Dali was game for it and many of the close-ups of the Dali physiognomy can be seen in the new exhibition.
His wide open mouth is featured often along with a shot up his nose, one ear and his hands - "People never photograph an artist's hands," says Whitaker.
His subject often suggested poses and Whitaker found him an easy man to photograph. "He told me he was a whore for the camera."
Whitaker, who took most of his photographs at Dali's Spanish home between 1967 and 1972, found the artist a delightful companion, mostly because Whitaker as a photographer was interested in art and enjoyed Dali's sometimes bizarre conversation.
Dali once told him he could photograph God by using a special pole and a copper plate camera. Alas, the photograph was never achieved but Whitaker says Dali made sense of the idea.
Whitaker was not above being a little bizarre himself, once cutting up his photographs and sending them out to sea in a box.
His Dali pictures are now in a new book which Whitaker has published himself at £40 in a small print run of just 5,000, half pre-sold to London's Hayward Gallery. Copies are available at the Mathew Street Gallery where his Beatles photographs are also on show.
* SALVADOR DALI Meets the Beatles runs until September 4 at the Mathew Street Gallery. Opening hours Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm, Sunday 11am-4pm. 0151 236 80676.
