Photo Gallery: Passport vs. Reality

There are few things in life that we find more traumatizing than having our passport photo taken. Even if your friends insist that you look nothing like a glassy-eyed serial killer in real life, it can be hard to believe them. That’s probably why we find Passport and Reality — a joint photo project by Suren Manvelyan and Biayna Mahari which we spotted over on Design You Trust — so intensely satisfying. In most cases, the subjects of their portraits barely resemble the ones in the official photos, which all come from valid passports. It almost makes you wonder how many immigration officers actually look at the picture when they’re checking your book. Click through, and you might feel a little more at peace with your own pic.

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You know what? This "whatever-it-is" (it is hardly an article) is bunk and so is the content and so is the title and whomever authorized it couldn't string together two logical pieces of thought if the were given one end of a string nailed to a wall, one point to the other in a straight line. This is more of a "then and now" portrayal and even if you said "Passport then vs. Reality now" it would still lie because studio photo shoots (which is blatantly obvious) aren't reality- They are specifically created to make the talent/subject look good, that's why studio shots are expensive! This article is misinforming us at best, and awe-inquiringly ignorant at worse. Well done.

Wait... The passport is the reality. I mean, there are no special lighting effects, fancy cameras, make-up or anything like that. It's a straight photo, no "bells and whistles." The photos next to the passport ones are the fake ones- That's not reality, that's "air-brushed" is the false one. Passport photos aren't trying to get you to look good, they are trying to capture your true-to-life physical look to better identify yo-- Wait, did you seriously just do this? Is this a joke? Did you just suggest your real self is ugly and you only look good if you're made-up, lit well, and such? Wow. Nice try, media, but no. Heck no.

This is more like "years ago vs. now". In my (entirely subjective) opinion, there were only a couple of people there who looked better in the reality pictures than the passport shots. :)

My workplace is also a passport application acceptance facility, and we also offer photos. I can tell you from experience that the only time a person truly looks like their passport photo is the day they have the photo taken. In the United States, an adult passport is valid for ten years - people can change a LOT in that time frame. Also, for the record, it's okay to smile in passport photos, provided a smile is a natural expression for you. :)

actually it's not reality ;)