The London passport picture studio that became an unexpected repository of 20th century stars

When the Passport Photo Service closed its doors in 2019 after more than 70 years, a chapter of London life might have disappeared were it not for the glittering constellation of stars preserved in the new book, Passport Photo Service: An Unexpected Archive of Celebrity Portraits (Phaidon) by proprietor Philip Sharkey. 

It features over 300 never-before-seen portraits of artists, actors, athletes, writers, musicians, and models including David Hockney, Muhammad Ali, Poly Styrene, Lena Horne, Tim Curry, and Iggy Pop. Every page is a revelation of personality made plain. In one spread Little Richard in a full wig and flawless eyebrows appears opposite Motörhead’s Lemmy with flourishing mutton chops and chest hair to match; while in another Bianca Jagger and Mick Jagger appear effortlessly put together on the first day of June 1976. 

Located at 449 Oxford Street opposite Selfridges, Passport Photo Service was a local institution from an era when foreign embassies dotted Grosvenor Square. Nestled among a furrier, travel agent, model agency, Polish publisher, and clairvoyant billed as Madame Sandra, the photo studio was founded by Sharkey’s father David, a boxer hailing from London’s East End. 

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Born in 1927, Dave Sharkey took up boxing as a young boy growing up in Arnold Circus, the UK’s first council housing estate. Just 11 when his father died, Dave left school at 14 and got to work but as Sharkey recalls, ​“He did not take kindly to being taken advantage of, or being ​‘bossed around’. He always knew he needed to be in charge of his own destiny.” 

At 18, Dave became a professional boxer until an injury forced him to retire in 1950. Until that time, photography had been a side hustle at summer fairs and seaside resorts. When time came to get a license, he decided to focus on passport photography, a perfect choice just as international air travel was about to become a global industry. ​“He was always streetwise, financially self reliant and independent, and had a duty to provide for his family,” says Sharkey, who joined the family business in 1973. 

From a young age, Sharkey remembers Dave coming home, smelling of the curiously intoxicating scent of chemical developer, fixer, and stop bath. His mother Ann, a former professional dancer, worked as receptionist, while her younger brother Peter devoted more than 50 years maintaining the technical side of the business. 

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The secret to a great passport picture in the age of film photography was to get it right the first time. ​“One snap using a negative was expensive – if the subject blinked and you had to retake, that was half your profit gone!” Sharkey says. ​“I would carefully study a customer as I chatted and hopefully made them feel relaxed, make sure their shirt and jacket was neat and tidy, and have a little smile. Back then we could pose people to their ​‘best’ side.” 

In the wake of 9/11, the United States implemented mandatory biometric requirements for passport photographs including straight facing the camera, neutral expression, no glasses or hair covering the face, sacrificing style for increased state surveillance in the name of national security. Those regulations became standard worldwide, and the book’s photos see a shift in accordance.

Passport Photo Service is an artefact of a time when air travel signified glamour and prestige, when airports were futuristic and passengers were playfully known as ​‘the jet set’. ​“Looking back now of course at the amazing array of people we photographed is heart warming,” says Sharkey. ​“It’s incredible to see what a part of social and photographic history we have become part of; you never realise at the time as you just go to work every day and hope customers turn up.”

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Passport Photo Service: An Unexpected Archive of Celebrity Portraits by Philip Sharkey is published by Phaidon.

Miss Rosen is a freelance arts and photography writer, follow her on X.

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