Baby, Say 'Cheese' for the State Department
You're never too young to travel. But first, you have to learn to sit all by yourself.
That was the lesson my sister recently learned when she brought Kate, then five weeks old, to have her passport photo snapped.
Lisa, her husband and itty-bitty Kate are traveling to Italy in May, and the State Department requires passports for every American, including those who've been alive for less time than the shelf life of milk. So, Lisa, Kate and my parents ventured off to a AAA office in Masachusetts for the shoot.
(Lisa Sachs -- For The Washington Post)
Presented with a stool and a child too young to hold up her own noggin', my sister asked if she could sit with Kate or kneel down and hold her on the side or from the front, ducking out of view. The agency's photographer told my sister that she could not appear in the photo holding up her daughter. It had to be only Kate, despite her floppy head, noodle legs and slumping posture. No second-party body parts allowed. In addition, the employee said the child must sit on the stool, which was adjusted to a certain height that made her head level with the white screen backdrop. (When I contacted AAA Mid-Atlantic, spokesman John Townsend said the Washington office does take photos of newborns and that no parents have ever returned with photos rejected by the State Department.)
To be sure, the State Department writes on its Web site: "The minor child must be the only subject in the photo. Nothing used to support the minor child, whether by mechanical or human means, should be in the camera''s frame."
That ruled out puppet wires and scaffolding. Oh well.
The AAA photog directed my family to the Walgreens next door. There, a kid pulled down a screen, hiding a bank of vending machines, and told Lisa that she could hold up Kate -- minus the stool but add in a thumb. In the interim, a call was made to the post office where Lisa and Andrew were going to process the passport. The P.O. employee said a stray finger would be okay because, "How else are you going to get a picture of a newborn without someone holding her."
When I asked Cyril M. Ferenchak, a State Department regional affairs officer, for his suggestions on photographing a newborn, he offered up the "School Solution." "Most photographers should be able to position the child and take a picture that does not include the arms of a parent holding the baby in a sitting position," he said by e-mail, "Check with a photo shop or the photo counter at some of these drug stores to find out exactly how they do it since they do it all the time. They probably have some proven simple methods."
In a few weeks, we will know if Kate's picture made it onto a passport, or if my sister has to start looking around for a babysitter for May.
By Andrea Sachs |
February 21, 2008; 7:35 AM ET
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Posted by: | February 21, 2008 8:15 AM
I also put my baby on the floor on a white blanket, used my own digital camera and photo paper. No problem. Why on earth would you take a baby to AAA to do it when you could take the pics at home?
Posted by: | February 21, 2008 8:41 AM
In my first passport photo (2 weeks old) I was held in my mother's arms- no fingers or arms showing. It just looks like I'm in one of those professional photographer prop seats for infants. You can see her shirt, but that looks like a background (a white background wasn't an issue- the photos then were black and white). Today I would just bring a white blanket to the photo office and drape it over my arms to hold the baby. It seems like that office was just wrong.
Posted by: J | February 21, 2008 9:18 AM
Love the picture you ran with the post - totally cute. Too bad the state department wouldn't take that one for the passport.
Posted by: h3 | February 21, 2008 10:25 AM
I never thought about laying the child on the floor... I feel REALLY stupid right now. When my sister needed a passport photo for her daughter (12 weeks old), I used photoshop to remove my sister's arms and fingers and printed the photo. She sent it to the State Department and my niece now has the oddest looking passport photo because her head appears to be floating, almost in mid air.
It's kind of ridiculous that they won't allow a parent to be shown in the picture, but they will accept and obviously doctored photo.
Posted by: J | February 21, 2008 10:55 AM
I am an American living in Europe. My child was born in my husband's European country but has American citizenship. We got my child's American passport when he was 2 weeks old. We had it taken at the photo shop downstairs from the consulate (since they are very familiar with the ever-changing rules for the passport photos.) What they did-- and still do (I'm expecting a second child soon so I checked into this)-- is give the parent/adult holding the baby a white sheet to drape over them-- so I was sitting on a stool holding my 2 week old in the sitting position-- but I can't be seen as I was covered by the sheet.
The photographer told me that they recommend NOT dressing the child in white and/or totally light colors for the pictures.
