Threat Level: Magenta

After polling my extended family about my passport photo, the general consensus was that I should get it retaken. My family thinks that looking like a terrorist in a State Department document is an invitation for trouble, and they're probably right.

Fortunately I know my family pretty well and I had guessed what they might say, so I'd submitted my application before asking for their advice. Yesterday the passport came in the mail:


I think any potential terrorist connotation is muted by the superimposed graphics and the bizarre magenta facial shift.

Then again, so what if it isn't? What if I do look like a terrorist? The thing is, as a street photographer I'm used to being viewed with suspicion. Aiming a Leica in certain directions is a bit like wearing a Kafiyeh or dreadlocks. You're going to get hassled by authorities, period. Hopefully this will change eventually but for now it's reality.

So when it comes to an airport or border crossing, it's just like a sidewalk. I expect to be stared at, questioned, and asked for ID. And so long as I'm going to be treated like a potential terrorist I figure I may as well look the part.

I'm curious to try the passport in a real life situation, perhaps while holding a camera and with long hair. The next time I cross an international border I'll post an update.

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4/29/09 Addendum: From Bryan Wolf in Portland comes this passport.


A self described "long haired photographer who looked like a textbook drug smuggler," Bryan says he's been hassled at borders but due more to his appearance than his passport. I see lots of potential to stash Communist leaflets or nuclear blueprints in that thick beard and hair. Even so, he reports his camera gives him more trouble with authorities nowadays than the long locks.

I expect disagreement

Songs about photography: my personal top ten...

1. Mission of Burma, This is Not a Photograph
2. Hank Thompson & His Brazos Valley Boys, An Old Faded Photograph
3. R.E.M., Camera
4. Johnny Cash, Send a Picture of Mother
5. Tom Waits, Old Shoes (and Picture Postcards)
6. Larry Towell, Leica Camera Song
7. Antonio Carlos Jobim, Photograph
8. The Kinks, Picture Book
9. Wilco, Kamera
10. Paul Simon, Kodachrome

...plus one favorite photographic album cover:

Pinhole for pinheads

Today is World Pinhole Photography Day. Here's a recent pinhole photograph of mine that I've really grown to like:


Photographing pinholes is harder than it might seem. With just a hole and some surrounding nonhole, there's not a lot to work with. But this sheer simplicity leads to interesting problems. There's the question of whether to center the hole perfectly or, as I chose to do, leave it slightly ajar. The contrast/brightness of the hole/nonhole relationship has many variables, and don't even get me started on white balance.

The one thing I found deceptively easy was making the pinhole itself. I'd been led to believe that making a pinhole could be an involved process requiring hours of work. But really it only took a second to prick a pin through a sheet of paper. I don't know why everyone makes such a fuss about it. It's photographing the actual hole that requires time and attention, not to mention the nonhole.

I'm really excited to know that people all over the world will be making photographs like this today. Good luck everyone!

What To Do? #25

73. SE 82nd Ave., Portland, 2004

74. SW 6th and Jefferson, Portland, 2004

75. Heceta Head, Oregon, 2007

(WTD? is a weekly installment of old unseen b/w photos)

From the 2009 series White Trash

A signed 8 x 10 C-print of this image goes to the first person to request it via email (Sorry, this print is no longer available):