New Cameras Focus Attention on the DMV’s Artistic Side

The people at the Pasadena DMV office were facing a typical grinding day of long lines and longer triplicates. Half a dozen drivers waited for Gracie Alegria Perez to capture their likenesses on her special computerized camera, along with their signatures and fingerprints.

As Michelle Valdivia stepped before the camera, painstakingly smoothing her hair into place, Perez pressed a computer key, froze the Rosemead teen-ager’s image on her computer screen, then smiled and crooked a finger at the girl.

“You like this picture?” she asked conspiratorially. Valdivia studied it closely, then nodded.

It was a pleasant surprise, she said afterward, as her grandmother, Victoriana Rosas of El Monte, pulled out her own renewed license as an example of the blessings of progress.

“Look!” the 77-year-old woman said proudly. “After 60 years, they finally took a picture that didn’t make me look like an old lady.”

Look good? A driver’s license? A few short years ago, flattering driver’s license photos were about as common as feel-good calls from cuddly guys at the IRS.

But in 1991, the California Department of Motor Vehicles took one small step--specifically, an inch and a half long--for mankind. They changed the look of the state’s drivers license and, with it, the equipment used to photograph motorists.

Now when motorists renew their licenses, they can look at a freeze-frame of their prospective photos on a computer screen before the images become finalized prints. DMV officials say California is the only state offering such an option.

Technically, the freeze-frame function is intended to let the DMV field representative make sure the person in the picture looks like the person standing in the office and does not have closed eyes, darkened glasses or an uncharacteristically goofy leer. But, practically speaking, most representatives also take pity on those who just take a lousy photograph.

There is no official policy giving drivers the right to a second photo opportunity, DMV officials say, and they have not publicized the option for fear of creating a stampede. But if the representative is not swamped and the motorist asks politely, you can have your photo retaken then and there.

“It used to be a sort of a Polaroid situation,” said DMV information officer Bill Madison. “We took a certain number of photos on a block of film, and it was too hard and too costly to give someone another chance.”

This, he said, was why so many people had humiliating mug shots where their official likenesses should have been, why so many would have taken the bus before showing their licenses on a first date.

There were the closed eyes and, worse, the eyes that were not quite closed, giving that woozy Dean Martin look. Or maybe a smile came out looking like a wince.

There were a thousand ways things could go wrong. For example, a petite San Gabriel Valley woman ended up with a license that bore her name and address--next to a picture of a big man with a bushy beard.

“Now, if there aren’t a lot of people in line and everybody is in a convivial mood, you can retake the picture,” Madison said. “You just ask to look at it first, and if they give you a hard time, ask for the office manager.

“Contrary to popular belief, most of our people are very friendly, and nobody wants an irate customer.”