Some countries don't make the child have a separate passport but there's good and bad to that. For example, my child has double citizenship. For travel, my child has an American passport and is "written in" to his father's passport (allowed in father's country.) Usually this works-- 9 times of 10 we travel together within Europe so DH is there with the European pasport and the Americans require a separate passport-- and not just for Americans-- for kids-- so we're fine there-- but I have had a hassle or two when the child and I have travelled without DH (but with DH's knowledge and consent) and I have had an American passport with my permanent residence visa for DH's country and our child doesn't (even though in these countries an American can legally travel for up to 3 months without any kind of visa.)
Posted by: American mom abroad | February 21, 2008 10:58 AM
Why on earth would anybody want to drag an infant that small and young to a foreign country? Good grief. Either stay home until the kid gets bigger or leave it with a sitter. Totally stupid, if you ask me.
Posted by: | February 21, 2008 1:35 PM
Hmm...Interesting how things change. Nearly 20 years, when my son was a couple months old, we went to the State Department to get his diplomatic passport so we could join my husband on his overseas tour. The Department's photographer took his picture and although I no longer have the passport, I know I was there propping up my son.
I don't know why the previous poster believes that babies shouldn't travel overseas. We went, of course, due to my husband's job, but other people go so that family members living overseas can see the new baby and that's a very good reason, indeed. And as for taking a baby overseas on vacation--well, that's the best age! They sleep most of the time; they aren't picky about their food (because it comes from mom); and they're easy to carry around. We took this same son to Australia on vacation when he was only 6 months old. It was so easy and so fun! So kudos to your sister, Andrea, for introducing her child early to the joys of travel!
Posted by: NoVA | February 21, 2008 1:57 PM
To 1:35pm poster-- Why not "drag" a young kid to a foreign country? In my experience, it's easier to travel with a younger baby than when they get slightly more mobile. (Although it's certainly doable-- it's just that at least in my experience, tiny babies just want to be cuddled the whole flight while older babies want to crawl.) With carriers (wraps, Baby Bjorn, etc.) you can be mobile. And kids are in those countries too!
As a breastfeeding mom I couldn't have left my kid with a sitter for days at a time, nor would I have wanted to anyway.
Personally if I had never "dragged" my child as a baby and now as a preschooler to foreign countries, we would have missed out on some great family experiences, as well as seeing friends and family who don't live in our local area or in the country where we live.
Posted by: American mom abroad | February 21, 2008 2:00 PM
That is ridiculous - both of mine were 3mos old when they took their first trips. For each of them, I dressed them as cute a possible, and put them on a blanket at the passport photo place, got them to smile.
I got lots of "really cute" comments on their picures from immigration agents in the Caribbean, and Europe. Even the normally grumpy US immigration folks smiled at them.
Posted by: | February 21, 2008 11:26 PM
Odd comment from the poster who said not to drag your kid around the world. Great advice for military families! My daughter was 6 weeks old when we moved overseas -- they took her photo as she slept in the carseat. My second was two weeks old for her photo -- also taken in the car seat. I still have the passports.
Posted by: | February 22, 2008 12:07 PM
Totally stipid, if you ask me, to cast judgment. You have no idea why someone might be taking a baby abroad. Did it occur to you that their family might be there?
Posted by: AllisonNNH | February 22, 2008 12:32 PM
Why can't the parent be in the photo? My first passport was a family one -- my mom sitting with my sister (then 1) and me (then 4) in a nice B&W group photo. What's the problem?
Posted by: Andy | February 22, 2008 3:52 PM
Why on earth would anybody want to drag an infant that small and young to a foreign country? Good grief. Either stay home until the kid gets bigger or leave it with a sitter. Totally stupid, if you ask me.
Posted by: | February 21, 2008 01:35 PM
well 01:35, maybe you should realize that men and women who protect this country often have to live in other countries, with babies. And that's not totally stupid. It's life.
Posted by: | February 22, 2008 7:08 PM
My son was born in Japan and we moved back to the states when he was 5 months, so a passport was necessary. We just laid him down on a white sheet and took the picture on my digital camera at home, looking down. Came out great, super-easy. Never try to hold up a little bitty baby- just lay them down! Makes pictures just like State dept wants for the passports- just like one poster said, put them in a colorful outfit- don't want them blending in with the white sheet-
Posted by: Tiffany | February 23, 2008 8:58 PM
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What my friends have done in the past is have the baby lie on a white blanket on the floor. The baby is unsupported and on a white background. I'm not sure why the child would have to sit for a picture; you can't really tell in those tiny pics and it's impossible to manage with a newborn...