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Does your passport photo still look like you?
My boyfriend got his current passport on his 17th birthday. Now on the verge of his 27th year, the picture inside barely resembles him. He changed and grew as stamps were added, but his passport photo remained the same. His shaggy, teenage hair has morphed into a more clean cut look, and these days his face is looking a little less tan and a little more grown up. But somehow, customs agents are able to look underneath his current five o'clock shadow to recognize he is still the same person he was nearly ten years ago.
Do you still look like the "former you" in your passport? Do you ever get nervous in security lines wondering if the agent will question whether or not your documents are the real deal? A joint photo project called Passport and Reality by Suren Manvelyan and Biayna Mahari that was brought to our attention by Flavorwire is collecting passport photos and comparing them to current looks. Some of the photos are simply bad mug shots, while others show just how much people change over the years. Click through the gallery below to see what I mean: passport photos are on the left, while present-day portraits are on the right.
Filed under: Photos, Travel Security
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
Bonnie Jun 7th 2011 4:45PM
I travel a lot for work, and was once told,
"your passport photo is one of the most beautiful passport photos I have seen, it looks nothing like you",
I was thinking yeah buddy thanks, after a 26 hour trip home that is exactly what I need to hear.......
Lizzie Jun 7th 2011 4:59PM
Wow! This really does show how people change over the years...it was fun to pick out the similarities they have between their old selves, and what they look like now. Some changes were for the better...and others for the worse! But besides all judgement, this was a really interesting post.
Mel Jun 7th 2011 4:53PM
What's up with all of the unibrows?
don Jun 7th 2011 5:02PM
They all look alike just like those african people.
irisblue Jun 7th 2011 7:42PM
reminds me of singles sites and everyone using old photos
tonerking Jun 7th 2011 5:29PM
Makes no difference folks. What you REALLY don't know is, the photo procedure is a distractor from the real identification you are giving. Surprise!!--the bar code that is on your passport? It also has a face scan of you in digital. One day in the far future, the world will find that they really DIDN'T GET OSBL!! it was his twin from birth--s'why the DNA that was such a sloppy procedure onboard theUSS Cal Vincent had to use A RELATIVE'S BIN LADEN DNA ( check it out) for comparrison. that is why the match was positive. the truth will come when (eventually)they will use a face scan of the corpse. All this in detail on http://www.smashwords.com in a story by W.Addison Gast called "The Final Hunt for Osama Bin Laden." its an .epub worth the $1.00 download to read IMHO
Addison Gast Jun 7th 2011 5:51PM
Been there--read that. Good (short) story. The other one, "The patriot hunt club" does a take on how the Texas hunt Club could have taken out Mumar Gadaffi when he came to address the UN.
Don Jun 7th 2011 5:35PM
Why is anyone surprised at this story and its illustrations. This administration
as well as past administrations have failed to do anything regarding illegal immigration or more importantly "Border Control." Our so calle fearless leaders
want votes.Plain and simple and it is costing the taxpayers of our country approximately $338 billion dollars a year. Now, lets add on the fact that our country is the direct target of those who wish to do away with "Infidels." What better way than to enter our country unimpeded than to come across our poorly
guarded borders and do their nasty deeds. Come on folks. Stand up and congratulate our so called leaders who are only interested in protecting their on
backsides by totally ignoring the most evident. To Hell with America. I want to be elected and re-elected and I'll do what ever it takes to buy your vote.
pat Jun 7th 2011 7:06PM
In the second to last picture, the noses are completly different, I'm not sure it is the same person and would question it based on that.
Jenan Jun 7th 2011 7:25PM
If you look like the photo on your passport, you are too sick
to travel !
Bonnie Jun 7th 2011 11:57PM
Wasn't it Erma Bombeck who said "when you look like your passport photo it is time to go home" ?lol
krs Jun 7th 2011 7:35PM
There's certain things that must show in passport pics that id you, and I've never seen a pic that passed that was face-on. Ears, for example, are an identifiying factor (so I was told) and thus the subject had to face slightly to the side so the earlobe showed. Guess each place has it's standards as I saw folks getting pics done in Walgreen's completely different than what the passport office itself has done! These days I'd hate to be in a different country and have someone question a passport.
The Realis Jun 7th 2011 7:39PM
Passports should have the same requirements as driving license and Hand gun permits. The picture should have to be updated every 4 years.
oralborealus1 Jun 7th 2011 7:45PM
My God Life can be Cruel !!
Nickie Jun 7th 2011 7:48PM
More than 10 years have elapsed for some of these pictures.
These are old passports anyway. Now you cannot smile on your passport picture.
This is old stuff. Everyone changes to a point but not that much in ten yrs.
Will Jun 7th 2011 7:50PM
@TK
Not that it matters, but Caucasians are not the only group who show "race-blindness" or other racist tendencies. You've proven yourself guilty of the very thing you accused the author of - assuming.
Daisy Jun 7th 2011 8:35PM
I knew two sisters that took each other's places all the time using each other's driver's licenses and they were not identical twins. Think that someone could steal someone else's passport that looked similar to use it to get into the U.S.? Bet ya!
Kenne Jun 7th 2011 8:59PM
A couple of those look exactly like a terrorist...
Jabba Jun 7th 2011 9:54PM
The 7th one down does not look like the same person. The others you can see clues that they are the same. And they don't all look the same nationality but yeah kinda similar.
susieq0408 Jun 7th 2011 9:05PM
These are not some random passport photos; at least 7 of them appear to have been taken at the same location. Look at the crease/line a third of the way up, look at the "border effects", blue lettering on the right and textured on the left. Israel??? Middle East??