We’ve all seen them — black and white pictures from way back when in which the subjects are somberly staring into space. The expressions are…expressionless. Ever wondered why? Many people believe that the answer is simply technology, but there’s far more to it than that.

Of course, exposure time was the main problem with very, very early photography. The first picture taken that included people, Boulevard du Temple by Louis Daguerre, was entirely accidental.

Boulevard du Temple by Louis Daguerre. You can spot the people in the bottom left of the image.

Daguerre shot it in 1838, and all moving objects (including people) were entirely blurred out due to the long exposure time, except for two figures; a man having his shoes shined and the shoeshine boy at his feet. Both remained almost stationary for the duration of the picture, and so became the first humans to be photographed.

As early photographers had to ask people to remain still for long periods of time, it makes sense that many of them chose neutral expressions rather than smiles. If you try to freeze your face in a smile, it can get pretty uncomfortable after a while.

However, even when the technology improved and people could have their ‘picture made’ in less than a minute, subjects still stubbornly refused to smile. Why? Vox explains that photography was still very expensive and was treated similarly to sitting for a painting at the time. It was a historical preservation of a person, and was intended to be kept for years, usually long after the subject had died. Indeed, a common practice at the time was death photography, to preserve the memory of a loved one.

At the time, it was horrifying to think of Uncle Harold grinning back at you from beyond the grave. So people carried on growing impressive moustaches, wearing bowler hats and refusing to smile in pictures.

Credit: American Museum of Natural History

Only when photography became cheaper and more commonplace did people begin to experiment with their facial expressions. Phil Edwards of Vox points out that some of the first people to smile on historical photos were those unfamiliar with photography. Berthold Laufer, an Anthropologist, took the following photograph during a tour of China in around 1902 and must have been very taken aback at the pose struck by this enthusiastic local.

Fast-forward to 2016 and we all find it difficult to repress a smile whenever we see a lens pointed our way. How disappointed our ancestors would be.