Smiling in photos

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There was a time when almost no one smiled for photographs. Now you're a bit strange if you don't. What happened? Belatedly provoked by this amazing photograph of the Cuban national baseball team:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/03/06/sports/06cuba.xlarge1.jpg

I mean if that were in black and white I'd almost say it was from 1900 or so.

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 27 April 2006 13:32 (twenty years ago)

i thought it was the other way round?

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 27 April 2006 13:36 (twenty years ago)

I look crap when I smile so I try to avoid it

― Kids Will Eat Them Till the Cows Come Home (Dada), Thursday, 27 April 2006 13:38 (twenty years ago)

As usual, I follow Lou Reed's advice:

Smiles, I was taught never to smile
I was told the stylish smiles of buffoonery
Chicanery and larceny abound
My mom said unless someone sticks you right in front of a camera
A smile is the last thing that you wanna do
Those smiles, those mirthless toothy smiles

Smiles, they all smile on tv
The quizmaster with his withered crones
The talkshow hosting movie stars, the politician licking feet
The mugger, the rapist, the arsonic lover
All smile out from the news, at one time or another
Those smiles, those garish sickly smiles

When I was young my mother said to me
Never, ever, let anyone see that you’re happy

Smiles, never, ever let them see you smile
They’ll always put you down
With those smiles, never, ever let them see you smile
They’ll always put you down
With your smiles, never, ever let them see you smile
Don’t you know they’ll make you go

Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo
Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo
Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo
Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo
(doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo
Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo)
(doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo
Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo)

― Kids Will Eat Them Till the Cows Come Home (Dada), Thursday, 27 April 2006 13:39 (twenty years ago)

I remember my asshole high school football coach flipping the fuck out when he got back proofs from our team photo shoot and two players were smiling. "Football players DON'T SMILE!!" He punished those two kids for the rest of the season, it was crazy.

― jonviachicago (jonviachicago), Thursday, 27 April 2006 13:41 (twenty years ago)

I look crap in photos no matter what. I'm convinced that the only people who look good in photos are those who practise. That might be the difference - people today have more practice being photographed, therefore there are more smiles.

― Henrietta Leavitt and the Cepheid Variables (kate), Thursday, 27 April 2006 13:41 (twenty years ago)

Nowadays smiling in British passport photos is illegal. One has to have a "neutral" expression. That will obviously stop the terrorists, if Charles Clarke can't.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 27 April 2006 13:42 (twenty years ago)

The mugger, the rapist, the arsonic lover

Which should read "The mugger, the rapist, the arsonist lover" of course

― Kids Will Eat Them Till the Cows Come Home (Dada), Thursday, 27 April 2006 13:43 (twenty years ago)

Wow, I love that photo! They're almost scowling!

"Man, I hate this fucking baseball lark."

― Rumpie (lil drummer girl parumpumpumpu), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:00 (twenty years ago)

My favorite dude in that photo is the guy putting his shirt on in the back.

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:02 (twenty years ago)

i always overdo the smile thing and look a twat, and why i avoid having my picture taken at all costs.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:07 (twenty years ago)

I have Julia Roberts syndrome. I cannot close my mouth when confronted with a camera. I look like a giant retard, all of the time.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:23 (twenty years ago)

The only photos that exist where I am not looking like the Joker are ones I took myself, bored and testing my camera. Oh and my ID but that was because they insisted I couldn't smile, or wear glasses.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:26 (twenty years ago)

great smile as we all know dude, but for once i would love to see a photo of you looking Pissed. Off.

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:27 (twenty years ago)

or maybe just sulky.

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:27 (twenty years ago)

At least Ally's mouth is not actually open as such, as per:

http://www.ukgameshows.com/atoz/people/b/baker_danny/DannyBaker.jpg

or:

http://www.kermitage.com/html/characterindex/tms/character/fozzie.jpg

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:30 (twenty years ago)

I can't even take a picture looking pissed off, even if I am in a FIGHT I will grin at a cameraman. I will try, though, maybe tomorrow, and post the results!

