[R] I make photos for passports, visa and ID cards. afaik the netherlands is one of the few places where they don’t take the photo at the city hall, instead I am employed by this person who rents this booth next to the city hall.

I guess I make better photos of customers than they would be able to take of themselves in a photo booth but that doesn’t justify the price I have to charge at all.

in a way it’s nice to not have to pretend your job is meaningful, the customers know it’s bullshit and I can focus more on putting the customer at ease and guiding them through the process of “oh fuck, I’m going to have to see a detailed photograph of myself now” by putting them at ease so perhaps there’s some value in that. in my experience women especially appreciate this attention and patience, they often walk in with “this is going be horrible, I look awful” and walk out with pictures they’re often quite satisfied with.

most folks don’t walk out of the photo store with a “rabbit in the headlights” photo you’d typically get in a photo booth, but most people don’t care as it’s just a photo for your passport you have to take once per decade, my boss knows this so he can charge obscene amounts.

perhaps I create some value specifically with being able to take good photos of children and babies. the requirements for the passport photos of kids under 11 are a lot less strict in the netherlands so you can get away with making photos with big smiles and that often makes the parents happy.

most customers are only inside the store for two minutes; I put them at ease, take a decent photo, walk them to the computer to pick the best photo, they say they look horrible, I say that’s nonsense, I stamp out the photos and charge the customer more than my hourly wage.

I spend the rest of the day listening to the radio, reading and fucking around on the internet.