New passport, can I use a 10 year old photo ??

jos28

Have to get a new passport, so I filled in the forms, got all the paperwork sorted with no problems to report. The photograph - now that's a different story ! The lovely people at the passport office insist that your eyes, chin etc all line up to fit into the grid they provide on the form. I put the make up on, brushed the hair and spent 10 minutes trying to get in line, no smiling, no glasses, no hair on the face, eyes open........ Jeez, I was sweating at this stage ! Pressed the button and waiting for the photos. I can honestly say I did not recognise the oulwan in the photos. My face had melted since my last passport 10 years ago. I had a face like a melted basin :eek: I thought I looked alright for my age but the photos tell another story, and the camera never lies !
Have I really aged so much in 10 years ? Now where's the phone book, I need to look up botox clinics.

OldGoat

Anytime you need to look at the photo in your passport you should smear your glasses with Vaseline for that soft focus effect. :cool:

Spread

Most passport photos look like police mug shots ........... probably because of the confined feeling in those booths. If you want a decent set of pics go to a studio.

0lddog

You did well to figure out the photo machine thing. I couldnt & went to a chemist who pointed a camera at me. ( cost about the same ).

looksee

I got a new passport when those new rules were only just out by a few weeks and the chemist/photographers had no idea about them. I went in armed with a printout of the information but the passport office rejected two photos before we got it right. They seem to have it sussed now though.

Slightly related, I was in the chemists one day when a young african woman came in and said she wanted to have a photograph taken, but she wanted 'a curtain' in the background. Well the conversation went round in puzzled circles for a while and in the end they concluded they did not have what she wanted so she left.

Simultaneously several people in the shop (we had all got involved ) realised that she was looking for a darker background so that the camera would not focus on the usual light background and make her face under-exposed. Assistant legs it out of the door and catches her, brings her back and photo was successfully taken!

Jellybaby1

looksee wrote: »

I got a new passport when those new rules were only just out by a few weeks and the chemist/photographers had no idea about them. I went in armed with a printout of the information but the passport office rejected two photos before we got it right. They seem to have it sussed now though.

Slightly related, I was in the chemists one day when a young african woman came in and said she wanted to have a photograph taken, but she wanted 'a curtain' in the background. Well the conversation went round in puzzled circles for a while and in the end they concluded they did not have what she wanted so she left.

Simultaneously several people in the shop (we had all got involved ) realised that she was looking for a darker background so that the camera would not focus on the usual light background and make her face under-exposed. Assistant legs it out of the door and catches her, brings her back and photo was successfully taken!

Good story. Reminds me of the time I did a camera course and were advised on how to take photos of people with very dark coloured skin. This was of interest to me as I subsequently would be taking photos of some African children. Unfortunately, me being an oul'wan, between learning how to get the exposure on the camera right, and actually taking the photos, I'd forgotten all the instructions. Too many silver moments in my life!

I look demented and deranged in my passport photo, because I had to to resubmit my application 3 time due to the photo not being correct the first 2 times.

looksee

When I lived in Zambia many years ago we had to have identity cards, which involved going to the police station to get a photograph taken. Because they could not take africans and white europeans in the same photograph we had to try and assemble a few pale skinned people together to get the pics taken.

It was quite common to find new arrivals wandering around (work/hostel) asking if anyone needed an identity photo as they were trying to assemble a group. Usually what actually happened was that we would have to be photographed singly instead of groups of 6, leading to great muttering and complaining from the photographer.

To everyone's aggravation we had to hand in the cards when we left the country - they would have made a nice souvenir!

jos28

Love the vaseline idea OldGoat, glad to see I'm not the only one who hates their passport photo. I'm half hoping they reject it when I go in on Monday and then I will HAVE to get another one done, using a photographer this time !

grey_so_what

Good Evening All!....First Post here - I had the maritime equivalent of a passport photo to submit when I went deep sea at the ripe old age of 17!.....My mother (as of that age you do ask!) sent me to Ross photographers in Grafton Street - In 1980 I spent a fortune on a passport type photograph where I posed body "sideways" while grinning manically at the camera.....I still have the Discharge Book to prove it!.....You'd have to see it to believe it.....No. Not for posting. Ever......

Nice to be here!

Jellybaby1

In my passport photo I look 'surprised' but himself looks menacing....it really scares me! He said he was concentrating on looking serious and didn't want to smile so he forced the seriousness, but it came out menacing. :D

Hi, grey_so_what, welcome to the asylum. :eek:

grey_so_what

Any advice for the uninitiated?.....

Rowanvella199

You can, But if the picture is to old then it ay cause you issues at borders etc..

Jellybaby1

grey_so_what wrote: »

Any advice for the uninitiated?.....

We don’t take things too seriously in here but the first thing to do is to read the charter at the top of this forum, other nuggets of advice might be to keep your tongue firmly in your cheek, and dip your toe right in, BUT, keep your eye on the ball, your shoulder to the wheel, nose to the grindstone, ear to the ground, finger on the pulse, with your best foot forward, look for the silver lining, keep your sunny side up, sing a song of sixpence, and ignore the crazies. I’m sure my other compadres might add some others.

grey_so_what

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

We don’t take things too seriously in here but the first thing to do is to read the charter at the top of this forum, other nuggets of advice might be to keep your tongue firmly in your cheek, and dip your toe right in, BUT, keep your eye on the ball, your shoulder to the wheel, nose to the grindstone, ear to the ground, finger on the pulse, with your best foot forward, look for the silver lining, keep your sunny side up, sing a song of sixpence, and ignore the crazies. I’m sure my other compadres might add some others.

So no different to the mother then?

Think I can handle that...........

Of course she is still alive............at 96....

So who need's advice now........:D

OldGoat

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

and ignore the crazies.

That won't leave a lot of scope for posting then.
Welcome along GreySW. See ya in the Chat/Banter thread.

annascott

Do we really need to put our hair back behind our ears etc. I saw all the rules on a booth when I got photos for my driving licence. It all seems very un natural. How strict are they?

looksee

For a passport - very. And they will keep sending it back till they get one they like!

Jellybaby1

looksee wrote: »

For a passport - very. And they will keep sending it back till they get one they like!

Finding that so strange. We have never had photos returned

looksee

Possibly everyone has got the hang of taking the required photos now, in the months after the new regulations were introduced there was a lot of rejecting going on.

Bearhunter

My rule of thumb is this: if you look like your passport photo, you're too sick to travel.

Marcusm

Photo has to be less than 6 months old; how do I know? Following the loss of passport, the replacement is only for 1 year which you can exchange after 6 months for a full 10 year one. My renewal was rejected on the basis that the photo was more than 6 months old. He did they know? I used the other two photos from the set of 4 used for the short term replacement.

OldGoat

David Byrne, Talking Heads: "Passport pictures are what people really look like".

jos28

I decided against submitting the original mugshot. Got the hair done, new makeup and went to a photographers. Easy-peasy compared to the booth. New hair + new makeup + photographer = much nicer photo and much happier me !:)