Because the camera at our local post office has been out of order for years, we stopped by a nearby CVS drug store to complete the photo step of the passport renewal process. Â It was then that I realized what a difference 13 years makes in technology.
Last time I got my passport picture taken it was 1997.  My husband  and I had been married for 6 years and we were really excited to be taking a trip to London.  I had never traveled out of the US and was in need of my first passport.
We went to a local photography studio to get the necessary pictures.
Before digital photography.
I distinctly remember that they were $20 and once taken they ‘magically’ appeared in 20 minutes…20 minutes was almost instant in 1997.
So, I posed in front of white background wearing my favorite plaid shirt buttoned up to the very top button (I can promise you that I was wearing it with my favorite pleated jeans and faux-crocodile ankle boots because I was hawt like that).
1, 2, 3….
*flash*
I paid the $20 during the wait for the final product.
Meanwhile we basked in the bright light of 20 minute film development.
1997 was super modern.
The photographer handed me my photos in a cute little passport-like folder and I opened them up and gasped.
In horror.
I couldn’t be seen in OTHER countries in a photo like that.
I was hideous.
The problem was that it was 1997. Â A re-take was $20 and 20 more minutes.
$20 and 20 more minutes that we didn’t have.
I swallowed my pride and decided it wasn’t that big of a deal. Â We went directly to the post office and applied for the passport. Â A month later when it arrived in the mail I cringed and vowed not to open it up unless asked by a uniformed agent.
It turns out that the London trip was the only trip in which a passport was needed over the following 13 years.
And so today, the CVS employee took my picture with her hand-held digital camera and turned it around to give me a look. Â I shook my head and said, “Can you please take another one?”
Just because it was digital.
Just because I could.
Just because I didn’t want to spend the next 13 years looking like this:
It really makes me wonder if  the reason we didn’t travel in the last 13 years was embarrassment.
Wow… is THAT how customs began to know you as Hot Stuff Holly???? And after only using it once. (well, twice with the return trip…)
just kidding…
Bless your heart for showing it. All photos like that… drivers license ones and Costco membership photos. there is a secret law that they have to catch you at your worst…
Wow- I needed this post today. The last few days we’ve had the plague and now we’re snowed in. In other words- I’m losing my ever loving mind! You totally made my day!
LOL! I had my first passport photo taken in 1997 too! We were moving overseas (James Bond is Army) and the photo was HORRIBLE. I traveled on that thing for 10 years before it finally expired. Sadly, my new photo isn’t that great either, but it’s not NEARLY as bad as the first one. Yours is a big fat slice of awesome.
I am using “a big fat slice of awesome” for my tagline from now on. genius.
I just almost wet myself. That was hilarious. I thought my photo was bad because of my eyebrows. 1997 too. Only used it in London. Expired a few years ago…and I have needed one…and just didn’t get it updated (or go with my husband for work in Jamaica) because I was too lazy to go for the photo.
Love the new picture, not that the old one was that bad. I really expected your eyes to be closed. I’m dying to take a trip to England. You’ve given me an idea. Maybe getting our passports would make the trip not seem so far off in the future.
Thanks!
thewannabecountrygirl – Caroline
thewannabecountrygirl.com
true. and with a cute picture you might be motivated to travel…
Oh my gosh Holly! I was waiting for it, I knew it had to be coming but then, as I scrolled down the page, there it was & I nearly peed my pants.
That is the BEST picture EVER!!!!! You are one brave woman for showing it. I am gonna make this post viral, BAHAHAHA!
hahaha…you know me too well. I have been planning the unveiling in my head all day because I couldn’t stop laughing about how bad it was.
Wow.
My photo is also pretty bad. And will likely not be seen by anyone before I have to get a new one.
Luckily the passport has a cover…so it isn’t exposed to the world.
Now – if only the DMV could get itself out of its 1997 rut…
AMEN!
Oh my goodness. My old passport photo was taken nearly 10 years before yours. 80’s big hair and I look like I am stoned & vaguely guilty of something. It looks like an arrest photo. Charged with shoplifting hairspray while under the influence of illegal drugs.
We must have had the same photographer!
I am cracking up. And also my passport is under lock and key, never ever to be revealed.
You really should post it. It has been liberating. Of course, someone has been tagging it all day on FB and I have to keep untagging, but other than that it has been liberating…?