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Let’s Talk Trash! JAN/FEB 2018
©2018 The Keenan Group, Inc
Pres·i·dent
Why didn’t people SMILE in old photos?
‘pre-z -d nt
noun: 1.A president is a leader of an organization, company, community, club, trade union, university, country, a division or part of any of these, or, more generally, anything else. 1 2
As coined by Mark Twain: “A photograph is a most important document, and there is nothing more damning to go down to posterity than a silly, foolish smile caught and fixed forever.”
Actually there were 3 distinct reasons:
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1. Unattractive Teeth! People, particularly older adults, were not comfortable smiling because they did not have very attractive teeth. In the 1800s good dental care was not widely available. The dental practices like root canals and caps that allow us to keep our teeth today were not done. The cure for a decayed or broken tooth was often simply to pull it. People with missing or chipped teeth might have preferred to take pictures with their mouths closed. 2. Long Exposure Times for Photographs! Sometimes it would take a total of fifteen minutes to get one exposure! Imagine having to sit still, motionless for this length of time and having to hold a smile this long would be excruciating. Sometime in 1841, there were improvements in camera lenses and the chemicals used to expose the images shortened the exposure times to a minute or less. But to get clear images, people had to sit still. Photographers even had head rests that held sitters heads in place when they were having portraits made. 3. Having Photographs Taken was Rare and Expensive When photography was introduced in 1839 it required relatively expensive equipment and a degree of training to do. It was largely the realm of professional photographers. Even as photographic technology advanced in the 1850s and 1860s, it was still mostly the domain of professionals. For most people having photographs taken was not a common activity, but a rare luxury. They might only
have their pictures taken one or two times in their lives. People may have believed that serious expressions suited these special occassions. In the late 1800s and early 1900s when cameras became lighter weight, more portable and much easier to use there was growth in the number of amateur photographers. Taking casual snapshots becomes possible more smiles began to show up! So when did it become tradition for people to smile in photographs? This happened in the beginning of the 1900s, due to more and more casual moments being caught on film both in Hollywood and amongst family and friends.
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C O L O R the President images above. See if you can name them below...
George Washington had severe problems with his teeth, and while, apparently, it’s a myth that he had a wooden set made for him, he did have a false set or two which were too big for him. No wonder he never smiled on his portraits. He wanted to be remembered for more than his terrible teeth!
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