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:33 (twenty years ago)

open-mouthed 'smiles' are great tho, if you CAN pull them off. there is no shame in resembling a Muppet, in this instance.

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:41 (twenty years ago)

Smiling in photos is fine, if that's what you happen to be doing at the time. Smiling for photos is a bit shit.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:42 (twenty years ago)

ah come on now

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:47 (twenty years ago)

"I have Julia Roberts syndrome."

Funnily as soon as I saw those pix I thought that Tom looks a bit like Eric Roberts...

― Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:48 (twenty years ago)

smiling for mugshots, classic or dud:
http://www.allisongordin.com/movies/fugitive/images/eric_roberts_jpg.jpg

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:50 (twenty years ago)

My daughter - smiling for the camera...who would deny her that pleasure!?
http://static.flickr.com/48/133776325_9b00f3fd13.jpg?v=0

― Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:51 (twenty years ago)

a natural smile is a delightful and uplifting twinkle. when captured on film it can act as a repository of this feeling. hence the convention of fake smiling - which, as a proxy for genuine smiling, fails terribly. conclusion: when having your picture taken, be natural.

everyone complaining that they always look like shit in photos - stfu, god.

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 27 April 2006 14:55 (twenty years ago)

http://www.timshome.com/family/images/1962_oberlin.jpg

If this photo is representative, the shift occurred before 1962.

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:00 (twenty years ago)

ok but whats with all the down tilting heads?

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:03 (twenty years ago)

And there's some smiling in this one, from the 1940's, although maybe something funny had just happened.

http://i.pbase.com/g4/51/263051/2/52138059.08211943_dad_butch_carl.jpg

xpost I dunno. Sun in face?

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:04 (twenty years ago)

My daughter - smiling for the camera...who would deny her that pleasure!?

Your cute child will not shake my beliefs!

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:32 (twenty years ago)

The bloke on the far right here in 1938 is beginning to smirk.

http://www.msm.cam.ac.uk/alumni/cap/captions38.html

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:35 (twenty years ago)

Though he's a scientist and is maybe not representative of the humang race.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 27 April 2006 15:36 (twenty years ago)

SMILING IN PHOTOGRAPHS IS DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO SHUTTER SPEED. IT WOULD'VE BEEN CRAZY TO HAVE ABRAHAM LINCOLN SMILE FOR FIVE MINUTES STRAIGHT WHILE MATTHEW BRADY WAS TAKING HIS SLOW-EXPOSURE HOT BEARD PICS.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Thursday, 27 April 2006 16:32 (twenty years ago)

O RLY

ihttp://www.railsplitter.com/sale10/images/1037.jpg

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 27 April 2006 16:36 (twenty years ago)

THAT IS NOT SMILE IS SHADOW AND IMITATION OF LIFE.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 27 April 2006 16:39 (twenty years ago)

IMITATION OF LIFE IS STICKING YOUR ARSE OUT OF AN APRON THAT IS A FUCKING SMILING PRESIDENT

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 27 April 2006 16:44 (twenty years ago)

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/6320/russianarmy19182kz.jpg

― ath (ath), Thursday, 27 April 2006 16:46 (twenty years ago)

FUCKING, SMILING PRESIDENT I HAD SEX WITH THE PERSON WHO TOOK THE PICTURE I BET LINCOLN DIDN'T.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 27 April 2006 16:46 (twenty years ago)

UNLESS HE HAD A TIME MACHINE.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 27 April 2006 16:46 (twenty years ago)

http://www.railsplitter.com/sale10/images/996.jpg

GO SIT IN A SUNDAE KID, I'VE GOT SLAVES TO FREE

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 27 April 2006 16:48 (twenty years ago)

Russian soldiers ain't got shit to smile about.

(They do have smokes, tho'.)

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Thursday, 27 April 2006 16:51 (twenty years ago)

that dog is smiling.

― AaronK (AaronK), Thursday, 27 April 2006 17:18 (twenty years ago)

that picture is awesome, tracer!

