The strange reasons why no one smiles in old photos

Almost all of us have photos from the past at home where people are seen with a very serious face and without a smile.

A short study revealed the main reasons why people used to not smile in photos

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07/09/2022

Wednesday, September 07, 2022, 11:52 p.m

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Why don't people smile in old photos?

(@dylan.page)

Anyone who has ever been frustrated by an old photo from the late 19th or early 20th century must have noticed that people never smile.

Have you wondered why this is?

It's true that times were hard and there wasn't much to smile about - there wasn't much money, the world was dark and there was a mess everywhere with a host of violent global conflicts - but it's not really different from now and that doesn't stop people today from baring their teeth with a smile.

Still, there are some good reasons people have previously refused to smile in photos, as TikTok user Dylan Page tried to explain.

In a short clip, Page, who has more than 3 million followers, explained some of the main reasons why people didn't laugh or smile in old photos - based on research done on the subject.

First of all, people did not like photographers, they were even afraid of them.

Photography was a new technology that people didn't really understand and even feared, and for them it was like an unpleasant visit to the dentist.

@dylan.page

Mmm love a small mouth?

♬ original sound - Dylan Page

In addition, in those times a small mouth was considered a very desirable thing and at the same time many people at that time had a very difficult problem with dental hygiene.

If you had a mouth full of rotten teeth, you wouldn't be exposing them all the time either.

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Another reason is that smiling has been linked to mental health problems in the past.

If you had a wide toothy smile it caused people to confuse it with the characteristic symptoms of insanity or mental retardation, whereas people who did not reveal their emotions were not considered strange but quite the opposite.

Perhaps the most logical explanation is that shooting in the past with the old cameras took a very long time.

From start to finish each shot took about 15 minutes, which meant you had to stand in the same position and it was much easier for the face to just rest and not hurt too much.

In general - standing for a quarter of an hour without moving for a picture really didn't give people a reason to smile.

Finally, the photographs (mainly the portraits) were in fact a replacement for the paintings that were customary until then and were seen as something of important value and historical documentation.

Mark Twain was quoted as saying in 1913: "A photograph is a very important record and there is nothing more harmful than to be remembered by future generations as having a ridiculous and stupid smile recorded for all time."

And if Mark Twain says you shouldn't smile - then obviously you don't smile.

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