Joan Collins Took Special Measures to Ensure Her Passport Photo Would Be Up to Her Standards
Joan Collins Took Special Measures to Ensure Her Passport Photo Would Be Up to Her Standards
Virginia ChamleeTue, April 14, 2026 at 9:09 PM UTC
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Joan CollinsCredit: Dave Benett/Getty -
A new book explores the photography studio responsible for celebrity passport photos of the 1950s to early 2000s
David Sharkey's tiny photography studio developed a reputation among celebrity clientele like Joan Collins
The photographer's son and former employee has gathered more than 300 of his father's photos in a new book, titled, Passport Photo Service: An Unexpected Archive of Celebrity Portraits
A new book explores an unlikely celebrity hot spot — a photography studio known for turning out top-quality passport photos — and the secrets of the stars who frequented it.
Tucked along Oxford Street in London, just steps from the American Embassy, David Sharkey's tiny photography studio developed a reputation among celebrity clientele like Joan Collins.
The New York Times writes that Sharkey's studio, which was open from 1953 to 2019, "created hundreds of flattering passport photos" and "attracted some of the biggest names of the era in search of a 10-minute turnaround and stylish headshots for passports and visas."
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Philip Sharkey, the photographer's son and former employee, has gathered more than 300 of his father's photos in a new book, titled, Passport Photo Service: An Unexpected Archive of Celebrity Portraits (Phaidon, $24.95).
As the book demonstrates, notoriously unforgiving passport photos were delivered so well by Sharkey that some stars would see him again and again.
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Per the Times review of the book: "It is intriguing to see those figures who came in multiple times age: Both Dudley Moore (1967, 1975) and Sean Connery (1977, 1989) return with significantly more facial hair than they had the previous decade, though with just as much swagger."
Actress Joan CollinsCredit: Harry Langdon/Getty
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In the book, Sharkey notes that actress Collins, now 92, came in three times, between 1971 and 1988.
“Perhaps unsurprisingly,” he writes, “she knew exactly how she wanted to be posed: on a very slight angle to the left.”
The studio became something of a time capsule for celebrity transformations, with CNN noting the studio was so well-frequented in part due to its location and its "willingness to make house calls." Other celebrities included in the book (which features archival photos never previously published) Muhammad Ali, Madonna, Bill Murray, Arnold Schwarzenegger and more.
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