A Pleasant Surprise at the BMV

[judifilksign]

So, renewing the license tags at the BMV, the worker noticed that my driver's license had expired this year.  Time for a new one, ASAP.

I was actually quite pleased, because my previous license was one of the worst pictures I'd ever taken in my life.  I'd win "ugly license" contests with my friends.  In the picture, I looked like I was not only under the influence of something, but like someone had just beaten me up.  (A combination of bad lighting, an unsmiling face and bad luck.)  The Ohio hologram that year said "Don't Drink and Drive," which fluoresced right next to my face on the blue background.  It was like the hologram was highlighting my picture as the reason why you shouldn't drink and drive, I mean, really!  Grim, grim, grim.  The BMV worker smiled at how eagerly I gave it up.

My new license picture is an improvement.  The BMV had technical difficulties with the first camera, and so had me move to a second space.  Then, they had problems with the computer on the second space's camera!  So, the lady asked me to move to a third seat, and to make the same beautiful smile I'd produced the first two times.  I laughed, and said "Third time's the charm, right?" and she caught me in the middle of laughing.  The lady said it was the best picture she'd taken all day.

Since I'm still at a high weight, I look cherubically round in the picture, and my cheeks are rosy like the Campbell's Soup kids.  Such minor complaints aside, I love this picture.  It *isn't* my old one, looks like me, and has a real smile.  My mom ought to love it, too, because for a change, I have my hair pulled back from my face, the way she always is telling me to fix it.

Comments

[almeda.livejournal.com]

As I come from a photography-and-modelling family, my mom 'raised me' to do everything possible on the pose end to make up for the utterly ABYSMAL conditions under which DL photos are taken.

The quick version is lift your chin a bit (to accentuate neck, not jowls), find the light, smile with your eyes if they won't let you with your mouth (some places require a 'neutral expression' ... and man, was that tough with Beka's passport photo! She's a very smiley baby).

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

Well, my chin is up as I'm laughing, so the smile on my mouth is matched by my eyes. I guess I followed your mom's advice without knowing it!

As I said, I'm round in real life, and the picture shows it, but it also looks like *me,* a happy me.