― RoxyMuzak© (roxymuzak), Thursday, 27 April 2006 17:24 (twenty years ago)

i usually dont smile that MUCH in photos, but for some reason in this photo from the work christmas party, I am smiling hugely, despite having a crap time and CLEARLY MARKED AS THE SINGLE PERSON by this photograph:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v209/Mandalion/Workdo.jpg

― i've dreamt of rubies! (Mandee), Thursday, 27 April 2006 17:36 (twenty years ago)

Haha, that pic is soooo "spot the fake smile"!

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 27 April 2006 17:37 (twenty years ago)

most of them look pretty fake

― i've dreamt of rubies! (Mandee), Thursday, 27 April 2006 17:39 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, but I mean, you look like "I'm really happy amidst these happy couples, oh yes I am!". No offense.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 27 April 2006 17:41 (twenty years ago)

Also, is everyone at your work dating each other?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 27 April 2006 17:42 (twenty years ago)

no, those were my only three co-workers at the time and their significant others.

i had a really shitty time. also: we saw a stand-up comedian. grodey.

― i've dreamt of rubies! (Mandee), Thursday, 27 April 2006 17:46 (twenty years ago)

Okay, sorry for the confusion, in Finland the work Christmas party is where you cheat your SO, not bring him along. ;)

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 27 April 2006 17:48 (twenty years ago)

Tuomas, you have to pay for her airline ticket to the XMAS party if you want to get in her pants

― JW (ex machina), Thursday, 27 April 2006 18:00 (twenty years ago)

faced

― RoxyMuzak© (roxymuzak), Thursday, 27 April 2006 18:02 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 5 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Do you all buy your jeans from the same store?

― dr lulu (dr lulu), Thursday, 27 April 2006 20:24 (twenty years ago)

In all the pics of my boyfriend, his mouth is open and his arms are crossed, usually because he was saying, "DON"T EXPECT ME TO SMILE FOR THIS!" while I took it. Pretty classic.

― Abbott (Abbott), Thursday, 27 April 2006 20:29 (twenty years ago)

Gah the arms draped protectively around the shoulders in Mandee's picture is starting to seriously wig me out!

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 27 April 2006 20:32 (twenty years ago)

the president of albania doesn't smile much

― flea market economy (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 27 April 2006 20:35 (twenty years ago)

http://badgas.co.uk/griffnut/stare.gif

― JW (HELLO MY FUTURE GIRLFRIEND) (ex machina), Thursday, 27 April 2006 20:37 (twenty years ago)

http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/cover_art/obsession.jpg

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Thursday, 27 April 2006 20:40 (twenty years ago)

I think PHOTOGRAPHER is right on this one -- up until sometime around mid-century picture-taking was considered a kind of portraiture and therefore called for solemn commemorative non-smiling. And then, as cameras became more and more common consumer items, we enter the real of snapshots, where people are commemorating not themselves (portrait-style) but their experiences (vacations, family gatherings, etc.), and therefore find it necessary to look radiantly happy. I mean, if you're going to capture and scrapbook moments of your history, you want them to be glorious happy moments, even if you kind of have to fake it. (Though the super-strange upshot interpretation here would be that people are falsifying their life histories to convince both observers and themselves that no, they were happy, their lives are good!)

Also: there might be some simultaneous social shifts concerning tough periods where people put a value on seriousness and fortitude (say, the Depression) versus comfortable periods when people put a value on vivaciousness and style (say, the 20s -- I feel like I've seen rather smily photographs from the 20s).

Also speaking of the 20s, here's a big thing: commercial photography! Surely the steady growth of model images -- looking radiant and happy and enjoying exciting products -- created some slight pressure on regular people to present themselves the same way, kinda captured in moments of fun.

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 27 April 2006 20:56 (twenty years ago)

In fact yeah, that last thing seems really huge, especially now that stand-in-line posing is falling off a little -- snapshots seem to want to nail the exact same vibe (spontaneous capture of moments of joy) as commercial photography once did. (Double-funny because these days a lot of commercial imagery actually goes out of its way to imitate stand-in-line snapshot poses, since we associate them with happy moments and major life-changing events.)

