Jamaican Passport Photos, Tampa

Well, you gotta love the Jamaicans.

Passport Photo requirements across the globe are all a bit different from one country to the next, but Jamaica has the best sense of humor of them all.

Aside from all the normal specifics required by most countries (size of image, size of head, height of eyes within the image, etc), Jamaica goes outside the box on background color. Most countries request white or light gray. In fact, nearly ALL of them require white or light gray. Jamaica, however... well, I'll let them explain it. This is a direct quote from their list of photo requirements:

"Applicants of light complexion should avoid wearing white clothing and should have the photographs taken against a pastel-shaded background.
Applicants of dark complexion should wear light-coloured clothing and photographs should be taken against a white background.
Applicants whose hair is grey should have photographs taken against a light blue background."

Now, suppose they didn't read this prior to getting dressed in the morning and a grey-haired woman with a dark complexion walks in wearing a dark blouse. Can you say "conundrum?"

I think a couple of hysterical little fellows in the passport office over in Kingston were just having a bit of fun - no, make that a LOT of fun - when they wrote out those requirements. Somehow, it accidently made it all the way to the PDF posted by the Jamaican government, and now we photographers are left trying to make sense of it.

Either way (make that "any of the three ways") you slice it, Newsome's Studio of Photography will help you get through it. So far, we're batting a thousand with Jamaica. Give us a call at 813-968-2810 and we'll figure this out together.