4 ms·

"Wear a tuxedo for your ID photos." - Glenn O'Brien (TV Party, Downtown 81, the Style Guy)

xattt 2y ago
I’ve always thought to go unkempt and unshaven. This is so that I would be recognized from my passport if I was detained for several months in a sketchy country.
- chgs 2y ago
  It’s odd, last time I went to the US they barely glanced at my photo
  - telesilla 2y ago
    I believe the photo is encoded in the digital passport contents and the computer will check your face in the camera to see it matches. No human involved. Many countries have automatic passport gates now using this method.
    - alexanderchr 2y ago
      If they already have your picture the agent will usually know who you are before you have even handed over your passport. The tech has gotten eerily good.
- TeMPOraL 2y ago
  A decade ago, I was sent for a two-month business trip to China. I didn't have a valid passport (didn't need it within EU/Schengen Area) and had to make one in a hurry. I went to take my photo unkempt but freshly shaved. While in China, I didn't bother shaving, but I did get myself a haircut, that left me almost bald (communication mishap). One month in, I had to spend a weekend in Hong Kong to renew the work visa. On my way back, I happily handed my passport to the border control officer, and then spent terrifying 15 minutes trying to convince him, his colleague and then his superior, that the clean-shaved unkempt person in the photo and the near-bald, bearded person in front of them, are in fact the same person.
  - jll29 2y ago
    That's hillarious. Any chance you remember what you said to the Chinese hairdresser versus what you should have said to protect fellow HNers from such a mishap? 像往常一樣短請把鬍子刮乾淨我想要比較短的禿得像個嬰兒的屁股 ?
    - stavros 2y ago
      I just gesticulated wildly towards my head while making the "scissors" hand sign and loudly and slowly saying "HAIRCUT". I have no idea how that was misconstrued.
      - garaetjjte 2y ago
        Huh? That also happened to you?
        stavros 2y ago
        No, I was being facetious hoping people wouldn't look at the username :P
    - thaumasiotes 2y ago
      When I've needed haircuts in China, I've always had someone take me to a barber. Problem solved. In one case, I was walking in a shopping area, someone approached me looking to sell souvenir artwork, I explained that while I didn't need that I was looking for a haircut, and she offered to take me to a barber provided I bought a picture. Everybody wins.
    - TeMPOraL 2y ago
      I thought myself to be smart, so with help of Google Translate, I found the Chinese characters that were supposed to spell "3 cm"[0]. I copied them down, and in the barbershop, I proudly showed them to the barber, who nodded and invited me to the chair. The guy was stellar, but halfway through the cutting it dawned on me something is wrong. Turns out, what I thought was "cm" was actually spelling "mm"! He would've likely double-checked with me if I tried to spell this out at the shop[1], but apparently I came across as someone who really knew what they want, coming in confidently with the order already precisely written in Chinese and all. Lesson learned. I still think the idea was good, and I'd still go for giving explicit length (it's a natural fit, as it translates to cutting head numbers for the electric hair cutters). I'd just triple-check it next time, and not act like I have it all figured out. -- [0] - Or thereabouts; I'm sure about the unit, but the exact number might've been something else between 2 and 6. [1] - The barber didn't know English, but knew the metric system and arabic numerals, so we've confirmed the misunderstanding with pen and paper.
- fader 2y ago
  As Erma Bombeck said, "when you look like your passport photo, it's time to go home".
- sph 2y ago
  I was thinking the neutral-to-serious face requirement in passport photos is so that you can be easily recognised when you're being detained at the airport and asked to wait for 3 hours in an interrogation room. That's exactly what one would look like.
  - lazide 2y ago
    Or, like another poster said an Irish passport officer said - ‘dour’.

I’ve always thought to go unkempt and unshaven. This is so that I would be recognized from my passport if I was detained for several months in a sketchy country.

chgs 2y ago
It’s odd, last time I went to the US they barely glanced at my photo
- telesilla 2y ago
  I believe the photo is encoded in the digital passport contents and the computer will check your face in the camera to see it matches. No human involved. Many countries have automatic passport gates now using this method.
  - alexanderchr 2y ago
    If they already have your picture the agent will usually know who you are before you have even handed over your passport. The tech has gotten eerily good.
TeMPOraL 2y ago
A decade ago, I was sent for a two-month business trip to China. I didn't have a valid passport (didn't need it within EU/Schengen Area) and had to make one in a hurry. I went to take my photo unkempt but freshly shaved. While in China, I didn't bother shaving, but I did get myself a haircut, that left me almost bald (communication mishap). One month in, I had to spend a weekend in Hong Kong to renew the work visa. On my way back, I happily handed my passport to the border control officer, and then spent terrifying 15 minutes trying to convince him, his colleague and then his superior, that the clean-shaved unkempt person in the photo and the near-bald, bearded person in front of them, are in fact the same person.
- jll29 2y ago
  That's hillarious. Any chance you remember what you said to the Chinese hairdresser versus what you should have said to protect fellow HNers from such a mishap? 像往常一樣短請把鬍子刮乾淨我想要比較短的禿得像個嬰兒的屁股 ?
  - stavros 2y ago
    I just gesticulated wildly towards my head while making the "scissors" hand sign and loudly and slowly saying "HAIRCUT". I have no idea how that was misconstrued.
    - garaetjjte 2y ago
      Huh? That also happened to you?
      - stavros 2y ago
        No, I was being facetious hoping people wouldn't look at the username :P
  - thaumasiotes 2y ago
    When I've needed haircuts in China, I've always had someone take me to a barber. Problem solved. In one case, I was walking in a shopping area, someone approached me looking to sell souvenir artwork, I explained that while I didn't need that I was looking for a haircut, and she offered to take me to a barber provided I bought a picture. Everybody wins.
  - TeMPOraL 2y ago
    I thought myself to be smart, so with help of Google Translate, I found the Chinese characters that were supposed to spell "3 cm"[0]. I copied them down, and in the barbershop, I proudly showed them to the barber, who nodded and invited me to the chair. The guy was stellar, but halfway through the cutting it dawned on me something is wrong. Turns out, what I thought was "cm" was actually spelling "mm"! He would've likely double-checked with me if I tried to spell this out at the shop[1], but apparently I came across as someone who really knew what they want, coming in confidently with the order already precisely written in Chinese and all. Lesson learned. I still think the idea was good, and I'd still go for giving explicit length (it's a natural fit, as it translates to cutting head numbers for the electric hair cutters). I'd just triple-check it next time, and not act like I have it all figured out. -- [0] - Or thereabouts; I'm sure about the unit, but the exact number might've been something else between 2 and 6. [1] - The barber didn't know English, but knew the metric system and arabic numerals, so we've confirmed the misunderstanding with pen and paper.
fader 2y ago
As Erma Bombeck said, "when you look like your passport photo, it's time to go home".
sph 2y ago
I was thinking the neutral-to-serious face requirement in passport photos is so that you can be easily recognised when you're being detained at the airport and asked to wait for 3 hours in an interrogation room. That's exactly what one would look like.
- lazide 2y ago
  Or, like another poster said an Irish passport officer said - ‘dour’.