For nearly six decades, anyone and everyone who needed a passport photo shuffled through Dave Sharkey’s modest Oxford Street studio.
Located opposite Selfridges, it quietly became one of London’s most influential photographic institutions.
Muhammad Ali, Madonna, Sean Connery, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Marvin Gaye and many more actors, musicians, writers and athletes were photographed under the same rules as everyone else.
One shot, large-format negative, no frills – and often minutes before an embassy deadline – with coats still on.
Now an archive of more than 300 celebrity portraits from London’s Passport Photo Service is going on display for the first time.