Loading…
16
My trip to the library genealogy room changed how I look at old photos
Last Thursday I spent 3 hours in the downtown library's genealogy room looking up an old family album. I was trying to ID some relatives from 1920s photos my aunt gave me. But I started noticing that every single person in those photos had this dead serious look, no smiles. Then I found a 1930s newspaper article about how photographers used to say "prunes" instead of "cheese" because it gave a tighter mouth shape. But now I'm seeing a debate online: was it really about the mouth shape, or were people just not used to smiling for cameras back then because life was harder? I've got older folks on one side saying it's all about long exposure times, and younger people saying our ancestors were just miserable. Has anyone else dealt with this whole smiling in old photos argument? Is there a real answer or is it just guesswork?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
kelly613mo ago
Found a bunch of old family pics myself a few years back and had the same exact experience lol. I tried the "prunes" thing with my own mouth in the mirror and honestly it does kinda tighten things up compared to a big smile. My grandma told me it was because everyone back then thought smiling made you look unserious or drunk or something, which tracks with all the stiff poses I see. The exposure time thing is real too, try keeping a smile for more than a few seconds and your face just hurts. I figure it's probably a mix of all those reasons, nobody back then was about to waste film on a casual grin.
7