User blog comment:Unownshipper/We're All Guilty: Audio Diary Portraits of BioShock/@comment-1500935-20140606105105

I sure loved those audio diaries portraits (though those made for Infinite are unfortunately of a lesser quality, being made from 3D models). I too believe they could have served as photos for ID cards, judging from the Rapture stamp on them. Also the fact that some characters like Ryan, Steinman or even Cohen appeared relatively younger than on their other depictions, most could have been taken when those people when they first step in Rapture.

As for them looking like mugshots, I believe it is also true. An example of this would be Suchong's portrait being the only one with blood stains on it. Tenenbaum was probably freaky but Suchong was the most dreadful of all, and those blood stains kinda warned us about that. Also, with all the idea of genetic identity being referenced throughout the first two games, I believe the developers wanted to show a face on those people, even the Splicers (which were given all a persona), so that they don't appear just as monsters, zombies, or any hostile enemies we usually encounter in video games. I also remember that the first thing you see when you start playing the first level of BioShock 2 is a wall covered by photos, of those who disappeared in the great tragedy of Rapture.

Also yes, I figure most of those portraits are real photos which had been slightly modified (this appears more clearly in portraits from BioShock 2), and I wouldn't be surprised that Irrational Games/2K Marin took themselves or people they knew as models (for example most of the portraits/names in Minerva's Den are references to developers from 2K Marin at that time or elsewhere).