If you’ve ever looked at an old photo, perhaps you’ve spotted that nobody ever seems to be smiling in them.

Did you ever wonder why that is?

Times were hard back in the day and there wasn’t much to smile about.

Money was tight, the world was a blackened and polluted mess and stood on the brink of global conflict.

OK, so maybe it wasn’t that different to now after all, but that hasn’t stopped today’s modern photo subjects from baring their teeth in a grin regardless.

However, there are some good reasons for people refusing to show any mirth in their photos, and they’ve been handily explained by TikToker Dylan Page.

In a short video, Page – who has more than three million followers – explained some reasons behind the lack of laughter in old pics.

First off, people straight up didn’t like photography. Relatable, huh?

Yes, people were scared of photographs. It was a new technology that people didn’t really understand, and probably could have seemed a bit like a trip to the dentist.

Furthermore, beauty standards were different back then. Having a small mouth was actually a desirable thing – which brings us onto another problem – dental hygiene wasn’t quite what it is today.

If you had a mouth full of rotting teeth, you wouldn’t want to be preserved for posterity with them out, would you?

Another thing you’d want to avoid was looking like you had some sort of mental illness.

Having a wide smile was construed as a symptom of ‘madness’ back in the day, whereas standing still and emotionless wasn’t at all weird.

Lastly, there’s the simple operational reason that photographs just took ages to take back in the olden days.

From front to back, taking a picture on an old camera could have taken up to 15 minutes, meaning that holding the one facial position rather than your resting face would probably end up getting a bit painful and tedious after a bit.

In fact, the whole process of standing around for 15 minutes trying to remain as still as possible must have been a bit of a nightmare to begin with.

Source: https://www.ladbible.com/news/people-never-smiled-in-old-photos-for-some-very-bizarre-reasons-20220729

cc: lalasticlala

Learning....

And they looked great

Wetin come concern Tinubu with pampers?

Is also to show your true face

Interesting and funny







Life sentence for all scammers . . . Including paternity fraudsters!

Really informative

Big lies from this OP

Photography back then was not as advanced as now. To take one picture could last over 20mins due to the procedures involved so smiling people usually tired out from it. Imagine standing in a stationary position for 20mins and holding a smile...

This is why early photos had no smiles in them.


Na wa for Nairaland!!

I think your last paragraph explains it all. Maintaining a particular posture and facial expression for the 15 mins it will take to get a shot can frustrate the life out of them hence the expressionless face they had in their photos. .

The man in the last photo had a smile though.

These were obviously from the victorian era when life was really haaaard. Hm!
Thank God I didn't exist in that era o.

Channah1:
I think your last paragraph explains it all. Maintaining a particular posture and facial expression for the 15 mins it will take to get a shot can frustrate the life out of them hence the expressionless face they had in their photos. .

The man in the last photo had a smile though.

These were obviously from the victorian era when life was really haaaard. Hm!
Thank God I didn't exist in that era o.

Pple born in early 1990s experienced little of this taking passports, that wooden camera

Macsjebs:

Pple born in early 1990s experienced this with passport, that wooden camera

Lol.. I don't think so o. Though it depends the area then because I know in my area then, the digital was already in use by that time.