Strict rules dictate what can and can’t pass for a passport photo, and with the lack of filters and harsh lighting, they’re not exactly meant to look good.
Many people count on the fact that their passport photo won’t actually be seen that often—but the same can’t be said for Rebekah Roark, whose “microwaved” appearance has been seen by more than 16 million TikTok users.
Roark, 29, of Jena, Louisiana, went to get a new passport photo taken on July 18, which should have been a pretty straightforward task. It was all going perfectly fine at first, as Roark told Newsweek that she “was satisfied” with the images that the photographer handed her.
But they weren’t the only pictures that were printed.
Once Roark was given her new passport images, she was shown another set that hadn’t quite gone to plan.
“The usual passport photographer wasn’t in and so we both agreed we would try anyway,” Roark said. “If it didn’t work, I could come back when the photographer was in the office. When I first saw the photos, I instinctively laughed obnoxiously loud in a libraryesque area. But I remember this photographer telling me, ‘this is why I only do these once a year.’”
Unfortunately for Roark, the stand-in photographer had mistakenly printed her images on the wrong side of the sheet. As a result, the ink bled, and it left Roark looking as though she’d melted from the camera’s flash.
Roark couldn’t resist snapping a photo of the “microwaved passport” images and shared them on TikTok (@rebekahroark). The post instantly went viral with over 16 million views and more than 2.8 million likes at the time of writing.
Needless to say, internet users are obsessed with what turned out to be a rather iconic passport image after all.
Roark said: “I only had about 50 followers, so I never thought it would get as big as it did. It’s been weeks, and I’m still getting notifications for this picture. Most are doing reaction or lookalike pictures in the comments. Many are finding joy in the mishap, and that’s all that really matters to me.”
The online response has been hilarious to see, and Roark has loved that it could put a smile on so many faces. She’s even heard from some social media users who said it was “the hardest they’d laughed in a long time,” which was so heartening to hear.
Fortunately, Roark did manage to get some passport photos that are usable and didn’t leave her wanting to phone the police.
She has continued to share videos on TikTok comparing the actual photos to the melted ones, and she certainly won’t stop laughing over them any time soon.
“Life is always going to be difficult. Find joy where you can and share it with others. You never know what might happen,” Roark told Newsweek.
Thousands of TikTok users have taken to the comments to laud the failed passport photos, leading to more than 25,700 comments on the post so far.
One comment reads: “It’s the baby head spider thing from Toy Story.”
Another TikTok user wrote: “you look like you saw something you weren’t supposed to.”
Another person joked: “help, why did they freeze dry you.”
While one commenter said: “You look like how pins and needles feels.”
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