Why people never smiled in old photos
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 27 авг 2024
- Early portraits looked pretty grim.
A lot of old photos from the 19th and early 20th century are fraught with doom and gloom-and on the occasion the literal dead face. That led to the popular belief that people just did not smile in old photographs. The common explanation is due to the limited technology at the time to capture a smile. Exposure times were long and the thinking was it's easier to hold a serious expression over a long period. Another theory included early photography being heavily influenced by painting (which meant no smiling).
Read more on why photographs were sans smiles at: www.vox.com/201...
Video by Phil Edwards and Gina Barton.
Subscribe to our channel! goo.gl/0bsAjO
Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out www.vox.com to get up to speed on everything from Kurdistan to the Kim Kardashian app.
Check out our full video catalog: goo.gl/IZONyE
Follow Vox on Twitter: goo.gl/XFrZ5H
Or on Facebook: goo.gl/U2g06o
The real question is: Why do we smile in photos?
Jamie Johnson Oh my!
Because it presumely makes other people happy seeing a smile in the photo.
Jamie Johnson so that we can show off to other people about how happy we are.
To show our weapons and find a mate
To hide the fact that we are dead inside, and maybe some day as very old people, we will look at those photos and believe that our miserable lives were worth living.
2019 : why people never smiled in old photos
2119 : why people did duck faces in old photos
Ironic how your profile photo is a duck face too
Yeah why do people do duck faces?
Ari🙄🙄
Kaiamrtnz so they can kiss the person who sees the photo
You mean 2016
at first i freaked out because of the dead people photos but then i got even more panicked because EVERY photo in this video is of a dead person 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀
what how?
ohhhhhhhhhhhh
jo alice all of them are post mortem photos? I don't rly think so
but I've only surpassed the 1.22 minute mark of this video so maybe I'm wrong
jo alice ohhh.. I just understood what you meant.. alright
I just noticed you can't spell funeral without fun.
Killermy3 boooooo
Anagram of 'funeral' is 'real fun'
Killermy3 lol
+Akaaraq Hansen holy moly
Oh, wow.....never thought about it!!!!
My favorite Victorian photo is that of a couple taking a series of photos and as they progress something must have made them laugh and the woman in the photo covers her face shiny while her husband hugs her. It's a really sweet moment in time that I get to witness long after they're gone.
+MeteoricMarlin how do i google it? i want to see!
RinRinDance1123 oh thank you so much! aw yeah its a cute photo :)
+RinRinDance1123 so sweet *.*
omg this is one of mine too, ive think about it often. what a coincidence
that one and the guy eating rice are my favorites
omg yes that picture of the guy eating rice is my favourite I want it framed
XD I would put it up in my kitchen
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/14/a7/fd/14a7fd34fea16bbcce10ce1e85d3a3cd.jpg
Mike Public THANK YOU
The girl at 2:06 is the best, she's adorable.
yass
That Chinese dude is so photogenic
Wherr
Wherr
Wherr
Wherr
Wherr
That Chinese dude is awesome.
The picture of the man eating rice was actually taken by a postcard company, and the man is likely not Chinese at all, but an actor wearing yellowface. It was intended to be comedic and is definitely racist.
Troll.
Electron Pusher No, I'm serious. Besides, look at his face. His skintone is off, and a lot of features you'd expect to see in someone ethnically Chinese aren't there. Not to mentioned, the exaggerated expression and pose don't make sense at all, even given the supposed context. I mean, if someone taking your picture tells you to look happy, you're going to smile like you would normally. But trust me, do your research, and you'll find that that expedition wasn't even in China when that photograph was taken, something we know because the image was dated, and copyrighted by another company, who couldn't have done so if they didn't take it.
Source?
Lets call him photogenic Chinese man
That chinese guy could really sell rice. Damn I want rice now.
I always eat rice
Kawaii Potato what type
Nah I'm just joking I don't even care
Ikr, I always thought rice was stupid, but Dammit it looks good on dude.
I want all Chinese peeps to wear that attire now. Let's bring it back!! 😂
Melanin Goddess JASMINE RICE
I asked this question to a very old woman. 90+. She said "They did not smile as they usually had rotten teeth".
I thought it was because it was impolite to smile
think that was for painted portraits in the 1500's
Well, Toothbrushes weren't very famous back then yet.
i always thought people didnt smile because pictures were such a new thing... no one knew "how to pose" for a picture.... no one ever seemed to really know what to do with themselves... there was no code or etiquette for taking pics so they just stood there lmao...
well they still had painted portraits earlier on . so they knew how to pose to get there image captured.
