Because of the sheer number of students who graduate each year, the official photography service is a bit of a production line. It’s impersonal, expensive, you have to pay up front for a photo you don’t get to see until it’s delivered to you, often end up queuing for hours and when you do get to the front they rush you through as quickly as possible.

When we graduated we felt it could be done better – and so was born our unofficial service, offering the chance for something different. Running now for 12 years, we’re a team of experienced full-time and part-time photographers, all graduates or current students at UoB.

With us you can take your time and have photos individually or with family and friends. You can have fun, relax and get creative – take whatever and as many photos as you like. We take the photos on a crisp white background and you can see the images as they’re taken so you know you’re happy with them before leaving.

You can see some examples of our photos here.

We provide mortar boards (hats) and scrolls if you want them for your photos, but you’ll have to bring your own gown. We’ll also have pineapples (it’s a long story) but those are entirely optional!

Best of all we don’t take any payment up front! All the photos are edited properly and made available for sale online a few weeks after your graduation. You can then see them properly, go through them in your own time with no pressure, and once you decide which you’d like you can order them either as professionally produced prints delivered straight to your door or as full quality digital files. We don’t do packages – so you only buy exactly what you actually want. You can see our prices here.

We’ll be open from 8am-6pm every Graduation Day in the Bristol Improv Theatre, 2 minutes from the Union where you’ll be picking up and returning your gowns, and only a slight detour from the route you’ll take to Wills Memorial for your ceremony. You can see a map here.

The best time to have your photos taken is before your graduation ceremony. Chances are you'll get very hot in Wills Memorial, so we suggest coming along immediately after you collect your gowns and having photos while you're still at your freshest. It's also great to get them out of the way early so you can't forget later, or run out of time, and can just enjoy the rest of your day without having to worry about them.

If you know you're going to be busy with lots to fit in you can book a specific time for your photos. Or if you want to be more flexible you can just drop in whenever you like - we have plenty of capacity and you'll rarely be waiting longer than 10-15 minutes. Follow our Twitter for live wait-time updates on the day.

If you've already booked the official photographer you're still more than welcome to drop by to have photos with family and friends that aren't offered by the official service! (It's also possible to cancel your booking with them online if you'd prefer to have all your photos done with us.)