Hmpf, while taking a new photo for my license…the lady at the DMV refused to take my picture while I was making a “cool guy face”…one that would accompany me pointing my fingers like pistols if the pic was bigger. She made me smile normal…luckily she doesn’t know what my normal smile is, so I may get lucky.
How can she deny the way I want to look on MY drivers license? BTW it is MINE…I paid for it.
You can pay a small fee and get it re-shot at another branch, one where you can sweet-talk or bribe the camerman first.
Just claim you lost the one you don’t like.
Count your blessings. I recall applying for visas to more than one country that was very particular about what kind of passport photos one could submit. IIRC, Russia required that an applicant submit three photos, each with a three-quarters view of the applicant’s face, and a serious expression was required. I imagined my request being rejected by virtue of a smirk.
Of course, you could do what one of my friends used to do and scotch-tape a picture of Boris Badenov on top of his DL photo.
I had the unfortuante problem of a passport picture made before I grew a beard, got glasses, had a nose job and changed my hair color and started wearing an eypatch and nose rings. I wouldn’t have minded when they said “This can’t be yours!” if they hadn’t added “This photo must be your wife’s.” ![:smiley: :smiley:](https://emoji.discourse-cdn.com/twitter/smiley.png?v=10)
They probably want a “normal” look on your face to keep you from having your “3AM, shouldn’t have had that last Car Bomb” look on your face, and claiming that you “always look like that” when you get pulled over…
Everyone asks why did they cut off the prisoner numbers on my license pics…they always look like mug shots for some reason.
You don’t own your license, it can be confiscated at any time. You paid a fee for processing, but you don’t own anything.
I had the opposite problem: I had my tongue out wetting my lips as I got ready and the lady said DONE! For five years I had a photo with my tongue sticking out and got a fair number of tickets. None of the cops ever made any comment but it looked quite funny.