I need one recent passport sized photo with the following specifications:
- Sharp and clear, 35 mm wide by 45 mm high without border and taken within the last 3 months;
- Taken full face with you looking directly at the camera with head straight, eyes open with no hair across and/or covering the eyes. Both edges of your face, and the top of the shoulders must be clearly seen;
- Taken with the image of your face measuring between 25 mm and 35 mm from chin to crown of head;
- Taken without wearing any hat or other head covering, unless you habitually wear a hat or head covering in accordance with your religious or racial custom. If any such hat or other head covering is worn, the photograph must still be a full frontal view of your head and shoulders, showing your facial features in entirety with eyes open and clearly visible;
- If you wear glasses, the photograph must show your eyes clearly with no flash reflection off the glasses. The frame shall not cover any part of your eyes. Tinted glasses and sunglasses are not allowed;
- Taken with uniform lighting with no flash reflection or shadow, no uneven bright spots on the face and no red eyes;
- Taken against a white background, except that if your hair, hat or head covering is white, the background must be light grey;
- Show you alone with no chair back, toys or other persons visible;
- Be printed on high quality paper at high resolution with a matt or semi-matt finish with no ink marks or creases.
*big sigh*
I wonder how much damage is going to be done to my psyche. Already, there is a mounting heat going up my neck, of the sheer irritation of having to read half a page of paper for one measly passport sized photo. And why the grey background? (*edit* I just realized that it is WHITE that they want, unless I wear a white hat that I'm not allowed to) I like my passport photo backgrounds the conventional sky blue, can't? And what does "image of my face measuring between 25 mm and 35 mm from chin to crown of head" even mean?
OK, I know what it means, after reading it three times. My short attention span jumped over that line the first two times I tried to read it. Who is writing this crap anyway? Isn't there more important things in life to do than to specify how big one's head should be in a photograph, or worse, measuring every single photograph that comes in?
I don't like feeling resentful towards petty things like that. However, a deeper fear resides within my heart - would there be a day when I accept all of these as second nature? Would I feel afraid even, to step out of this box, full of do's and don'ts, and or else's? And once I am in The Box, would my soul ever be free again?
On an unrelated note, before the dratted letter came in, I painted this this morning.
With these.
Maybe going for art class in Singapore will save my soul. I wonder.
