Why do people smile in photos?

Why do people smile in photos?

Say CHEESE!

It has occurred to me that people almost always smile in photographs.

We are told to smile.

We are expected to smile.

Why?

To give the impression (at times the illusion) that we are happy? Life just couldn’t be better! “Look at how happy *I* am!”

Why not allow a photograph to capture an honest moment not a posed smile? Very few (sane) people smile all the time, yet that is how we have been trained to be documented in photographs. After all, everyone wants to be happy, right? I love looking at old photos from 100 years ago. Not much smiling happening then.

We have been conditioned to believe that we look better when smiling. I think I remember that there have been studies that claim that the act of smiling makes one feel better. Maybe that is why we smile in photographs?

Another thought:

Why do people wear sunglasses in photographs that are posed even when the sun is not in their eyes?

Just curious.

I subscribe to the view (see what I did there?) that people’s eyes really are windows into the soul. I notice eyes, perhaps because of my own. I have strange eyes, which have operated nearly independently since I was born. “Intermittent Exotropia” is what my eye doctors call it. There is always a predictable pause when a new eye doctor checks each eye independently, while instructing me to look at the chart across the room. The condition is worse when I am tired. I only use one eye at a time but can pull them together if I concentrate…which I try to do for photos…there you have it…I am a hypocrite! Just as people try to project happiness in photos, I pretend my eyes operate normally!

To quote Peter Sellers’ character, Chauncey Gardiner, in the movie, “Being There*”:

“I like to watch.”

I am a watcher.

I love to observe people and marvel at our differences.

I appreciate the differences.

I love the differences but that doesn’t mean I am not puzzled by them.

Often.

*- if you have not seen this movie, there is a cool, yet fleeting shot of Bill Watrous on TV. RIP, Bill.