Passport Photo

[bjarvis]

I finally found a place in the greater DC area which will do photos in a format suitable for Canadian passports. With nothing else planned for this morning, I dashed out to University Blvd & Colesville Rd (about three miles from home) to get the photos while Kent was still getting dressed.



For what it's worth, I hate the new photo requirements. The specification that the picture be taken with a "neutral" (read: blank and/or stoned) expression is utterly unflattering, especially for an official document which has a lifetime of 5 years. What a great way to make a good first impression when visiting a foreign country. :-^ The part that irks me is that the requirement is essentially a concession to automated facial recognition systems and their inability to deal with three-quarter profiles, expressions of happiness/sadness/whatever and the inability of bureaucrats to consider more secure alternatives for official documents.



Now I just have to find a window of opportunity to get downtown to have my would-be guarantor can sign & initial on the dotted lines so I can drop my renewal in the mail.

Comments

[rsc.livejournal.com]

As far as we could tell (when we suddenly realized that our passports were due to expire before our next scheduled foreign trip), there's nothing in the US passport photo requirement that precluded our producing them at home with a digital camera and a color printer, thereby allowing us to keep trying until we got pictures we could live with (and without it costing anything¹). (I don't recall there being a "neutral expression" requirement.)

The green card photo actually looks like you!


¹Just as well, considering what they're charging for passport renewal these days.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the restrictions on photo style for Kent's US passport are significantly more lenient than the ones for my Canadian passport. Go figure.