Don't pay for pictures. Literally take a digital camera and take a respectable picture of yourself and print it out on your computer on decent computer paper cropped to 2X2. This whole process will take you 1/10 as long as going to a photo shop and paying to have it done. These places usually ask for a photo to staple in the front of your file used mostly if/when you interview and as a way for the interviewers to remember who is who. That said, you want a picture that looks like YOU, but doesn't have to be professional photographer grade stuff.