Nat Mackey they didnt smile and looked awkward in those too lol
learn the history of cameras
I used to think if they smiled their teeth would be too bright and the photo would have a pure white blurb as the mouth
Me too
Future vox video:
Why all photos between 2014 and 2017 are selfies
+aidan cowie vox=box
+Jesse Piazza mate you deserved a medal
Cuz most people don't have photographers
Lol 2019 is same too, hello from the future
aidan c. Entitlement took over
Never thought I would say that, but I learned this with A Million Ways to Die in the West.
+Judy Finley No. There's a movie called A Million Ways to Die in the West
same...
+Arch Linux yes there is
+Florrie omfggg me 2
+Florrie i did as well xD
3:00 Nice. I was asking myself during the video, "I wonder what some of the silliest older pictures would look like." This must be one of them. Dude's a boss.
I love the "Victorian photo shoot gone wrong" with the couple trying to do the serious thing and then bursting into giggles. It's so cute and real.
It took too long to take the photo, that's why.
+Call me Will
But first, lemme take a selfie
....
...this may take a while
+Bram06 No! we don't have time. The bus is going to departure in like 40 minutes!
+Call me Will Did you actually watch the video? Because that is exactly the oposite of what it said.
+Jonathan Fernando not yet
+Bram06 lol
Considering how 2020 went so far, i say we start this "no smile" trend again
Yes!
Or just let people look however they want to in photos.
I think so too! Just think about it, our face is relaxed more often throughout the day than we smile, so it is a true expression of ourselves. But it has become a habit to “smile” but why? I don’t believe the beginning part about “it taking to long for photos to be taken” that is a weak answer.
AgreeDOH!!!
It was also because most people had bad teeth
*****
We wouldnt be here if they didnt ....lol
***** descended from Spanish , who had the exact same problem .
No colgate back then .
*****
My own mothers generation used to rub ash from the fire to clean their teeth then rince it out ,.
*****
I know , I have a few myself
absolutely NOT true.
Kanye West did it first.
+Red Herring seth mcfarlane di it first
+orlando garate Actually The Hoover Crips did it first
you win this time...
Damn I didn't know Kanye was THAT old
*Now it's billie eilish*
I think another reason is the modern obsession with proving to others that you're having a a great and wonderful life. Anything less (i.e. not smiling in a photo) is literally losing face.
Exactly
No it's because smiling makes someone look better.
I always find smiles to be so fake in photos
+Viktor Vaughn same
@Adrian I freaking agree with you lol, I hate showing my teeth and my mom gets mad when I don't smile in pictures
Except for this Chinese dude
Mine are always sincere, I just imagine myself being dead
I always smile in my pictures because I am glad to live another day.
I rarely smile in my pictures. I guess being around a bunch of hard asses growing up will do that to a person. I actually like those old pictures and he way they posed.
People who are always smiling for others are doing just that, living their life to please others. Life in servitude is no life at all.
Hamdoon agreed
maybe they just wantto look formal
asin ll i think this is the most obvious and overlooked answer
i read formal as normal
I already know why my grandma told me when I saw her wedding photos.
She said her parents scolded her and told her not to smile at all
Thats sad
It's remarkable that photography is taken for granted these days
+Peter K Yep. Everyone is taking selfies every second. 100 years back in 1916, it would seem like a joke. A little device that can take thousands of pictures? You must be insane. :D
1:19 I thought there was dust on my screen
me too
Me too, even after clicking to that timestamp directly from your comment. I had to scroll to check which parts of the dust/marks were real and which weren't.
I dont know how to smile in a photo...
hello linkin park fan
@@greenspartanligado no
before i even watch this vid - its cuz the cameras blew ass, so they had to be exposed for a lonnnngg time and it's really hard to smile that long. so, they just stood there chilling for a pic. ok play
edit - im a genius
edit2 - fuck history
+MWYANT19 Me too.
Fuck Vox
Fuck you
MWYANT19 a
Why would they smile when their souls are being stolen? LOL
You da man
My grandparents have this mentality
That's why they avoid phototkaing
Well, it's true your souls are being taken. The body that we see in our photos, that body comes with a slight mili capture of soul
Wait what
@@aero-fw9os 🤣
so when did people start to say “SMILE!!” when taking a photo?
I remember seeing a picture of a Victorian couple smiling and laughing while getting their portraits done because they couldn’t take them seriously. So cute.
Because they were trying so hard not to blink
I recall finding this one post where it had one picture of a husband and wife sitting next to each other very seriously, than next to it the wife was being carried by the husband and they were smiling and laughing. It was lovely. (if anyone can link the original, that'd be marvellous)
0:36 Life Is Strange anyone?
