Probably the author won't need my answer anymore. Still, for sake of completeness i feel other users might find it useful. The best and most simple solution is to use $(window).load() inside the body of the returned function. (alternatively you can use document.ready. It really depends if you need all the images or not).
Using $timeout in my humble opinion is a very weak option and may fail in some cases.
Here is the complete code i'd use:
.directive('directiveExample', function(){
return {
restrict: 'A',
link: function($scope, $elem, attrs){
$(window).load(function() {
//...JS here...
});
}
}
});