Olive’s mum Alice Tranfield told Metro.co.uk: ‘I suppose her expression does sum up 2020: Complete confusion of this crazy time she has been born in to!’ Alice, who is a pilates teacher based in Leicestershire, said she tried to take her daughter’s photo as she was running through her checklist of things to do and realised she didn’t have a photo ID for the child.
Olive is a UK and Australian citizen by descent, so she requires two passports.
Alice said as she could not go out to get any passport photos done due to the coronavirus pandemic, she took Olive into the conservatory in her house, where ‘it’s light and there is a white wall’ and took the photos on her iPhone.
The mother-of-two said: ‘My partner James works from home and my three-year-old son was playing nicely. ‘Olive had just woken, so I thought this was a good opportunity to have a go at getting a shot.
‘Since the day she was born, Olive has looked pretty angry! ‘At my six-week check (over the phone) the health visitor had asked whether she was smiling yet (a six-week milestone) and she definitely hadn’t smiled, her frown was strong though.
‘They even called me a few weeks later to check… and she finally had, but we certainly get more frowns than smiles. ‘To try and get a good passport photo without Olive wriggling, I shouted to my husband James to come down to hold her.
‘She was actually quite content while trying to take these shots (although it may not look like it!). It was just a challenge because the bright lights in the conservatory had enhanced her frown and James was trying to avoid having his hands in shot, while balancing her head on top.
‘In the requirements for a passport photo, it states “eyes must be open and clearly visible”, “facial expression must be neutral”, both edges of the face must be clearly seen with shoulders squared to the camera.
‘These seem quite impossible to me, I’m not sure how other parents find it!’ Alice uploaded a montage of the resulting passport photos to Facebook, with dozens of friends and family commenting on the shots.
One friend commented: ‘Omg those frown lines,’ while another added: ‘Not a future poker player! Beautiful though!’ Alice said she and her husband finally settled on a shot that they liked but they will wait to apply for the UK passport as a message on the website reads: ‘Unless this is urgent, please apply in a few months (due to Corona)’.