new thread
I have to go renew my license and of course that means a new picture..do most of you guys leave your hair loose or wear it tied back for better identification purposes?i think i am going to opt for the ponytail with it a little loose so its not like my hair looks slicked. This is the look i am going to go with..i do a few trips a year that reuire flying so want to have my ID easily discern who i am. My old id still has me with short hair and a full beard...which was 16 years ago as NY state lets you keep the same picture each 8 year period.
This is my driving licence pic - taken 18 months ago when my hair was still very much in the "awkward stage". Those pics are always pretty dreadful: no hat, no glasses and no SMILE allowed! Plus I was all sweaty after running.
I no longer have a car but I have to use the licence all the time to buy alcohol, get into clubs, etc. and the doormen always do a double-take when they see my hair as it is now - a LOT longer! :)
Damon
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Nah, not REALLY a prison mugshot! I was just playing around with my driving licence photo. I figured it looked pretty much what a prison mugshot WOULD look like. ;)
Damon
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For those who want to slam their photo on their license I would
point out that there were a number of years when I was in college
that I was the one taking the picture for the college IDs. The images were taken on Polaroid film and looked very much
like the photo on a drivers license. So the photo is what it is.
Alot of those photos were taken the first week of classes.
Not sure what happened to it but my college ID featured me with
long hair and a full beard.
Oops! Got carried away by a vanity fest there and forgot to make my point clearer. The point I was trying to make was that I don't think the way you have your hair matters at all in those official ID pics - as long as it isn't covering your face.
It's your FACE they really want to see - clear, unsmiling and unobstructed by anything. Have your hair loose or in a ponytail or in any style you want - but just make absolutely sure that none of it is in front of your face.
I was amazed I got away with having even a few strands near my right eye. Here in the UK they are incredibly strict normally.
Damon
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Hey Damon,
The goofy state I live in, usually we don't have to renew our photo for ten years if we choose to renew online, so every time I pull out my license, I'm looking at a younger version of myself - not to mention the hair :p . Luckily, we get to smile here, though ;) .....
Sincerely,
yoshiki
i think i am going to opt for the ponytail with it a little loose so its not like my hair looks slicked.
This is a good idea. I think that with a loose ponytail you can have a medium between looking conservative and showing that you do have long hair at the same time. I like the picture you posted, too bad you can't crop it and use it instead. Plus I like that when the ponytail is loose it conveys an added volume, which can give the illusion to having thicker hair, despite the fact that your hair already looks thick.
kudos,
-rowie
it might depend on how you want to look at yourself. i have my hair down and loose in my picture. it might also make a difference if you usually wear your hair down and loose, you may not look like the same person on the license picture vs. the person driving.
When I renewed my license last year I opted to leave my hair down as that's how I usually have it when I'm not at work. Since I'm stuck with the same photo for the next 5 years I decided I wanted to go with something that looks more like the long haired me rather than the short haired me. :-)
--Dale
My Facebook Page
I just had my picture taken recently for my drivers license
and I opted to have my hair down and loose (grey hair and all) since that is how I normally wear it (except on very windy days).
Now even with my hair down you can still see my face clearly.
BTW, when I fly I bring my passport, it speeds up processing at the airport. And that also has my greying hair down.
When I got my California drivers' license several years ago, they said to take the bandanna off, even though I said I almost always wear it when I'm outside. (And of course, duh, I do all my driving outside.) So I took it off and ended up with a white bandanna. Yeah, tan lines.
One thing I've learned, when you have a lot of hair, be it mane or beard hair, you have a bigger head. If for any ID picture you stand toeing the line they've painted on the floor, when they take the picture your head will be too big for the frame and the picture will come out looking like it was taken too close, which looks creepy. If you step a few inches back, they aren't apt to notice your toes are there, and your head will come out the right size.
Bill
My last pic was in 2009 and they made me pull my hair all the way back. This was in CA. I had no ponytail ties so it came out looking HORRID! I'm so glad it expires this year so I can get in a new one before I in earnest hit the awkward phase.
My passport picture from 50 years ago, when you were allowed to smile!
Your hair was and still is beautiful, and you have a great smile, I'm sure you are the envy of many women and men who can only dream of having hair like yours.
Tom
I usually wear my hair loose, so why should ID photos be any different?
I have been told by border agents that I could keep my craash helmet on, because they only look at the area around the eyes. OTOH, for my green card photo I had to have my right ear showing?????