How does your passport photo look?

I miss my old passport, the one I did much of my world travelling on, and not just because it is filled with colourful Visas from Southeast Asia. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but that passport had a great picture of me. With a wide grin on my face, I looked breezy and confident, a seasoned traveller who was loving life (tooooot!)

Then my passport expired, and I was told I couldn’t smile in the new photos. To avoid looking like I was just arrested, I tried to do a subtle-yet-coy smirk. The result was what is know known as the ‘smell the fart’ photo. Seriously, I look like I am taking a big old wiff of something and am trying to contain either my laughter or my disgust. Plus, what is with my hair? I’m not particularly vain (hey, I’ve posted it for the whole world to see — that’s at least slightly brave,) but I’ll admit I cringe a bit when the customs guy examines it more than for more than 2 seconds. At least I’m not the only one.

Apparently, you can do your own passport photos at home, which doesn’t do me much good because now I’ve got 5 years left until my current passport expires. But hey, that’s 5 years I can spend practicing ways to differentiate my ‘coy’ look from my ‘something stinks’ look.