The power of a smile: photos that will make you look at strangers differently

Photographer Jay Weinstein travels the world and takes portraits of strangers, and then asks them to smile and makes another portrait. The impression of a person changes dramatically — the author of the photo project wants to pay attention to how a smile affects perception. If you compare the portraits before and after the smile, the difference is impressive. Here's what the photographer himself tells about his work on Facebook:

"December 2013. I was on a photo trip in Bikaner, in the sands of Rajasthan in India. Near a train station full of people, I saw a man I wanted to photograph. I hesitated. His gaze and the stony, stern expression on his face scared me. It is the moment of doubt that always kills a successful shot! As a result, I walked around him and took pictures of other objects until I heard his cheerful voice: "Take a picture of me too!"".

"I adjusted the lens, my finger was ready to pull the trigger. "Smile," I said. And he was transformed. His face radiated warmth, his eyes sparkled with a mood that I didn't notice at first. Even his posture was more relaxed. And then I realized what my next project would be. So was born So I asked them to smile ("And then I asked them to smile"). I wanted to capture the power of a human smile on the faces of strangers.

Over the next days, months and years, I asked random people on my photo trips (mostly on the streets of India) to pose without a smile and with a smile. These pictures are the basis of my project. His goal is to recreate the mental attitude with which we look at a stranger, and then watch how our assumptions are transformed with the appearance of a smile on his face.

There are no names here. There are no classes. Religious or national affiliation is not specified. There are no difficult life lessons or burning cases from life. Only one human face. Without a smile and with a smile."