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The seriousness in pictures was a cultural artifact of the time, I think partly because people treated photos like getting portraits? There's this photo from 1

The seriousness in pictures was a cultural artifact of the time, I think partly because people treated photos like getting portraits? There's this photo from 1901 which seems really modern: https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/smiling-chinese-man-eating-rice-1901-1-5c98d17755668__700.jpg https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/0... The speculation is that he didn't know about the culture of looking serious.

btilly 6y ago
It was also an artifact of the technology. Cameras tended to have long exposure times. If you have to hold a position for 30 seconds, it is easier to do so with a serious face than a laughing one.
jacobr1 6y ago
The other aspect is the early photos required long exposures. It is hard to maintain a smile or stand still long enough, so a neutral face was requested by the photographer. Daguerreotype's required upwards of 20 minutes!
deleted 6y ago
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