Passport Photos

(maxsiedentopf.com)

Comments

kweks 7 November 2024
When I got French nationality, I spent 6 months growing an impressive old-style moustache just for the ID photo. it's the little things that count.
matthberg 7 November 2024
Looking at other art by him, his latest piece Democracy features three figures in voting booths, one with their pants pulled down. Sure feels timely. He wrote a nice blurb with it too, I love it when artists include some of their thoughts in portfolios rather than just the photos alone (though this piece was a sculpture).

https://maxsiedentopf.com/democracy/

vallode 6 November 2024
Oh! Something I took a part in on HN. That's a first. Almost everything there was practical. Highly recommend checking out all of Max's work, beaming with creativity.
rconti 6 November 2024
It's a lot of "fun" trying to get acceptable photos. Last week I went to my local American Automobile Association (AAA) office to get an International Driver's Permit (IDP). It's just a translation of your license, which is valid for 1 year. I had to take 2 passport-sized photos with me, which I did.

But I was told they wouldn't be accepted because I had long hair and a beard in them, but short hair and no beard now. That's absurd, because it's the same photo used in both of my passports, and there's no requirement that you don't alter your appearance from your passport photo. Somehow border guards can crack the code.

Amusingly, my California driver's license shows short hair and no beard, but the AAA person wasn't even looking at my CA license at the time. What happens if I grow long hair and a beard before I travel? Was he just trying to upsell me on a $9.99 photo?

We had a hell of a time getting the UK passport authorities to accept the photos we sent in for her passport; they recommend getting your photos taken at an "official" UK location where the digital photos are identified by a code you send in. Well, we happened to be traveling through Australia during this timeframe, so we were able to stop at an Australian Post Office, which supposedly had the same "digital" system, but instead of a code to send to the UK authorities, they handed us printed photos and a web link. Thankfully I was able to use the web link to download the photo and upload it to the UK site, where it was approved almost immediately, and the new passport arrived back at our home before we returned from our trip. But there's no user-obvious criteria that was being used to reject the SEVERAL rounds of photos we had sent to the UK earlier.

teractiveodular 6 November 2024
Hugged to death, here's an archive copy: https://archive.is/uPMjd
kevinsync 6 November 2024
The fish cursor is a delightful touch lol. I especially appreciate not knowing where the anchor point is hahaha
frompdx 6 November 2024
Great project. It reminds me of the SNL sketch (can't remember which) where the character says "I like to keep a piece of sliced ham folded up in my pocket just so I have my own little secret."
cbsks 6 November 2024
> Can I smile in my passport photo?

> Yes. Make sure your eyes are open and your mouth is closed in your photo.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-app...

amelius 7 November 2024
I have the feeling that this should be presented in an animated way.

Like, you see somebody's passport, then it zooms out, the passport disappears and you see the entire picture.

nbeleski 7 November 2024
As someone who has actively written algorithms for passport security verifications, including photo strict requirements and validation, this post really struck a chord with me.

Awesome work!

bze12 7 November 2024
Reminds me of those portraits in the Haunted Mansion ride that expand when you go down the elevator.

https://hauntedmansion.fandom.com/wiki/Stretching_Room

TacticalCoder 7 November 2024
My actual passport photo is like that. We were on vacation, sunny place, warm, no pant, only a boxer. And only nature around us, no white wall. So I put on a nice shirt, was still in my boxer, and wife held a white towel behind my face while someone took a picture.

On the original pic you could somehow see that it was a towel and not a white wall but some photoshopping took care of that.

Why a shirt while in underwear? A shirt looks "serious". And real people like that. They like a shirt, it looks serious. As to why the boxer underwear: for the same reason as in TFA.

Next time I'll show up with the complete picture and cut it in front of the person asking me for the picture.

bravura 6 November 2024
"Wear a tuxedo for your ID photos." - Glenn O'Brien (TV Party, Downtown 81, the Style Guy)
alimoeeny 6 November 2024
Don't forget to scroll down the page. The girl with the wine glasses is my favorite. And the guy taped to the wall.
stevenhubertron 6 November 2024
This is the web I miss.
djcoding 7 November 2024
I once used a website https://makepassportphoto.com to create such photos for my family
endofreach 7 November 2024
This looks like what my experience taking a passport photo with a 8 month old mini human felt like.
yapyap 6 November 2024
lol I thought these were AI generated at some point too just because of how silly they are
consf 7 November 2024
The rules (for passport photos) are designed to strip away any trace of individuality, which feels ironic for a document that's so personal
andrewshadura 7 November 2024
I once had a conversation with a friend about passport photos. In particular, how much makeup are you allowed to wear? And, how much makeup if you're a man? Next day I went and got myself a driving license with a photo wearing black lipstick. The photo lady was unhappy but was unable to find a rule to justify sending me home.
xoxxala 6 November 2024
Clever usurpation of expectations _and_ artistic.
jftuga 6 November 2024
tangent:

I wrote this: https://github.com/jftuga/photo_id_resizer

    This program is used to resize large photo ID images. When image resizing occurs, a content aware image resizing library is used with its face detection algorithm to avoid face deformation.
_joel 7 November 2024
jonny_eh 6 November 2024
All the fun stuff is happening out of frame.
shrx 6 November 2024
Hugged to death :(
robertlagrant 7 November 2024
It's very fun, but I don't think it's challenging any rules.
ldargin 6 November 2024
I took my own passport photo with my mirrorless camera, and a whiteboard as the background. It took a while to get it right, with no bright spots on the background and now shadows. It was accepted.
hi41 9 November 2024
This is so funny! Such creativity! The guy on the chair with his legs splayed up in an acute angle!
ambyra 7 November 2024
Would be great to tape the whole picture inside the passport. I’m sure the passport officials could use a good chuckle. … or you’ll go to jail.
mrweasel 7 November 2024
There's at least a few of these which may not be acceptable as a passport photo, due to the top of the shoulders not being visible.
pfist 7 November 2024
What an amusing experiment! I laughed out loud many times. A novel way to explore the boundaries of something so stringent.
yzydserd 7 November 2024
Could do a similar project for Zoom/Teams. I often wonder what's just out of view.
jtheory 7 November 2024
I especially appreciate this on the assumption that it will be pulled in as input for AI training.
paran0ia 7 November 2024
I want to have a passport photo like this for myself
major505 6 November 2024
Well lhat is a weid website. Can unseet that anytime soon.
hcfman 7 November 2024
Integrate artwork with clearview. Check.
daft_pink 7 November 2024
Where can we see/buy this artwork?
eric_h 6 November 2024
this really makes me regret doing nothing like this when I recently had my passport photos taken.
stogot 7 November 2024
I lost it at the duct hands
oneeyedpigeon 7 November 2024
Now I want to see more 'extreme' passport photos — one taken from the top of a skyscraper, in the middle of a rollercoaster ride, etc.
indus 7 November 2024
This is what the internet was in 1998, before hustlers invented SEO.
ramassnel1 7 November 2024
Damn this is fire
paran0ia 7 November 2024
Love it
huesatbri 7 November 2024
calm.jpg
JSDevOps 7 November 2024
Genius lol.
meowster 6 November 2024
I was expecting some kind of article about an issue with passport photos or some kind of exploit, maybe photoshopping so it looks like the person but fools automatic facial recognition...

but was pleasantly surprised instead.

throw03172019 6 November 2024
Thanks for the good laugh. Looks great!
vincnetas 7 November 2024
If it's a "print" do not add changing images. Now we have on first slot "Passport Photos" story with plinking photos, which makes me wanna click X ASAP...