Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Never get your passports photos taken on bad hair day

We're planning on visiting the boy's family next year, in the UK. Hooray!

But then I realised that my passport, and TLM's have both expired (because the powers that be - bastards! - decided that NZ passports only last 5 years).

Which meant that it was time for my 5-yearly photo.

It probably wouldn't have made a difference if I was having a good hair day.

Maybe it's the harsh light, or the fact that I blank out anything truly ugly I see when I look in the mirror, or the fact that the photos are so severely cropped that there's absolutely no hope your fabulous outfit will distract the viewer from seeing your inglorious flaws.
But, ye gads I was shocked.

You know how certain sects recruit new members by offering free personality tests, whose purpose is to expose (or make up) all your terrible character flaws?

Well, I reckon if Botox-ers and cosmetic surgeons offered a free passport photo service, they'd become Bill Gates-level billionaires. Because when I returned to my desk I started looking up anti-aging products...

6 comments:

Amanda said...

Yay! Trip to the UK.

However, awful your passport photo looks now, in 5 years time you'll be struck by how youthful and unlined you looked. My mother said this to me awhile ago and I have found it to be true. The years just aren't kind to we ladies of a certain age alas.

Anonymous said...

I can empathise. I look every so slightly insane in my passport photo because the lady taking the photo kept on saying I had to look up more, so my chin is very prominent and my eyes are doing a weird stary thing. New passport photos are black n white tho which hides a multitude of sins?

And oh yae - holiday!

Anonymous said...

You poor thing! I hate passport photos. No one looks good in them. They're designed to make everyone look as ugly, old and unhappy as possible. No smiling, ears exposed, as closely resembling a mug shot as possible as far as I can tell! I'm sure you look far better in real life than what the photo came out as.

Violet said...

amanda: In this photo it looks like someone drew the lines in with a bloody thick charcoal...

donnasoowho: when I was 19 and had a bad perm, my passport photo made me look like Billy T James' younger cousin!

kiwiyarns: But you look so exotic and elegant in your blog photos. It's those cheekbones of yours, which I could have done with.

jackie arkell said...

hope your here long enough to visit us all, do you know what month you are planning on commimg over.
jackie arkell

Violet said...

Hi Jackie!
At this stage it looks like we'll be there for around 4 weeks, which should be long enough to meet everyone and do some sightseeing (and hopefully, shopping) too. And it'll be around Easter i.e. April-ish. However the boy is maddeningly not bothering to actually book any flight until...whenever it is he feels the urgency enough to do it!