[HN Gopher] Passport Photos
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       Passport Photos
        
       Author : gaws
       Score  : 218 points
       Date   : 2024-11-06 21:23 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (maxsiedentopf.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (maxsiedentopf.com)
        
       | meowster wrote:
       | 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 wrote:
       | Thanks for the good laugh. Looks great!
        
         | ale42 wrote:
         | They're very funny indeed. I doubt they are AI-generated, they
         | would the best AI images I've ever seen. If they are, there
         | must be a lot of post-processing. But the artist being among
         | others a photographer, I imagine they're actual photos. See
         | other series on the website too, e.g.
         | https://maxsiedentopf.com/19-off-amelie-pichard/
        
           | throw03172019 wrote:
           | Thank you for the link!
        
       | kevinsync wrote:
       | The fish cursor is a delightful touch lol. I especially
       | appreciate not knowing where the anchor point is hahaha
        
         | pimlottc wrote:
         | I was confused why so many of the photos had a random fish it
         | them until I realized that was the cursor...
        
       | shrx wrote:
       | Hugged to death :(
        
         | accrual wrote:
         | Hug text: The website is temporarily unable to service your
         | request as it exceeded resource limit. Please try again later.
        
       | bravura wrote:
       | "Wear a tuxedo for your ID photos." - Glenn O'Brien (TV Party,
       | Downtown 81, the Style Guy)
        
         | xattt wrote:
         | I've always thought to go unkempt and unshaven.
         | 
         | This is so that I would be recognized from my passport if I was
         | detained for several months in a sketchy country.
        
           | chgs wrote:
           | It's odd, last time I went to the US they barely glanced at
           | my photo
        
             | telesilla wrote:
             | I believe the photo is encoded in the digital passport
             | contents and the computer will check your face in the
             | camera to see it matches. No human involved. Many countries
             | have automatic passport gates now using this method.
        
               | alexanderchr wrote:
               | If they already have your picture the agent will usually
               | know who you are before you have even handed over your
               | passport. The tech has gotten eerily good.
        
           | TeMPOraL wrote:
           | A decade ago, I was sent for a two-month business trip to
           | China. I didn't have a valid passport (didn't need it within
           | EU/Schengen Area) and had to make one in a hurry. I went to
           | take my photo unkempt but freshly shaved. While in China, I
           | didn't bother shaving, but I did get myself a haircut, that
           | left me almost bald (communication mishap). One month in, I
           | had to spend a weekend in Hong Kong to renew the work visa.
           | On my way back, I happily handed my passport to the border
           | control officer, and then spent terrifying 15 minutes trying
           | to convince him, his colleague and then his superior, that
           | the clean-shaved unkempt person in the photo and the near-
           | bald, bearded person in front of them, are in fact the same
           | person.
        
       | teractiveodular wrote:
       | Hugged to death, here's an archive copy: https://archive.is/uPMjd
        
       | vallode wrote:
       | 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.
        
       | xoxxala wrote:
       | Clever usurpation of expectations _and_ artistic.
        
       | eric_h wrote:
       | this really makes me regret doing nothing like this when I
       | recently had my passport photos taken.
        
         | nickjj wrote:
         | I had my photo taken by an employee at the post office where
         | they submit the application. It would have been fun to walk in
         | and start duct taping myself to the wall without saying a word.
        
       | cbsks wrote:
       | > 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...
        
         | madeofpalk wrote:
         | > Neutral expression (not smiling, laughing or frowning)
         | 
         | https://www.passports.gov.au/PhotoGuidelines
        
           | redundantly wrote:
           | Just got passports for my kids recently. My 14-year old was
           | scowling in his photo. They accepted it.
        
             | dylan604 wrote:
             | They know that nobody standing in front of a customs
             | officer that is looking at their photo will actually be
             | smiling. So having it neutral or even scowling as you
             | experience will be much more likely to match. /s
        
         | wasabi991011 wrote:
         | Yet on the same page, they have
         | 
         | > Pose and Expression: Have a neutral facial expression with
         | both eyes open and mouth closed.
         | 
         | In my view, neutral and smiling are incompatible, but I guess
         | that is up to interpretation.
        
         | crmd wrote:
         | My last Irish passport photo was rejected for smiling (I'm
         | American born). The embassy lady said your expression is
         | supposed to be "dour".
        
       | yapyap wrote:
       | lol I thought these were AI generated at some point too just
       | because of how silly they are
        
       | alimoeeny wrote:
       | Don't forget to scroll down the page. The girl with the wine
       | glasses is my favorite. And the guy taped to the wall.
        
       | jonny_eh wrote:
       | All the fun stuff is happening out of frame.
        
       | rconti wrote:
       | 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.
        
         | dylan604 wrote:
         | > But I was told they wouldn't be accepted because
         | 
         | yeah, and I would have expected nothing less. from my personal
         | experience, the photos were required to be recent. just based
         | on your having visited a barber would signal to me that the
         | photos were not recent. even if you visited the barber while
         | you waited for the 1-Hour Photo guy to finish, a logical person
         | would realize this was not going to work out well
        
       | stevenhubertron wrote:
       | This is the web I miss.
        
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