A Smile Can Change Our First Impression
A couple of weeks ago I posted a message on our KopiSusu Facebook page: I shared a video from photographer Jay Weinstein that shows the difference when you ask people to smile. When I watched this video and saw the smiles, I found myself smiling right back… It is the ‘mirroring effect’.
As photographer I think it is important that the one who is in front of the camera feels comfortable. I experienced that when I smile behind my camera at that person, it makes it easier to get in touch with the real person and not a ‘model’.
If you try to ‘connect’ with him/her as a human being and ‘invite’ that person to be playful, thoughtful, reflective, you provide kind of a safe and beautiful environment for them to be themselves, so that they feel comfortable enough to smile, to interact authentically, human being to human being.
I have a nice personal example from our latest trip to Namibia:
We were driving up northeast from Swakopmund to Twyfelfontein and near Brandberg we passed some small souvenir stalls along the road where local Herero women tried to sell their handicrafts. We stopped at one of the little craft shops to have a closer look at what kind of stuff they were selling. I bought a sweet handmade doll, that we called ‘Mama Africa’ (later on) and had a nice talk with the very friendly Herero lady. I asked her if I could take a picture of her in her little shop with the merchandise as background. On the first image she looked quite serious. But when I smiled at her and gave her a simple compliment about the beautiful and colourful dress she was wearing, she started smiling back at me. It was if the sun broke through the clouds on a dreary day! I showed her the two photos on the screen of my camera and asked her: “Which one do you like?” And she choose the smiling image. Her happy smile really brightens up the photo!
A smile can really change our looks more than make-up. So why don’t we look more beautiful with good smiles on our faces? A smile is free and you don’t have to waste a lot of time to put it on your face. So let’s all smile!
Have a nice day, full of smiles!
De foto’s op deze blog mogen voor niet-commerciële doeleinden worden gebruikt onder vermelding van: kopisusufotografie.com.
The photos on this blog may be used for non-commercial purposes quoting: kopisusufotografie.com.
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