Can't kid myself any longer!

When my latest passport photograph was taken 3 years ago, I was shocked at the image of an old lady, surely that couldn't be me. I used the passport last month and was a bit shocked to realise that the old lady on the photograph looks much younger than I do.

Passport photographs when we are all trying to look relaxed but not smiling and are as intense as anything always look horrendous. My UK passport has expired and I am rather glad of that because I bear a striking physical resemblance to Myra Hindley in the photograph. I don't think I do in real life and it is mostly a result of my hating to be photographed. Anyway, we are what we are and what we are is is greater than how we look.

Lines on our faces are the maps of our lives. Look at all those photographs of Donald Trump, whose face was, admittedly, not a lovely thing when he was young, but nowadays all the lines, including his mouth go downwards. If you have always been angry, aggressive and bad tempered, then the map will show it. If you have always been joyful, loving and kind, then the map will show that too.

DH took a photo of me on a recent holiday when I was glammed up one evening. I thought I looked the bees knees. The photo looked like my grandmother was staring out at me.

I was always complimented on my youthful appearance but since turning 65 I seem to have sagged, wrinked and dried out at an alaming rate! My hair has thinned and is like straw, boobs can only be described as matronly and a dogs arxe wrinkly mouth is not attractive...good job I don't have to look at me!

I had my photo done at Timpsons for my driving licence and passport renewal and I was pleasantly surprised. I look better than on my 10 year old bus pass.

I know what you mean. I’ve just had my passport renewed and worry that my photo was approved as someone still alive and kicking. Where did this ashen faced, white haired old crone come from? And there I was thinking I was still gorgeous!

I had photos taken recently for my travel pass and driving license renewal. I look like I 've had a stroke! Mouth all down on one side etc. Awful.

mabon1 if we are to have forums we need subjects to discuss. If we only discussed deeply serious national and international issues, it would get very boring.

I doubt anyone here has ever lost a second's sleep over their passport photo, but it is a fact of life that passport photos are uniformly dreadful because of the rules governing them. If we cannot have a little giggle, roll our eyes heavenwards and just wonder why they have to be so dreadful, life is getting pretty grim.

That was a bit harsh, mabon1. This is a lighthearted thread, surely? I would hazard a guess that many posters have lots of problems they are dealing with, but a thread like this is just what we need sometimes. Perhaps you need "to get over" your bad mood. ??

Every single passport photo I have had in my life looks dreadful - the newest one is no exception, but it is a very, very slight improvement on its predecessor!

It hasn't helped that we are no longer allowed to smile or wear our glasses in a passport photo.

I keep trying to tell myself that I really should be too old to be bothered about my looks. After all it is the inside of a person not the outside that counts! Haven't quite got to that level of serenity yet. I don't suppose I ever will.

I recommended my friend go to have her photo taken just after she had her hair done. That is what I did. New passport last year quite happy with picture. It is me. My friend is satisfied with her's also. She used the number from the photographer to link it to the new passport. That wasn't available last year when I got mine!

I was at a funeral once, and chatting to a relative who will be 60 this year .......a friend of the deceased came up to us and said ah, this must be your daughter ? I am 70 ....................can't decide if it was a compliment to her, that she looks younger than 60, or him thinking I must be about 80 .............but we had a laugh about it and now she is my Hon, daughter and I her HOn, mum ...............so I have now acquired an Hon Gs as well ...................sometimes I wish we had full length cover ups complete with head cover .........

My 4 year old GD was watching me as I put moisturiser on my face. She asked what I was doing and I explained that when you're older your skin becomes dry and older looking so the cream was to make me look younger. When I'd finished, she looked at me and said, "It didn't work!" She's right, of course. I don't even look at the pictures taken on my 70th birthday a few months ago. I'd better check the expiry date on my passport.

My passport expired a few years ago and I haven't bothered renewing it. But the photo was ghastly. When I presented it as ID at a bank one day the cashier burst out laughing and asked if I'd picked up my mothers passport by mistake!

BTW someone told me recently that we're all supposed to have passports as ID now whether we travel or not. Is this true? If that's the case then I think they should be a lot cheaper!

I look bloody awful in my passport photo! Definitely the murderer. But a few years ago I managed to take a great photo of myself in a supermarket photo booth. It was for a bus pass. |I got the idea from an article by a professional photographer in a magazine. Cut out a large square of cardboard ad cover it with foil. |In the booth adjust the seat to get the perfect passport photo and have the foil-backed square facing upwards but obviously not visible in your shot. This will ensure you get a great 'uplight' which eliminates shadows and lines. Worked for those stars in the 1920s! I didn't use it for my passport this time round though - unlike a bus pass it will hardly be seen.

mabon - this is a light hearted thread about passport photos. I do actually have many problems but prefer not to dwell on them

Hello, your still the same person underneath all that experience and caring don't worry about the changes in you looks, its how you feel inside that counts and how you come across to people, you still have the same feelings.

For goodness sake, get over it. If that's the only problem you have then God Bless you, you're very fortunate indeed.

As Noreen3 said, you can use a pic from your mobile phone, so you can ask partner/chum/GC to take as many as you need until you get one you can live with. Then you upload it to the Passport Office website, which lets you know if it's OK. It's both quick and easy - you have to post your old passport back to them. I uploaded my pic and info on a Sunday and the new passport arrived in the post on Saturday. It was in February, so maybe not their busiest time, but I was really impressed. NB: make sure you use the 'real' Passport Office site, one with 'gov.uk' in the address, as there are some rip-off merchants offering a 'special' service - very special for them as they get your money!

The worst one is coming through automatic passport control. I don't know who that awful old witch is, but she's lying in wait for me at every airport.

My first photo for my bus pass looked fine, just like me.
A few years later when it came up for renewal and needed a passport photo, it looked awful, I did a couple in a photo booth and then one by a professional photographer, still no improvement.
However when passport came back they use a sort of cloudy plastic over it , and picture blurred but much better, though still doesn't look like me.

I think I read that we don't really 'see' our faces as they actually are when we look in the mirror - we have all the memories of seeing our face over so many years and our brain 'sees' the face it is used to, and only changes slowly to catch up with reality. I used to think I looked young for my age, but learnt from photos that I look as old as I am! But why do we mind this? It was OK to look 25 when we were that age - but we aren't in our twenties now. Or I guess that if you are on GN you aren't! You are OK without having to look like someone you are not!

I had special photos taken for a visa for Russia - no smile, no fringe, no glasses, ears must show and you have to have a white background. I look as if I have been in a gulag for 20 years. I really don’t think I will look that old in 20 years time

Gillybob - me too! Although I’ve always been ugly I look like an old hag on my driving licence and I’m dreading having to renew it next year. I’m already practising the closed mouth almost-but-not-quite smile to reduce the hang dog mouth, tilting my head slightly upwards and sticking my head forward as I read somewhere that reduces the appearance of a turkey neck! Maybe I’ll just give up driving instead!

When I look or feel a bit past it, I look at people like Jane Fonda, Sophia Loren, Joan Collins etc. Yes, am sure they have a little “help” but even so we can all make the most of what we have, hide the worst bits and enhance the good. Rather be over the hill than under it !!