Iqlima Bachariputri this isnt exclusive to life is strange
That last photo of a Chinese man eating rice is absolutely perfect! It made me smile!
02:00 aww she's so pretty
Simp!
Never smiling in my photos... for what fucking reason should I?
Once you get laid... Try to take one not smiling. ;)
+Fa Tee uh
+Fa Tee lmao
OneEyedJack1982 To scare everyone with your brown teeth.
MISERY you mean
this has been my childhood question. i find it odd and also creepy that none of those old pictures have people smiling, it's like smiling wasn't invented until recently.
Anyone try holding a smile for a long time? It's no wonder why old photos didn't try that or all the exposures would be of blurry, messed up faces. That is unless you're able to actually hold on to a smile that long.
Camera men forgot to say ''Cheese''
Joker has left the chat
People never smiled in old photos because they didn't have Instagram and Facebook. Basically those two things brought joy to the world.
and brought hatred to the sensible people
+Mouldy CPU lol k
+John and Stephen Kerry I broke a tear, your comment is so true!
Joy? really??
@@Dah_S.S yh people have opinions you know
My grandma grew up in the 40s but still never smiled in pictures unless you caught her off guard, but I think that had more to do with the social class she was in. She grew up in a higher class family in a run down city, eventually going to college and becoming a nurse. She was weirdly equal parts working and not. She was a nurse but didn't drive, she loved to stay home and knit but never cooked or baked. She never smiled in photographs but had the loudest laugh and said whatever she was thinking.
Because they were not fake like today's people.
Ouch😂
I know a lot of depressed people who are smiling all the time, to give the fake impression that they're alright
+Baten Kaitos so true
*Everyone* was fake back then, you imbecile. People had less freedom of speech and were sexually repressed.
So smiling is fake?
I also heard that we (Americans) learned to smile in photos during the Cold War to show that we live in a happier country than the Soviets.
Deep
@@autreUS4 deep
in the future people are gonna wonder why we were always slightly pouting almost like mimicking a duck
I once heard that in Mexico, people celebrate Dia De Los Muertos, (day of the dead). In that day, people who died came back here, (where we are) and then see their living family. To go here they need a photo of themselves in the ofrenda. And back then, photoghraphs are expensive. And they probably only have one of them. So in that case, they have to show their best looks. Now here is the thing, they can't smile, because if they smile, people will assume they didn't take life seriously, so they won't smile. But now, I think everything changed.
(Please don't hate me, I am not Mexican I'm Indonesian)
Spectacular video, I've always wondered about this. Thank you for the info 😊 the dude at the end was hilarious lol
“Smiling is a sign of weakness.’ - Dwight.
Olden days: old tech made them slow to take photos
2020: Life was just ROUGH
When I saw the photo of the Chinese smiling I thought it was absolutely beautiful as well. I didn't know you would have said something about it at the end of the video.
Vox: making videos answering things I’ve questioned but am too lazy to google search
because they have no iphone or wifi
3:10 The guy eating rice should be on rice packages and stuff... like how the tapatio dude on the bottle. XD
I love how short and sweet these videos are
Most people will loose focus after about 5 minutes of a video. Vex videos are short but are visually interesting
I realized something kind of interesting. Whenever I think of, or imagine anything that took place between the 1800's and about 1930-40ish it is always black and white in my head. And actually the 1800-1900 is more of a sepia tone. However, thinking about Napoleonic times, Roman times, Dinosaur times, everything else is always in vivid color.
It's obvious why, because we have an abundance of visual information from those times in the form of sepia, or purely black and white, photographs. No such thing existed previously, therefore we naturally just imagine them in color. I just think it's interesting how our perception can be skewed like that.
3:00 That photo should be in a magazine.
I’ve often wondered why people smile in photos now. Most occasions don’t actually warrant forced-smiles.
People generally look better when smiling.
That picture at the end has to be one of the best smiles I’ve seen! I’ve never seen anyone so happy with a bowl of rice
We have a copy of a picture of my great-grandfathers bachelor party taken in 1921 hanging in our living room. They were all drinking, smoking, laughing and my great-grandfather is sitting on the shoulders of his brother. But then they could afford to take more pictures since they were upper class before the war. We always get nice comments about that one lol
and so porn was created.
there was already porn in ancient egypt
+Dori C no cameras in ancient egypt tho
Steve, egyptians made paintings, not photographs
I was going to like your comment, but I realized that if I did it would mess up the perfect number of likes you have here.
