Often people were very serious in photographs from the turn of the century.

These pictures were highly unusual in that respect.  This photo, The Guitar, was made by photographer Frank Eugene in 1908.

From Archive.org

The second photo was made by Alvin Langdon Coburn in 1908, He named it The Bubble. The titles of the photographs weren’t too creative but the pictures were unusual enough to capture interest on their own.

I love this girl’s kimono! I’m curious what she’s blowing into– and is that a balloon?

from Archive.org

Going back to people tending to be serious in photographs….A lot of speculation exists about why this is but I’m not sure if there’s one right answer. One explanation is that  the subject had to remain perfectly still for a long time to avoid blurring in photographs and it’s hard to hold a genuine smile that long. Another reason is that photographs were so expensive that many people only had a few photos made in the course of their lives. Maybe they thought that grinning in their picture was too frivolous.

My theory is that it was related to the Victorian love of mystery. You can tell a lot about people by their smiles and they were reluctant to reveal very much.  Maybe that is why they are still so fascinating so many years later!