Category: Smile

       This project gave me a new experience that I never felt before in my life. I had to take two pictures of fifteen complete strangers, one photo with their normal facial expression and one with them smiling. As much as this assignment was uncomfortable, it was also very special. It was amazing seeing how visions and thoughts on a certain person could change drastically if they simply smile. The task also taught me about implicit bias, which are stereotypes and thoughts people naturally have to view on things. During my experience, I was sometimes hesitant to ask certain people if they wanted a picture, but I gathered all my courage and went onward to them. Some people said that they didn’t want one, and that was okay. Some instances were also pretty hilarious, where one person advised to take a picture of their friend, and that friend recommended another  until the last one agreed for a photo. Everything was A LOT easier then what I had imagined in the very beginning. If I was hired as a photographer and wanted to avoid implicit bias, I would ask my client to simply smile. Smile and do a pose that your heart desires most, because that’s the fun of photography. For the first time, this project not only told me about how to make good pictures, but also more about the world we live in and what actually lives deep within us.         -Marie Valouiski

Slides for the rest of the photos here.

What was difficult was finding people that I didn’t know or know of in the school to take photos of. Most of these people were substitutes or new teachers. What was also hard was actually asking them for a photo, and some people saying no because they were uncomfortable with their photo being taken.  When the people smile,I notice they seem much nicer based on the photo. Bias could effect your job as a photographer by what angle you take the photo from, what poses you tell them to do, what filter you use, etc. When you are hired as a photographer I would ask the client to tell me what theme or what light they want to be painted in. Then, I would ask them to tell me one good thing about themselves and one bad thing about themselves.  This way I have a balanced opinion of them and not implicit bias. To view my slideshow click here. 

For this project it was difficult for me to be brave enough to ask someone to get a photo of them. I was implicit bias and made assumptions of people I didn’t know. This can affect my job as a photographer because just like in the story, ”Then I Asked Them to Smile,” you can miss your opportunity to take amazing photos with people you don’t know. The people I took pictures of turned out to be really nice and I really enjoyed to talking to them. The changes I saw in myself was that after this assignment, I became less shy. I was able to go up to anybody with confidence and ask for a picture. The changes I saw in the people were major. Some of them didn’t even smile when I saw them at first. All of these people’s smiles lit up the whole room and they seemed so much nicer. When I asked my client/subject to take a photo of them, I asked nicely and with respect. If they said no and didn’t feel comfortable I thanked them anyway. Click here to see my project, here

Something that was difficult for this project was to find 15 people because I knew a lot of people in the school already. In some pairs of photos, the changes I saw were amazing. I would talk to the smiling person, but not the serious person because they looked intimidating. A bias could affect my job as a photographer by judging someone off my first glance and deciding to not take a photo of them. Some questions I would ask to take fair photos could be asking my client to have a serious face and to smile. Also, for them to stay in the same position while taking the photos.

    For my slideshow, click here.

In this project I was asked to take pictures of people at this school or outside of school and ask them if I could take their picture. The point of this was to see the difference in how you view people when you see a friendly smile or a straight face. This was a very cool experience because it made me realize how the first thing I saw impacted the way I perceived them. A challenge I faced was when I gathered enough courage to ask the people if I could take their picture was how awkward it is. I would ask and the people would think I was taking the picture for something other than a school project. Something that was easy was that after I explained what my intention was they let me snap the picture and the process was fast and easy. Overall, this project was a learning experience for me and my classmates.

Click here for more photos.