I hope this finds you having a fantastical Tuesday!
This is a photo of our dear old man, Simba. We think he’s about 16 -17 years old. I snapped this photo of him the other day during a rare moment of putting up my feet on the recliner. He is almost as old as my daughter, who was just maybe 18 months or 2 years old when we got him.
Cats don’t need passports for sure, but we do if we’re going to see the world! While we safely leave our much-photographed furbabies behind…if you don’t already have a passport, I want to encourage you to get one! They are valid 10 years for most people, and seeing some new places is incredible! Let’s dig in! -Sandy
Passport Selfie?
Can you take your own passport photo?
You CAN go to a number of places to get a passport photo taken… and I think we went to AAA to get ours done. Lots of folks have done the “drug store passport photo” route for something as low as about $15.
In any case, we live in a time when that really, TRULY isn’t so necessary. Check out these great ways to get your passport photos done complimentary and conveniently with your own phone!
Tips to get started:
Get help: A TRUE selfie won’t be accepted (sorry, that headline was a joke!), so you’ll either need to ask a friend to take your picture use a tripod.
Lighting: You can’t have any shadows in your passport photo, so taking it in natural daylight on a sunny day works best.
Background: If you don’t have any plain neutral walls to stand in front of, you can attach a piece of plain white poster board on the wall behind you to create that backdrop.
What are the photo requirements?
Recent (within 6 months) color photo, no smiling – make a neutral face
Front-facing photo (think mug shot)
Wear normal daily clothing – no work uniforms or other non-daily wear
No glasses, no headphones, no earbuds
No hats or head coverings that obscure the hair/hairline except worn daily for a religious purpose. Your full face must be visible, & the head covering must not cast any shadows on your face.
Sized such that the head is between 1 inch and 1 3/8 inches (22 mm and 35 mm), or 50 percent and 69 percent of the image’s total height from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head. (Click here for a photo template and further explanation.)
More help
State Department Website now has a passport photo cropping tool! Click here to get it!
Passport Photo Booth app: Just awesome. Click this link to check it out for IOS!
MyPassportPhotos.com – Quick and easy full-on guide to getting your photos done fast!