Why People Didn’t Smile in Photographs of Centuries Past

Today, smiling for a photo looks very natural (and sometimes even forced), but this facial expression was not common in portraits of yesteryear. It is curious to see how, at the beginning of the Age of photography, most images show all people with a serious face, including children. But there is a good explanation for this.

O incredible.club invites you to take a walk through history to explain why people didn’t smile in front of the camera a few decades ago and tell you why this attitude has changed.

Some believe that, for more than a century, people avoided smiling in front of the cameras because their teeth were horrible — given the precariousness of dental treatments until the mid-20th century. There may be some truth to this, but it is also true that most people’s smiles were not showy due to poor hygiene and dental care.

Therefore, being such a common feature, someone could be considered attractive, even with poorly maintained teeth, as explained by graphic designer at the School of Art at the University of Cambridge, England, Nicholas Jeeves.

This was the case of Lord Palmerston, Prime Minister of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, who, despite having lost several teeth in his hunting adventures, was considered a very attractive man, so much so that he earned the nickname “Lord Cupid”. .

A widely accepted explanation is that people did not smile, because the process to take a picture took a long time, between 5 and 30 minutes, and no one could bear to keep a smile for that long. Therefore, the most advisable thing was to adopt an easy expression, until the image was captured.

This was in the early 19th century, but from the 1850s onwards, technology developed enough to capture images in just a few seconds. So why were people still so serious on camera?

The most accepted argument is not difficult to understand. If we go back decades in time and remember how people were portrayed before photography existed, it will be clear that the only way was through painted portraits, which were very expensive and for which only the richest could afford. As the artist took weeks and even months to finish, the person had to pose for hours, remaining still and not smiling.

But the smile was also avoided for a cultural reason: it was considered a lack of propriety, since it was characteristic of drunks, lunatics and people who were frowned upon. Furthermore, a portrait was a very expensive and formal job, which was reflected in the faces of the people portrayed.

So when photographic portraits came along, people continued to behave in the same way, adopting the same types of poses as when they were painted. After all, they were also being portrayed.

This is the oldest known photograph of a person smiling. It is dated 1847 and shows two officers from the war between Mexico and the United States in the 19th century — the one smiling is Captain William H. Chapman. It is not known with certainty who the photographer was, but it is clear that he was someone who did not follow the social norms of the upper classes at the time, leaving a very valuable image for future generations, as well as the portrait of the gentleman in the next photo.

These days, it seems almost natural to smile for a photo, but doing it in front of cameras was a habit introduced by Kodak, the pioneering photography company, which made people feel comfortable smiling when being photographed.

In one of its advertising campaigns, Kodak launched the famous slogan: “You press the button, we do the rest”. This was a strategy focused on consumer happiness and the company even showed images of people using the camera during happy and relaxed moments. The message influenced many people and, from 1920 onwards, the smile in photographs slowly started to become a habit.

Which of these reasons did you find the most convincing? Do you believe that the habit of smiling for photos will one day end? Leave your opinion in the comments!