{"id":2398,"date":"2014-03-13T20:47:24","date_gmt":"2014-03-13T11:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2014-03-13\/2398"},"modified":"2014-03-13T20:49:53","modified_gmt":"2014-03-13T11:49:53","slug":"photographer-world-problems-renewing-a-passport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2014-03-13\/2398","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Photographer-World Problems&#8221;: Renewing a Passport"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div class='ic' itemscope itemtype='http:\/\/schema.org\/Photograph'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF4_048821c_sm.jpg\" width=\"248\" height=\"300\"\nalt=\"Passport-Photo Glaze I have it -- Copyright 2014 Jeffrey Friedl, https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/\"\nid=\"i048821c\"\nitemprop=\"image\"\ntitle=\"Passport-Photo Glaze I have it -- Copyright 2014 Jeffrey Friedl, https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/\"\/>\n<br\/><span class=\"camera-info robots-nocontent\">Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 &mdash; <sup>1<\/sup><big>\/<\/big>60 sec, <span class='f'>f<\/span>\/8, ISO 500 &mdash;\n<a href='\/imageinfo.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fregex.info%2Fi%2FJF4_048821c_sm.jpg'>image data<\/a><\/span>\n<br\/><span class='caption'>Passport-Photo Glaze<\/span>\n<br\/>I have it\n<meta itemprop='url' content='http:\/\/regex.info\/i\/JF4_048821c_sm.jpg'\/>\n<meta itemprop='creator' content='Jeffrey Friedl'\/>\n<meta itemprop='copyrightHolder' content='Jeffrey Friedl'\/>\n<meta itemprop='dateCreated' content='2014-02-27'\/>\n<meta itemprop='about' content=\"Passport-Photo Glaze I have it -- Copyright 2014 Jeffrey Friedl, https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/\"\/><\/div>\n\n<p>Renewing one's American passport by mail isn't too arduous for most folks.... you just need:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>old passport<\/li>\n<li>filled-out application form<\/li>\n<li>photo<\/li>\n<li>fee<\/li>\n<li>self-addressed stamped envelope<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>For most folks the photo is probably the biggest hassle because you have to stop by one of those booths in <span class='nobr'>a mall<\/span> or something,\nbut if you're <span class='nobr'>a photographer,<\/span> <span class='QO'>&#8220;<\/span>photo<span class='QC'>&#8221;<\/span> means you really need (or at least in my case <span class='nobr'>I actually<\/span> used):<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Camera (Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 lens)<\/li>\n<li>Tripod (<a href='\/blog\/2007-08-17\/547'>Gitzo and Really Right Stuff<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>White foamcore board as backdrop<\/li>\n<li>SB-900 speedlight as on-camera commander <small>(why can't Nikon's pro body include <span class='nobr'>a commander<\/span> like the D700!?)<\/small><\/li>\n<li>SB-800 speedlight as primary illumination<\/li>\n<li>Reflector umbrella<\/li>\n<li>Stand for umbrella<\/li>\n<li>speedlight mount for umbrella\/stand<\/li>\n<li>SB-600 speedlight to light background<\/li>\n<li>CamRanger camera remote-control unit<\/li>\n<li>Apple iPad mini to connect to CamRanger remote-control unit<\/li>\n<li>computer \/ Lightroom \/ photo printer \/ photo paper<\/li>\n<li>patience<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>I have little experience with portraiture (though <a\nhref='\/blog\/category\/camera-equipment\/portraiture-practice'><span class='nobr'>I\ntry<\/span><\/a>), but even less experience\/confidence with artificial light, so it\nended up being quite the ordeal to find everything and get it set up, then\nfigure out how to work the speedlights. Nikon, bless them, seems to be able to come up with <span class='nobr'>a completely<\/span>\ndifferent, completely horrible UI design with every new speedlight model.<\/p>\n\n<p>Once I got things set up, actually taking the photos took only <span class='nobr'>a few<\/span>\nmoments. Then another 20 minutes to put everything away, and then another\n30 minutes fighting with Satan's Printer (the evil <b>Canon MG3600<\/b>,\nwhich <span class='nobr'>I swear<\/span> will be the last Canon printer <span class='nobr'>I ever<\/span> buy) to get the\nhardcopy. Then carefully cutting out the 2&#8221;&times;2&#8221; square\nrequired for the application took some time.<\/p>\n\n<p>The application is a bit more complex living overseas because at least in Japan you can't write <span class='nobr'>a check,<\/span> so you have\nto go to the post office and get a <span class='QO'>&#8220;<\/span>postal money order<span class='QC'>&#8221;<\/span> to include with the application. With <span class='nobr'>a postal<\/span> money order,\nyou pay in yen and get <span class='nobr'>a paper<\/span> redeemable (in this case by the passport office) for dollars at any post office in The States. It doesn't <i>sound<\/i>\narduous, but wow, it was.<\/p>\n\n<p>Years ago you could buy these at the post office like buying envelopes\nat <span class='nobr'>a store.<\/span>... simply say what you want, give the\nappropriate cash, and get the money order. Now, you need to fill out all\nkinds of forms in multiple languages in <span class='nobr'>a very<\/span>\nparticular manner, government IDs, specify exactly what the money is for,\netc. <span class='nobr'>It was ridiculous<\/span>, and took 45 minutes(!) to\nget the thing. Oh, and they added a $20 fee to cover their own time, <span\nclass='nobr'>I suppose.<\/span> <span class='nobr'>All this for<\/span> a\n$100 transaction. <span class='nobr'>I would<\/span> have rather taken my\nchances throwing cash in the envelope, were it allowed.<\/p>\n\n<p>Anyway, I just got my new passport in the mail this evening, so I'm set\nuntil <span class='nobr'>I have<\/span> to do this all over again in\n2024.... or, at least, until it's time to renew <a\nhref='\/blog\/2009-09-02\/1306'>Anthony's passport<\/a>. <span\nclass='nobr'>But for a child's<\/span> passport, America requires the\nphysical presence of the child and both parents at the consulate\/embassy,\nwhich is <span class='nobr'>a hassle<\/span> unto itself, but perhaps less\nso than the friggin' postal money order because when you show up in person,\nyou can pay in greenbacks.<\/p>\n\n<p>Then after that, the next passport hassle will be to renew <a\nhref='\/blog\/2009-07-11\/1253'>Curious George's\npassport<\/a>, but that's still five years off...<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Renewing one's American passport by mail isn't too arduous for most folks.... you just need:<\/p> old passport filled-out application form photo fee self-addressed stamped envelope <p>For most folks the photo is probably the biggest hassle because you have to stop by one of those booths in a mall or something, but if you're a photographer, \"photo\" means you really need (or at least in my case I actually used):<\/p> Camera (Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 lens) Tripod (Gitzo and Really Right Stuff) White foamcore board as backdrop SB-900 speedlight as on-camera commander (why can't Nikon's pro body include a [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1,2,28],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}