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 27 April 2006 21:01 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

showing your teeth != smiling, s4ndi w4genknecht loc4l mAnager.

http://i10.tinypic.com/4kn6o9d.jpg

― StanM, Thursday, 24 May 2007 12:03 (nineteen years ago)

http://journal.davidbyrne.com/2006/05/4506_you_belong.html

― caek, Thursday, 24 May 2007 13:06 (nineteen years ago)

SRSLY: or am I wrong and is "teeth = smiling" really the law?

http://beautybroughtout.com/images/Img67.gif

(just posted by Gr4dy on another thread)

― StanM, Sunday, 27 May 2007 09:33 (nineteen years ago)

five months pass...

I think smiling for photos is now on the way out, because of kids getting used to pouting for cameraphone self-portraits. Actually not just the pouting itself, but also the digitally enabled facility for poring at great length over how different poses make one look.

― Alba, Friday, 9 November 2007 13:25 (eighteen years ago)

Whenever I smile in photographs, I look like Maury Povich.

― Pleasant Plains, Friday, 9 November 2007 14:50 (eighteen years ago)

good point alba

― cutty, Friday, 9 November 2007 14:57 (eighteen years ago)

I saw a couple of teenage girls taking a photo of themselves in the airport, and they had absolutely perfected their camera-faces. They held the camera out in front of them, pointed it at themselves and suddenly transformed. Their mouths opened slightly, their eyes glistened -- I'd call it a look of anticipation and surprise. The moment they'd snapped the shutter they bent over the camera to study the result, decided they didn't like it, and so did another, with the exact same transformation, the exact same looks. They studied the camera again and decided they liked it. It was an amazing, accomplished performance.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 9 November 2007 15:02 (eighteen years ago)

As I remember, one was smiling but the other was kind of doing the "I'm about to blow you" face.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 9 November 2007 15:03 (eighteen years ago)

It is the 'I want to look as fuckable as possible for my Myspace profile shot' face.

― Matt DC, Friday, 9 November 2007 15:08 (eighteen years ago)

I should have asked for their usernames.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 9 November 2007 15:14 (eighteen years ago)

Those wacky fourteen-year olds.

― Pleasant Plains, Friday, 9 November 2007 15:15 (eighteen years ago)

Woops

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 9 November 2007 15:17 (eighteen years ago)

I've worked out this non-teeth baring semismile that looks pretty good ihn photos. If yr gonna fake smile, at least make it look nice but also with some self-awareness like 'yeah this is a photo pose' rather then just stretching your mouth in every direction for this borderline-Hulk grimace.

― Abbott, Friday, 9 November 2007 20:11 (eighteen years ago)

one year passes...

i can't do it

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 15:42 (seventeen years ago)

like, really, i've tried and tried for years. every once in a while you get a good smile but most of the time i look like i'm on crack o_0

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 15:43 (seventeen years ago)

I look like a mad axe murderer if I smile in photos. Or sometimes like a wax dummy.

― snoball, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 15:45 (seventeen years ago)

i read on another thread where you have to pretend you're eating an apple, but yeah can't do this either.

― Anthony, I am not an Alcoholic & Drunk (darraghmac), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 15:49 (seventeen years ago)

My bro looks like a total tool in photos because he's so self-conscious and does a weird smile that makes him look like a remedial pervert or something. I just try to avoid getting my picture taken, only thing is that actually looking at old photos is cool and usually now when there's some unearthed photos of a high school party I was at there's like one photo of me milling around in the background and then hundreds of everyone else, which is lame.

― Blackout Crew are the Beatles of donk (jim), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 15:51 (seventeen years ago)

if i'm not smiling naturally when the photo is being taken, i will not force one. this seems to work out for me.

― cutty, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 15:53 (seventeen years ago)

I don't like smiling in pics so I always just look like I'm scowling or pouting. I posted a smiling on on purpose in WDYLL this month because I think I need practice smiling. Also, was drunk.

― Too Into Dancing to Argue (ENBB), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 15:54 (seventeen years ago)

if i'm not smiling naturally when the photo is being taken, i will not force one. this seems to work out for me.

