It's always a pleasure to watch an artisan at work

I just submitted my application for yet another passport and I included two black and white photographs overlooking the new demand for colour pix. (I carry a roll of 100 pix for visa applications)

So I went to a studio in Q1 and had new pix taken. The tech carefully checked the specifications and he started modifying the picture.

Add a grey background: glare on the eyeglasses - removed; touch up the greying hair and match eyebrows. Other options were to slightly reposition my eyes, re-shape my nose and mouth a touch and thin my face (easier than dieting)(passport pictures are used as sources for facial recognition camera systems) good enough likeness for a PP but not so good for CCTV.

The whole thing took about 5 minutes. He blew his handiwork up on a 36 inch screen to show me there were no tell-tale marks of photo manipulation.

I had mentioned they had to be airfreighted to the passport issuing location overseas. He said to me : "Wait" and he jumped on Facebook and found a photographic VN friend in Canada. A couple of exchanges and the technician said he can have them delivered in Ottawa for $10 - tomorrow.

Anyone who has used airfreight knows $10 overnight is a bargain!

The tech knew his software and it was a pleasure to watch him manipulate the picture.