Failed Passport Photo Attempts

Let me just say that I wish we had enough disposable income to hire an actual photographer with an actual studio and real editing software to do the passport photos. If you have the money, that's the way to go! However, we don't have the money and staying at home, I do have the time for trial and error. Let me share my experiences of error:

My first attempt was Walmart. Yes, Walmart. As with many things, it was just cheap and convenient, so I had to give it a go. But sometimes you get what you pay for. There are three ID photos at my local Walmart ready for me to pick up, but I won't be picking them up. I don't believe any of them meet regulation requirements. Pretty much, they would be great examples of what not to submit.

What happened was the guy who was working the photo desk told me he wasn't sure their success rate, as no one came back to let them know. Luckily, I was somewhat familiar with the guidelines having tried it myself. By the time we left, I can say he was a nice older guy who really wanted to help, but simply didn't know the rules or how to use a digital camera well.

To show James (19 months) how this worked, I had some myself first. I already have a passport but figured they may be good to have on hand for visas, or upcoming resident permits. When he showed me mine, I had glare on my glasses. I pointed this out and told him I'd take them off, but he acted like he didn't hear. He used the digital camera like there was precious film inside and didn't want to waste them by taking more than one shot.

James was next. He kept sticking his tongue out. The picture we got was good, he was natural, not smiling and facing the camera squarely, but his tongue was out. When I pointed this out, he again seemed not to hear. Again, just one photo was taken of James.

After I told him how to do Caterina's (lay her on the floor with a background behind) he didn't know what to do. He got some shiny photo paper to lay down. When I said that was too shiny, he got another kind of shiny photo paper. It didn't matter because the one photo he got of her, she was turning her head and crying.


My second attempt was CVS. This was a short experience because the photo kiosks were down. I wouldn't be able to print my own out myself (which costs $8.00 anyway!) Or have them do it for $7.99, I would have had to stand and wait for more than 20 minutes and come back another time to pick up the pictures. Returning wasn't a big deal, but waiting around and then expecting my darling babies to cooperate and not scream while they were being photographed was pushing it. Plus, I noticed the screen was at the front of the store where my son wouldn't be able to reisit smiling and saying "hi" to everyone who came in and "bye" to everyone who left. No thanks.

Believe it or not, these couple of trials wasted a couple of days when it was all said and done. I figured with the time wasted, I might as well give it a go myself again.

Applying for Passports with babies in Person

Doesn't that just sound like fun? Going to the post office when Mom and Dad are both available (so over Daddy's lunch break in our case) then standing in the 20+ person line and the 2 or 3 Postal Employees take everyone one at a time? Even better, getting sent home when it's your turn! And not because we did the paperwork wrong or forgot something.

If you go to the US Passport Application site, you can punch in your zipcode and it will give you a list of the closest application centers and their details. As it turns out, a lot of those details are incorrect.

We opted to meet at the large Post Office half way between our home and Chris' office for obvious reasons over his lunch break. For any minors applying for a passport, from what I understand, both parents have to apply in person with the minors. Both of the parents names have to be on the birth certificate or documentation provided.

I got the hours off the website, it said appointments preferred so I tried calling to make an appointment but no one answered and there was not voicemail. Oh well, preferred, right? It wasn't the only thing the website was wrong about, it turns out you can only pay with credit card at a few major centers.

So on our first day, I waited in line for 20 minutes. James ate his PBJ bit by bit and Caterina slept. I rocked the stroller back and forth so Caterina would continue to think we were moving and stay asleep. The guy in line behind me who was saving room for my double stroller was chastised by they guy behind him for not cramming together more, as if that would make the line go faster. Chris joined us and waited another 10 or 15 minutes until it was our turn.

We went to the booth, documents and applications in hand saying we were there to apply for passports. Rather than apologizing or delivering the news sweetly, the postal employee was apparently dumbfounded that we didn't have an appointment. We had to make one the next day, again over lunch hour, but later. Definitely nap time. Buh-bye.

We went through the whole ordeal the next day, except Caterina was awake and needed to be rocked and fed. At least the postal employee who "helped us" left to take her lunch break and we got a much nicer person. Not only did she apologize for all of the misinformation (and she asked us about it, we didn't complain to her!) but she complimented our baby passport photos. After the trials and errors, it was music to my ears. (Yea ePassportPhotos.com!)

$210 later, I don't want to calculate the actual time cost, it's all over and hopefully the next thing I'll have to report about our children's passports is their arrival! We expect them in 4 weeks.

ePassportPhoto.com Review

Taking our own baby passport pics

I was a bit skeptical of epassport.com for a number of reasons, but mostly because their prices aren't up front. To me, they lead on as though they are a free service, but as it turns out, they cost $7.99 for two passport photos, just like the cheaper chain options. It seemed to me that it was like taking your passport pictures yourself, but paying for them to double check.

In summary, I would recommend ePassortPhoto.com. Here's why:

The cost is the same as the cheapest photo service, even at the big chains: Currently $7.99 for the first, then 20% off the second. You can have them sent to you, or pay for the same day pick up option, as I did, and end up paying for a 4x6 and tax. My total was $.41 for the two.

Don't think they'd take this one...

It is very reassuring knowing that after all the struggle to get baby passport pictures, there is a 99%+ chance they will be approved.


It was very easy. Not that photo kiosks or online photo services are that difficult, but for some reason a task that ought to take a minute or two always takes 15 minutes and is frustrating because something always goes wrong, especially at the in store kiosks. For an average 4x6, no biggie, but for official passport/visa photos, everything has to be regulation so you do have to keep at it until it is just perfect.

