Why don't Indians want to be seen smiling on photos?

That's an enigma that all Westerners face when we attend a seminar or any official event, or research something online: People presenting themselves with the sternest possible faces, looking grim like on police-fotos...

The question came up for me today when I was searching something online, and I happened to find an interesting charity based in the U.S.
http://www.helpsavelife.com/
They collect money for specific requests of poor families, esp. in Kerala, where the founders are from, and also in Africa. While researching the credibility of the charity, I googled for the president's name. Linkedin showed the impressive IT-carreer of the gentleman, and google+ shows a foto of someone, again a stern looking face like from a criminal record.

To me this is remarkable, because the gentleman has lived in the U.S. since at least 15 years, and he has not become a smiley guy. That is okay, people can be like that. But what prompts Indian people to take stern looking fotos of themselves? Why do they want to be seen as really serious, and why is a smile a disgrace to them?

Some years ago I took some photos of the mahoot with elephant Laxmi at Pondy's Ganesh temple. As I had become friendly with him, I decided to give him a print of one of the photos. He was very unhappy, even disgusted when he saw himself smiling on the photo.

Thinking about it now, the situation was similar with our grandparents. In old photos you rarely see anyone smiling. But with Indians portrait-photos almost always show very serious, even grim looks.

Why is respectability coupled with non-smiling looks?

I once asked Mrs N about this, re wedding photos. Why do the girls always look so grim?

She replied that they wouldn't think it proper to be grinning.

Maybe this is an old-fashioned thing, although it certainly still goes on. I've also been to weddings where bride, groom and guests are happy to ...be happy and look it

Okay, it is not respectable, but what is the basis of the judgement that a smile is not respectable?

Very interesting query; I have often wondered the same thing myself.

Does anyone see anything wrong in these hypothesis and conclusions?

Well, I can only speak for myself and say that its because its unnatural and feels artificial to smile for a photo especially when you don't feel like smiling! If you smile just because you have to, it can appear different from your real smile and I don't want that fake smile on photo! I am tempted to conclude that this to be true for most Indians as well, but that would be fallacious reasoning!

I too don't ever smile in/for any photo. I did smile only in a photo or two and that too with my son. I agree with happyhippy that if you don't feel to smile then why to smile just for the photo.

But looking grim like on a criminal's photo does not bother you? Most Indians look terrible on photos, not the way they look in real life. The photos actually look like on purpose extra-serious, just as much as the opposite may look on purpose smiling.

You only looked at the face.

We also stand as if its the executioner or drill master standing in front, not someone with a camera.

My theory is, that for most people the photo is not a very common thing and is mostly seen as something that will be retained for a long time. Not so long ago photos would be enlarged, framed and hung on walls in the living room in a neat row, both of living people and of those dead. Those dead would have a garland. So dress the best, look the best and don't makes faces (or even smile) so that the photo comes out with you looking the way you look. Smiling may make you look happy, but it isn't you, though in real life you may be smiling at all other times.

Τhat is also a good observation, Narendra. In group portraits on holiday, Indian families all face the camera ramrod straight. It is like a school portrait. Sorry for the gross generalization.

In the early days of photography exposures needed to be very long so people had to adopt poses that could be held for several seconds. If you look at photos from the Victorian era in the UK most of them show people with very serious faces. Perhaps this has stayed lodged in the psyche in India.

We once had a very cheery smiling cycle rickshaw driver in Old Delhi. At the end of our ride I asked to take his photo. He looked delighted with this but adopted a very grim face as soon as I lifted the camera. Once the shot was taken he was all smiles again.

But doesn't it go deeper in the case of the mahoot who was smiling a lot, and then did not like to see a photo of that? It seems that it has become a social standard that smile means something bad and ugly. Obviously, it does not have to be a grin, but even that slight lifting of the mouth's corners that happens a lot seems inacceptable.

I understand that for him receiving a photo might have been like receiving a certificate, something official that reflects who or what you are at a given time. As the acceptable standard in present day India is (still) "no smile please", a photo with a smile is worthless, a misrepresentation, and a failure to do the right thing for me as the photographer.

In this respect it is interesting that street-people and esp children who know they are photographed often smile more than normal. But that might be an expression of delight in the fact that they are photographed (and even more delighted they are when they are shown the result in a digicam).

I have a British cousin who does that. Really, he is quite genuinely jolly, but, as soon as the camera comes out, the mouth sets in a thin, forced-looking smile --- and goes back to a real one as soon as the picture is over.

Well, eating cheese is not part of the Indian culture (apart from paneer, that is). So people are, understandably, not in the habit of saying 'cheese'. They probably mutter 'paneer'. So, sure, they will look grim.

There is one wedding photo I won't forget. The very young girl (possibly even pre-teen) in it looks absolutely puzzled as to what on earth is going on. Decades later, she had still not entirely lost that puzzled look, although it has changed now that she is a widow.

Here's a wonderful smile --- and a sad story if you can coax Google into revealing more about her life.

That is a wonderful smile indeed!

And it reminded me of all the wonderful smiles in Jorge's photos here in IM. Maybe those women don't mind smiling because they know the photos will not be seen by their husband/family/community, or maybe they are so charmed by Jorge that they just can't help themselves




Jorge Reverter's photo