Perfecting the passport photo

During this past month, the photogenicity (or lack thereof) of our family has been put to the test. I'm not sure we all passed.

It began with passport pictures for our trip to Jerusalem over Christmas.

Mark's passport was still valid, so he was spared the white-wall photo shoot. Mine expired this year, so I had my mom take my picture before she left for Jerusalem. What is it about a big photo shoot--where the resulting picture will be used for the next ten years--that encourages every possible blackhead and zit to surface? And that encourages major water retention in the facial area? (Erma Bombeck said, "There is nothing more miserable in the world than to arrive in paradise and look like your passport photo.") I was too lazy to try again, so I printed the picture, paid my dues and sent it in. Unfortunately for me, the U.S. Passport Agency accepted my mug shot, and thus ensured the photographic preservation of Jack Sprat's wife (who could eat no lean) for the next ten years.

Check out the happy Sprat couple, aka Mark and Janel.

Lily's passport picture required two separate photo shoots, three outfits, and three adults all trying to mop up spit up and get her to face the camera with open eyes. Our window of opportunity for catching a 1-week-old baby with open eyes, but not screaming mouth (i.e. not nursing), was very small.

The bloopers:

Licking the flower / 1-eyed Statue of Liberty

Not-so-happy baby

And the final cut:

Getting a newborn's picture for a passport is a joke in and of itself. But the application was even more amusing. Height? 19 inches (for two more weeks). Eye color? Gray (for two more months). Identifying characteristics: uh...Usually can be found sucking on a pacifier.

We didn't need passports for Sage and Eliza, because (here's my guilty confession) we're not taking them with us to Jerusalem. My good friend, Amy, who is making the sacrifice of the century, has very, very, very generously agreed to take Sage and Eliza for a week. And that deserves a gushing post of thanks in and of itself.

But Eliza, perhaps not wanting to miss out in all this passport photo fun, arranged for her own photo shoot. One corner of Mark's office is set up with a white sheet and a special camera for taking passport-like pictures for his clients' applications. During a visit, Eliza made herself at home in that corner, and Sage accidentally snapped her picture. Unfortunately for Eliza, I don't think the U.S. Passport Agency will accept her mug shot.

Lest you worry that Sage may feel left out of all this photographic excitement, let me assure you that she got her own limelight when I took her to the mall for a photo shoot before we cut her long hair for the first time. If only I had thought to ask them to whip out their white background--maybe we could have had at least one family member with a great passport picture (and nowhere to go with it). Here's a few of the (many) pictures I let myself be talked into buying.

Now with all the passport photos done I can relax a little. And enjoy a laugh at other people's picture problems. Like this one.