Maybe it's the background color ...

My passport needs to be renewed in a couple months, so today I had passport photos taken.

The photographer snapped two different shots on a digital camera and asked which one I preferred. I looked at both pictures on his camera's viewscreen and winced. "Want me to take another?" the guy asked.

"Nah," I sighed. "It wouldn't make a difference."

The guy laughed. "Don't worry, nobody likes their passport picture."

We've all heard that one before, right? Usually it's the driver's license photo that people cringe over, but apparently the same principle applies to passports. In my case, my driver's license picture actually came out pretty well this past time. That's something, I guess. But the passport photos ... !!

Granted, the white background and the straight ahead, unsmiling pose really isn't going to yield a shot for anyone's modeling portfolio ... but still ...

Well. All I can say is ... it's just as well that not many people have to see it!

Yeesh.