If you look like your passport photo...

... you're probably too sick to travel.

It's an old joke.  I'm an old guy.

Time to renew our passports.  That 10 years went by fast!  We renewed our passports just before we retired.  Did I mention something about that time going by fast??  Our previous passport photos looked pretty darn good... for passport photos.  I took Joan's, she took mine.

This time, we went to Walgreens.  The kid pulled out the cheapest digital camera I've seen in quite a while.  He took us in front of the cosmetics, then pulled down a white screen.  We used to call that a projector screen.  Maybe they still do; there are digital projectors.

He said, "Are you ready?"

"Yes."

Click.  Then had me stand in the same place.  Joan asked "Can we see them before you print them?"

He mumbled something then messed with the camera to bring the image up on the back.  Joan looked at it.  I could barely see it over her shoulder... crappy lighting from the overhead fluorescents.  Greenish.  No, we weren't allowed to retouch passport photos back in "the day," but we did light them and position the client to get the best image possible.  None of that here.

He put the card into the printer, pressed a button that said "passport", and that was it.  I was interested to see if it would size the image properly.  I asked about the density, since the images looked badly exposed on the printer screen.  He mumbled something again.

A few minutes later, we had our passport photos.  Yep, they were not flattering, but they will probably meet the requirements for the government.  Joan's hair looked nice and blonde; mine had a lovely green tint to it (fluorescent lighting).  "Raccoon eyes" with enhanced bags (again, thanks to the overhead fluorescent lighting).  That may be how we'll actually look... in 10 years when these are about to expire.  ;-)