The "studio"

This is how it worked for me:

1. After failed attempts at a couple chain locations, and determined not to spend the fees of a professional photographer, I went onto www.epassportphoto.com.
2. Based on theirs and suggestions of many websites, I bought a piece of plain, non-shiny white tag board.  In our brightest artificially lit room, I taped the tag board to the wall so it was the right height for James (19 months.) My husband and I practiced showing him how to stand and look at the camera without smiling. We snapped tons of pictures and caught a couple decent ones. Unfortunately our best had a huge shadow (it was before we'd figured out the best lighting.)
3. I uploaded it to their facebook page, where an expert confirmed there was too much shadow. As a side note, depending on your facebook settings, all of your friends can see and comment on this picture. If you haven't dropped the "we may be moving abroad" bomb to your loved ones, this could blow you cover. My mother's 60-something year old bestie saw it and told my mother.
4. I toyed with the lighting and shadows on my scrapbooking/digital photo organizing software (Creative Memories Memory Manager) and did my best corrections.
5. The doctored photo was uploaded to ePassportPhoto.com and I dragged their box over the picture to confirm the size was to regulation. 
6. When I got to the final page, I saw how much the cost was for the first time, but went for it anyway. 
7. I chose to pick it up from the store because I didn't want to wait for the 5-10 shipping.

Upon getting the discount, I decided to use ePassportPhoto.com for Caterina's picture, too. I mean, it wasn't going to be cheaper anywhere else and if she had bouts of the newborn wailing, at least it would just be in my home. For Caterina (1 month,) I:

That was easy!

1. Laid the tagboard over a thick baby blanket on the bed so it wouldn't wrinkle/crease. She laid in the middle.
2. She actually cooperated and I got several really cute shots that were good with lighting and shadows. The best photo was uploaded to ePassportPhoto.com and I dragged their box over the picture to confirm the size was to regulation.
   When I got to the final page, I saw how much the cost was for the first time, but went for it anyway. 
3. Again, chose to pick it up from the store because I didn't want to wait for the 5-10 shipping.

 See how much easier it is when the baby cooperates?

I got emails confirming the orders, then confirming that the pictures were "resolved" which apparently means, ready. Or as it turns out, it took 2 days. The store was having issues with their machine, but no big deal - it wasn't the website's fault, but it would be nice if they would have waited to "resolve" the order, it would have saved me a trip.

That wasn't as easy

Passport Pictures for Babies - where to go

It is time to get our paperwork in order so that if an opportunity does come up, we can jump on it. We don't have passports for the babies yet. We had started down that path once with James so that we could visit Toronto, the closest largest city near Rochester, NY, but Grandma and Grandpa ended up baby sitting for a night instead.

At that time, I attempted to take James' picture on my own. We have plain white walls in our apartment and I sat him up in a bumbo seat.  I could not get the photo to regulation standards. If I could get him facing forward, there was a shadow or a bump on the wall, or he would lean toward me... The State Department also suggested putting a white sheet on the car seat, that was a disaster and full of wrinkles and shadows. So, I decided to pay for some professional help. When I called around, it turned out that very few places will do toddler and baby photos.

This morning, I brought Caterina in for her "newborn" portraits at JC Penney. They will do adult passport photos, but not little ones, as is the case for many passport photo services. When calling around, no one said they did baby photos. However, I walked into my local CVS and they did his by laying him down on tagboard. I was impressed by the woman's knowledge of regulations. I plan to take my kids back there this week so we can apply for passports this weekend.

I will try again to look for suggestions online so we can do our own, but if I fail, the following are local options according to phone calls I've made today. I would imagine it's similar nationwide, as these places are all chains:
-Walmart
-CVS
-Walgreens
-FedEx
-UPS
-http://www.epassportphoto.com/ (free online service, but not terribly different than just doing it yourself.)


Here is the passport requirements page from the US Department of state: http://travel.state.gov/passport/pptphotoreq/pptphotoreq_5333.html.

Mother's Day

I found this week's episode of Rick Steves podcast both touching and inspiring, especially the first half. He begins with a tribute to his mother, who passed away this winter, thanking her for planting the travel seed in him. Following is an interview with Jennifer Wilson, who wrote Running Away to Home: Our Family's Journey to Croatia in Search of Who We Are, Where We Came From, and What Really Matters. I greatly look forward to reading (on my new e-reader, my awesome unexpected Mother's Day gift!)

Regardless of if we are able to move abroad at this point in our lives, planting the seed is certainly something that I hope to accomplish. Jennifer Wilson and her family took a break when her children were 4 and 7. If our kids end up being educated in the US, I do dream of taking a break when they are about middle school age and "home schooling" them on the road for a while, when they are an impressionable age. Rick Steves mentioned his first trip with his mother was when he was 14. I feel lucky that our son will be older than our daughter since, sorry boys, girls tend to be more mature at an earlier age.

My thinking is generally that James and our baby girl will learn the social things and become as prepared for middle and high school as elementary school does, but that a year seeing the world at that impressionable time would be very eye opening. Plus, it would hopefully be at a time when they are still young enough to be under our wing somewhat, but will be exercising independent thinking. When they return to their education, we can keep the option open for a more independent experience as a high school study abroad student, if they are interested.

I know many people baulk at the cost of such things, but I like how Jennifer Wilson talked about prioritizing family expenses in the interview mentioned above. Maybe I should mention, that I have been inspired by the '7-year sabbatical movement.' I have little faith that people of my generation will be getting social security, so I plan on working as long as I'm physically capable. But, I would like to take breaks at least every decade to enjoy, especially since that's about how often people of my generation are expected to change jobs, since working for the same company for life seems to be a thing of the past.

Ah, so many ways to actively/experientially inspire little ones to be global citizens - now if we can only nail down our more immediate shorter term plans!