Passport Renewal Photo - oh my god I am SO ugly!!!!

[somuchrubbish]

Just done my renewal online and DH has taken my photo for the renewal. Bloody hell I didn't realise how ugly I am. It was honestly a massive shock. One side of my face looks so different to the other, one eye is slightly wider, one nostril is more open than the other and I look hideous.

It has honestly knocked me for six. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Quasimodo springs to mind 😂😢

Someone say something to cheer me up!!!

Well you've cheered me up. I was recently at at event where I was dressed up.....for me anyway. Saw the photos after and I was horrified!

Getting older is hard. I don't think I'm too minging in the mirror usually.

I'm single too so it's a bit depressing... I think this is it age 50. I can't really be bothered with dating but even if I wanted to, it doesn't feel very doable. 🙈

Anyway, we are all meaner to ourselves than anyone else is.

I was really ill when I had to renew mine and I look hideous. I’ve got to do it again because it makes me sick looking at it.

Time, getting old = crap.

You can smile.

Just not a broad grin. More Mona Lisa.

If you use a digital photo booth it will tell you immediately if the image meets passport requirements and you get a code to fill in online which automatically sends your photo to the passport office.

I look like Hitler in mine. It's now on my bloody drivers license as well as they took a copy of the passport photo when it renewed last. So even when my passport expires next year and I hopefully get a slightly better picture (although that said im 10 years older and menopausal so probably not), I'm still going to be Hitler on my driving license for ages yet 😭

🤣🤣 I look like Myra Hindley and I’m not joking.

I know exactly how you feel! We had a big family event on Sunday and I'd got a new dress, shapewear, thought I looked OK, don't wear makeup but oh boy in the photos? I look really fat, the button through dress which was supposed to flatter my shape was gaping across the bust, my hair was a frizzy mass (had it cut by someone new and it didn't go well anyway), my face is so fat that my eyes disappeared into it when I smiled and I'm red and shiny and sweaty!! .

@somuchrubbish I bought one of those super-magnifying mirrors with a powerful lamp , thinking I could make a better job when applying make-up. Everyone has always said what lovely skin I have, but this thing showed every imperfection and made me look like the surface of the moon, which is clearly closer to the truth. Sent straight back 🤯😭😭

Ha mine looks like I’ve already been caught, sentenced, and they’ve thrown away the key!

You’ll be fine in the US. Just look at their President. Slap on the fake tan and they’ll welcome you with open arms. Don’t forget to leave the little white circles round the eyes.

Oh and @somuchrubbish bought some fancy barrel leg jeans, thought they looked ok. Tried on again at home and thought I looked a bit John Wayne (bandy). Asked DP and he said “are the legs meant to look like THAT”. Think I will give up trying to be trendy 🫣

Mine looks like a police mugshot. Absolutely awful. My son laughed hysterically when he saw it.

What is most depressing is my passport photo is hideous but the passport checking people never look twice just look at me look at photo wave me through 😭

It’s not being able to smile or have any expression that makes them look this way.

Where I am, we physically have to go for license renewals and my last one …… After waiting, literally, hours for my number to be called, by the time I got to the desk, dealt with the person I was really in a no-smiling frame of mind. However, I must have made some attempt as the person barked at me not to smile. So, I stopped smiling. Then they said to relax my face or they couldn’t take it (?????). I guess to ensure not one ounce of expression. The result is that my picture looks like a full on serial killer mugshot and I have been assured by very honest friends/family that I can rely on to be very blunt, that I don’t look like that. My passport is due soon, so I’m guessing it may turn out the same given their odd requirements. I get it though, I can’t think of anyone who has come back in from a long flight (we are long haul to anywhere), and has a smile left in them by the time you disembark and then hit passport control.

Are people saying the Photo Booth ones are the worse then?

I’m trying to claw back some hope.

😁

They’ve seen it all though, there is that!

I’ve told this story before on here. I worked for a company that insisted on photos of its staff on their website. I avoided it for as long as I could until finally it almost became a hr matter. I told them they would not want a photo of me on their website. They insisted I was being silly. I worked there another three years and they NEVER uploaded my photo to the website. I was the only member of staff with a holding image.

Try 'flipping' the image so you have mirror version of you - much less gargoyle-like as you're only used to seeing yourself in the mirror so any slightly asymmetrical features look weird as fook!

this is 100% true for me. I look fine in mirrors but a right troglodyte in photos! I just don’t get it. Even my husband agrees it is weird 😂

To be honest its nothing about being appealing to other people, and I know people checking my passport won't give a toss. I think its more for myself that I want to try and get a half decent photo. This document will be with me for the next 10 years so I don't want to scare myself every time I have to look at it. Or feel like I look like a potato. 😬

My passport was renewed last year. I was 12 weeks pp. The photo is so bad, I look knackered, angry and I had post partum hair loss and my hair was wild. I still refuse to look at it. You're not alone OP! 😂

It was a real knock to the confidence this morning. My DH just laughed and said everyone looks shit in their passport photos. But I was actually shocked.

I am definitely going to wait for the weekend and see if my DD can get a bit of a better photo. She will know what to do. I have trust in her. I don't want to be totally embarrassed by my passport photo for the next 10 years!!! 😐

On the embarrassment thing, i think it's more embarrassing to look worse in person! I gained weight and eyebags since my passport photo and yeah that was really embarrassing!! 😂😂

Well....................... The problem I have with them is that I sit on the seat, try to arrange my face so I look as ok as possible, think yes that'll do. But THEN, on comes the bright light and I just want to cry. The only saving grace is that the photo space on my driving licence is so tiny that I actually look ok. Thank goodness I don't have a passport. Sorry, but you did ask.

I had the exact same experience. It’s quite gut -wrenching. I have to remind myself that people see me moving and animated, with a personality coming through, not staring straight-on and in 2D like the horror in my photo.