7 Days
Smile
For this project we had to take 15 pairs of photos (in our case 20 pairs because we were in a group) of people. One picture had to have them with a smile while the other had no smile. The difficulties of this project were asking complete strangers to take their pictures. This was kind of awkward in some situations and sometimes they would look really intimidating. However, after we asked them to smile, their face would turn into a whole different person. I saw many intimidating faces “light up” once we asked them to smile. A smile can turn anyone into a completely different person. Bias could affect a photographer because when we look at a person, we judge them based on their current appearance. When photographers do this, they lose many opportunities that they could have had if they just asked a simple question. If I was hired to be a photographer, I would ask my client/subject questions such as, “What would you consider to be your best achievement in life?” or, “What is your favorite emotion to experience?” (such as happiness or sadness). Asking questions like these helps me perceive the person better and also helps rid the bias. You can find the pictures we took here. Overall, this project helped us learn that “You can’t judge a book by its cover”.