― cutty, Wednesday, March 18, 2009 11:53 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 15:56 (seventeen years ago)

but E i think you're making that up cuz whenever i've seen your smiling pix, they look real nice

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 15:56 (seventeen years ago)

Ha - thanks. I just think my smiles always look really forced in most pics which is why I tend not to smile in them.

― Too Into Dancing to Argue (ENBB), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 15:58 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/assets/es/tn/es_tn_bristol_1_e.jpg

woah who are these bad motherf- oh wait it's the carter family

― deveraux billings (schlump), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 15:59 (seventeen years ago)

also 'remedial pervert' for username, GO

― deveraux billings (schlump), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 16:00 (seventeen years ago)

does anyone know if it's possible to buy a particular photograph from the nytimes, i.e. the one at the top of this thread? i've had in mind to do this for awhile, but it's not on offer at their online store. some other papers' websites literally have a "buy now" link next to every photo they run (if it's their own photographer), which makes eminent sense.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 16:19 (seventeen years ago)

i actively try not to smile in photos - sometimes i forget :(

― lex pretend, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 16:24 (seventeen years ago)

^^^this but on reflection/looking at scores of the 90% dreadful photos of me I should shift priority to not having my eyes shut at the moment the camera goes off

― some dude's gizmo (DJ Mencap), Wednesday, 18 March 2009 16:32 (seventeen years ago)

hey tracer - http://www.nytstore.com/ProdDetail.aspx?prodId=16396

― just sayin, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 16:36 (seventeen years ago)

( Jose Goitia for The New York Times / http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/06/sports/sportsspecial/06cuba.html?pagewanted=all )

― StanM, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 16:45 (seventeen years ago)

one year passes...

This picture of my parents & my grandma is cracking me up:

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/4808/grandma.jpg

― could be a bad day for (Abbott), Monday, 19 July 2010 20:21 (fifteen years ago)

The photographer says: "Despite what the picture looks like...I actually told their Grandma a couple of time before I took the picture that I was going to take the picture."

― could be a bad day for (Abbott), Monday, 19 July 2010 20:22 (fifteen years ago)

LOL i see a twinkle on her face!

― janice (surm), Monday, 19 July 2010 20:23 (fifteen years ago)

I have this big beaming smile I can just turn on at will, I told my friends about it recently and now they all laugh about it and how authentic it looks.

― I see what this is (Local Garda), Monday, 19 July 2010 20:25 (fifteen years ago)

omg u are so lucky u bastard, that's like my dream

― janice (surm), Monday, 19 July 2010 20:26 (fifteen years ago)

Abbott that pic is great. I think you look like your dad!

I rarely smile in pictures but that is because of some weird thing I've developed where I've decided I don't like my smile. In real life I think I smile a lot.

― o sh!t a ˁ˚ᴥ˚ˀ (ENBB), Monday, 19 July 2010 20:27 (fifteen years ago)

yeah except sometimes I see the pics back and people are all "oh you're so happy!" and I remember not enjoying myself at all at whatever time...

― I see what this is (Local Garda), Monday, 19 July 2010 20:30 (fifteen years ago)

The trick to having a genuine smile in a photo is to feel genuinely happy. This is much easier if you like the person behind the camera, because that automatically means you are spending time with someone you like.

― Aimless, Monday, 19 July 2010 21:11 (fifteen years ago)

or you can fake a genuine happy smile. i can. pretty easy.

― Nathalie (stevienixed), Monday, 19 July 2010 21:39 (fifteen years ago)

i cannot fake smile to save my life. it's awful - alot of pics of me look like i'm getting my prostate examined.

― now breathing manually (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 19 July 2010 21:51 (fifteen years ago)

I told my Mormon sister, "Look happy, bitch!" before taking a photo of her at her wedding reception & she's got the best gasp-smile on her face.

― could be a bad day for (Abbott), Monday, 19 July 2010 23:17 (fifteen years ago)

ha ha!

― now breathing manually (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 19 July 2010 23:21 (fifteen years ago)

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