of Dogs looks across the Thames to the Greenwich view Canaletto painted, and Thames Barrier Park in Silvertown, opened in 2000, has a sunken garden and fountains overlooking the Barrier itself.
Further north
Valentines Mansion, the William Morris Gallery and Walthamstow Village
Graduates from Redbridge and Waltham Forest have strong settings close to home. Valentines Mansion in Ilford, built around 1696 and given its Georgian appearance in the 1760s, stands in Valentines Park with its historic gardens, and the park holds a Green Flag Award for 2026. In Walthamstow, the William Morris Gallery occupies the Grade II* listed house that was once the Morris family home, with the terraced gardens of Lloyd Park beside it.
Walthamstow Village, a conservation area since 1967, centres on the 12th-century St Mary's Church, the timber-framed Ancient House and old almshouses, which give a portrait an older, quieter backdrop. In Hackney, Sutton House, built in 1535 and cared for by the National Trust, offers Tudor brick on Homerton High Street. Any of these can be paired with a family meal nearby, so the day becomes a proper celebration.
School and sixth form
Leavers' portraits for school and sixth-form students
Finishing school or sixth form in Hackney, Newham or Redbridge is a milestone in its own right, and a leavers' portrait before university, an apprenticeship or a first job marks it properly. A session can take place at home, in a local park or at one of the landmarks above, in a formal outfit, a school blazer, or the clothes you will wear to a leavers' event.
Family groups work just as well here as at a university graduation: parents, grandparents and younger siblings, in formal and relaxed frames. If your family would like South Asian formal wear for some pictures, a change of outfit fits into the session easily. Travel from Northwood to your East London home or park is quoted up front and set out in writing before you book, and prices are given on request.
Booking
Booking a graduation shoot and choosing your pictures
To book, tell us the date of your ceremony, when the gown has to go back, who is joining the photos and the kind of place you have in mind. Call or WhatsApp 07956 505383, or use the form on this page. After the shoot you receive a gallery to choose from, and favourites can become prints, framed portraits or albums, which make a natural present for the people who helped you get there.
The national graduation photos page explains the session in more detail. For a broader sitting, such as personal-branding portraits for a first job alongside the gown pictures, see portrait photography in East London, and for every service in the area, the East London photographer page.
Planning
Planning around East London
Docks or tidal mill
For a UEL graduate the Royal Docks are close at hand; for an older backdrop, the Grade I listed House Mill at Three Mills stands on the River Lea.
Spring blossom in the Olympic Park
The London Blossom Garden's 33 trees, one for each London borough, flower in spring, which suits a later portrait in your own gown.
Sunken garden at Thames Barrier Park
Thames Barrier Park in Silvertown has a sunken garden and fountains with the Barrier behind, a distinctive setting for graduates from the Royal Docks side of Newham.
Bring the family
Solo portraits and family groups happen in the same session, so parents, grandparents and siblings can all be in the pictures.
Graduation backdrops in East London
These landmarks, campuses and gardens make good settings for a graduation portrait in East London, each with a link to its source.
- House Mill, Three Mills: The House Mill at Three Mills on the River Lea, built in 1776 by Daniel Bisson, is a Grade I listed building and the largest tidal mill in the world. 1
- Abbey Mills Pumping Station: Abbey Mills Pumping Station on Abbey Lane, built in 1865-68 to designs by Joseph Bazalgette and architect Charles Driver, is Grade II* listed. 2
- Loxford Park play area: Loxford Park in Ilford has a play area with a huge tunnel, mounds, boulders and a nest swing for children of all abilities, an old sunken garden, a small skate park and a 30-tree edible tree trail planted in 2015. 3
- Hackney dog rules: Hackney Council's dog rules, backed by a dog-control Public Spaces Protection Order, ask owners to keep dogs in sight and under control at all times, out of children's play areas and marked dog-free areas, and out of park rivers and lakes, especially when icy or during the spring and summer waterfowl breeding season. 4
- Epping Forest dog walking rules: The City of London Corporation's dog walking code for Epping Forest requires dogs to be under effective control, on a lead if they do not respond to recall, and never to disturb or chase wildlife, cattle, deer or horses. 5
Sources, facts checked October 2026
Town by town
Graduation portraits across East London
Each East London borough is listed with its distance from Northwood and a link to its local pages.
- Hackney (16 miles from the studio)
- Walthamstow (17 miles from the studio)
- Waltham Forest (17 miles from the studio)
- Tower Hamlets (17 miles from the studio)
- Forest Gate (19 miles from the studio)
- Newham (20 miles from the studio)
- Redbridge (20 miles from the studio)
Good to know
Graduation photography in East London: questions answered
Yes. The University of East London is on the Royal Docks, and Kaushik can photograph your gown portrait around the ceremony day or later at a nearby public space such as Thames Barrier Park. Check with the university about photography on its own grounds before planning frames inside the campus.
Yes. Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park gives a wide choice of backgrounds, from the 2012 Gardens to the Park Meadows by the Olympic rings and the London Blossom Garden. Hackney, where Here East sits, is about 16 miles from Northwood, and the travel is set out in your written quote.
As soon as you know your ceremony date and how long you have the gown. Hired gowns usually go back on the same day, so a ceremony-day session needs careful timing. If your own gown is available for longer, a later date is often calmer for the whole family.
Yes. The session includes the graduate on their own and then with family, in both formal and relaxed frames. Tell us who is coming when you book, so the session has time for the full family group and for smaller groups such as grandparents with the graduate.
Yes. A leavers' portrait can be taken at home, in a local park or at a landmark, in a formal outfit, a blazer or the clothes for a leavers' event. Family groups can be included in the same session, just as they are for a university graduation.
Yes. A home session works well for the family groups, and Valentines Park in Ilford is close by for outdoor frames. Redbridge is about 20 miles from Northwood, and the travel for a Redbridge session is quoted up front in writing before you book.
A graduation price comes on request by phone or WhatsApp on 07956 505383. The written quote includes the session and the travel from Northwood to your chosen location, and prints, frames and albums are priced separately after you have seen the gallery.
Yes. In the studio at 21 Joel Street, Northwood Hills, the light is controlled and there is no weather or crowd to manage, so there is time to get the cap and gown exactly right. Northwood Hills station on the Metropolitan line is a two-minute walk from the door.
Every session is photographed by Kaushik Bathia himself, FBIPP and FMPA, holder of five European Kodak Gold Awards, who opened the Northwood studio in 2001.
Graduation photos in East London
Graduating this year?
Tell us your ceremony date, when the gown goes back and who is joining the photos, and we will reply with availability and a written quote.
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