Thursday, May 12, 2011

Since My Readers Are So Good at Giving Advice. . .

. . . and since I have a tendency to be very clueless about very basic things, would somebody be so kind as to tell me where does a person go in a very small town in the Midwest if she needs a passport-size picture of herself taken? One could go all the way to St. Louis for that, of course, but it seems like such a waste of time and effort. Are there special places or something where one can go for that purpose? 

And to compensate you for the effort of thinking about this weird question, here is an absolutely true story about a phone call somebody I know got  from a recruiter.

Recruiter: Hi, I'm a recruiter with X company. I've seen in a your profile on LinkedIn that you are looking for a position in Y industry. Are you still looking?

Candidate: Yes, I am.

Recruiter: Your profile also specifies that you are looking for a job exclusively in the Midwest.

Candidate: Yes, only the Midwest.

Recruiter: That's fantastic because we have a great opening for you. It's in Hong Kong. 

Candidate (thinking of places like Toledo, Ohio and St. Petersburg, Florida): Hong Kong, what?

Recruiter: Hong Kong, the country.

13 comments:

feMOMhist said...

is there one of those mailing places? they often do the pictures or camera shops. Do such things exist in the midwest? I'm a bicoastal kind of girl

liese4 said...

Wal-mart (if they have a portrait studio) used to do head shots for passports, sometimes the post office has a place inside where you get the passports that does them....that's all I can think of right now other than taking a pic of yourself and printing it out. Maybe the college offers passport head shots too?

Clarissa said...

There is nothing at the mailing place I use but Walmart sounds like a very productive idea. I'll try that. Thanks!

I said my readers were the best.

Anonymous said...

Walgreens works. I recently had my passport picture taken there.

Stringer

kinjal said...

I always get my photo taken by a friend (it's fairly simple, you just have to get the proportions correct, use a light background, have a neutral expression), and then use this website (http://www.epassportphoto.com/) to get it to the right size. You can get different sizes for different countries. And then just go to Walmart or Walgreen with your memory card or stick and take a photo printout. And bingo! you have 8 passport pics for 25 cents. :)

Jonathan said...

FedEx might do them. When they were FedEx Kinkos they used to.

Clarissa said...

Guys, you are lifesavers. This will totally work. Yay for blogging!!!

Tim said...

Hi Clarissa !

I don't know what the restrictions on passport photos are wherever you are located, but if this is for something official like an ID or a passport, there might be additional things to look out for when taking the photo.

I mean stuff like no smiling, no silly hats or no glasses.

Clarissa said...

I'm applying to the International Association of Writers and Publicists. I'm sure they won't appreciate my huge pink hat and I never smile in photos anyways because when I smile I look very unintellectual.

I made my department remove a smiling picture of me from our website because I looked beyond stupid in it.

Tim said...

I know what you say.
Everytime I smile on a photo, it looks as if I had dislodged my jawbone to swallow my prey whole, like a snake.

Pen said...

Where was this person from that Hong Kong is in the Midwest?

Clarissa said...

New York City, apparently. :-)

Kay said...

http://travel.state.gov/passport/pptphotoreq/pptphotoreq_5333.html

It is possible to take your own passport photos.
We used two photos from a Humane Society Fundraiser of people and their pets.
(We left just enough of our dog's fur to have the illusion that he was going with us.) Basically, I think they need to be 2 inches by 2 inches and in color with a plain background. I pasted the link above to more information.

(I too was very amused at the help forum Google Meltdown titles during and after and still:-) )