*"Why people didn't smile on old photos?"*
*_Cause it's the Great Depression_*
The last photo at the very end made me smile. I really like finding old black and white photos of people smiling! It just makes me happy.
"The consideration of this then often proves to be very depressing, especially when life is already drawing to an end; hence the countenances of almost all elderly persons wear the expression of what is called disappointment" - Arthur Schopenhauer, _The World As Will And Representation_
If i wait that long i would look so angry, can't blame them lol
Ohp okay there's a dead baby, thanks for the warning
+Laura Klein is just a picture, people now days are a bunch of wussies.
+Laura Klein It's the internet though, dead things are everywhere.
+Laura Klein Oh FFS, it's not as if it was a mangled corpse or something. You wouldn't have even know it was dead if you hadn't been told that it was.
+Laura Klein For the time period, it was actually rather indulgent of the parents to arrange a postmortem photo of a child so small. Before modern medicine, it was common for children under one year of age to die. People often waited until after the first year to officially name their children so that popular family names wouldn't be "wasted" on those who died.
You might say that the death of infants was a more emotionally intense version of a miscarriage, rather than an entirely different class of tragedy, as we would regard it today.
all this picture are of dead ppl
Let me sum it down people back then had a camera that took to long to take a photo so people wouldn’t stand there smiling for 1 hour
I don’t smile for pictures because I don’t like to smile at all. That doesn’t mean I’m depressed I just never have and never will like to smile.
Long story short, you would get tired of smiling
Greg Heffley even mentioned this
Many years ago, as a teenager, I had a friend - a pen pal who lived in Pakistan. She said no one smiled in photos there. And when I took photos of her when she visited me here in the United States, while she smiled for me when I asked her to, she also insisted that she not smile in a few poses that I could send her later. So at least sometimes... it is a cultural thing.
I smile only when something Beautiful happens, as the time passes it fades away quickly...
That being said: who first smiled in a photo?
Tho the real question is: why do we hold our breathes when taking pictures?
My grandparents have photos of kids looking depressed
I imagine the amount of work being put in making of this video. Impressive and informative. Thank you!!!
i would love to know what the picture at 2:00 is called.. =)
anybody know? :S
An ad for a box of matches.
I need to laugh before taking a serious pic
the last photo. sticks. really heart warming. makes one feel really happy
I learn more from this channel than I do in school.
My grandma's grandma smiled in an old photo :/
sooo your great great grandma?
Lol back when people where obsessed with the black and white Instagram filter
I love how diverse the topic of this channel
I more or less agree. Another reason was a portrait photo was expensive early on, so people wanted a good portrait. As a photographer, I prefer taking portraits of people in repose. Some people insist on smiling and that’s fine too but I try to get one good shot without a smile.
1:55 wtf how did Kristen Schaal travel back in time?
omg
😲🤤😲🤤
Turaco EU !
That maybe her past life
Ever heard of long lost grand-mothers?
I never smile when I am photographed
Totally wrong information. The smile wasnt a “fashion” thing, it was due to technology and camera. Exposures were very long, which meant people struggled to hold a smile which is why you dont see many people smiling.
I kinda like not always smiling in photos, just capture the moment as is don’t exaggerate happiness
I thought bad missing teeth also had something to do with not smiling?in earlier photos!?!
😐😐😐😐😐😐😕😕😕
People didn’t invent colors back then, that’s why
In Victorian England, people used to photograph their deceased family members (especially children) as if they were still alive. It's always easy to tell who the dead one is in a family photo: they're the ones whose outlines are perfectly clear and sharp, because obviously, dead people didn't bat an eye during the long-ass exposure time.
Vox is the best channel they take all my questions and answer them thanks! 🙈
I used to wonder about this but only in regards to Black Americans as growing up my Great Grandma had family photos from the pre-1900s and everyone looked miserable. I just assumed they had nothing to smile about but now I know the real reason why.
Am i the only one here at 2018??
No
simply simple thanks god
Yes
3:03 is absolutely perfect, you say? Absolutely! Totally agree. My late dad’s idea of a good life, he taught us, was, “you have food to eat!” With no bombs falling!
I have now framed that photo in my home....it's amazing anyone that comes over this it is great!
Also the Internet hadn't been invented yet, so everyone was super sad
I still don't smile
It's because back in the day, photos took way longer to take, so people would never really know when the photo would be taken. They didn't need to learn how to smile. They didn't dislike photos. They just took a while to take photos back then.
Why didnt people smile in photos in the past?:because it was considered rude to smile like if you smile when someone looks at you they think your rude and people werent allowed to smile in the past so it was illegal to smile in the past-