In an unexpectedly hot day in May, Magnus Hastings is in a back alley behind a gay bar in Liverpool with 35 local drag queens. It’s a long way from home for the Los Angeles-based photographer, usually more accustomed to shooting in studios with big name LGBT celebrities, but he’s doing it in the name of his favourite art form. Two months later and the photographs from his day in the alley – which he and several of the queens taking part jokingly call his “initiation into the Liverpool gay scene” – are now at the heart of a “one-of-a-kind” exhibition opening at the start of the city’s Pride celebrations.