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"Windows to the Soul" |
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Volume 6, Number 14 |
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News Stanley works each year on the staff of the Southwestern Photojournalism Conference www.swpjc.org. The conference is in Fort Worth, TX on March 4 - 6, 2011. We have just finished posting the speakers for the conference this year. They are:
I hope you can attend or let those you know who have an interest in telling stories with their cameras know about the conference. Windows to the Soul
M-Audio Microtrack II This recorder lets you record in WAV or MP3 recording to compact flash card. Looking
for Microphone Think
Tank I have always used Nikon cameras and lenses through my career. They have a great line of cameras and lenses for any job. |
According to Dr. Martin Seligman, author of Authentic Happiness, there are two kinds of smiles, the "Duchenne smile" and the "Pan American" smile. Here is how Seligman describes the two smiles, "The first called Duchenne smile (after its discoverer Guillaume Duchenne) is genuine. The corners of the mouth turn up and the skin around the corners of your eyes crinkles (the crow's feet). …The other smile, called the Pan American smile (after the flight attendants in television ads for now-defunct airline), is inauthentic." A Genuine Smile Goes a “Long Way,” was published by Vijai P. Sharma, Ph.D in Mind Publication in 2002. Studying a high school year book researcher’s divided the class photos into the Duchenne and Pan American smiles, which by the way was almost 50/50. Then they followed up with the two groups at age 27, 43 and 52 and asked about their marriage and life satisfaction.
The results showed that those with Duchenne smiles were more likely to be married and stay married. The finding was that a habit of genuine smiling may contribute to happiness and better adjustment in life. The researchers considered good looks and found this had no bearing, but genuine Duchenne smile did effect ones happiness in life. Few people are more beautiful than those with a warm and natural (Duchenne) smile. As a photographer I have learned how to recognize a natural smile and know how to get it most of the time out of subjects most of the time. Personally I cannot produce a genuine smile on command - yet.
A trick models use to learn how to control their face expressions and to get the eyes to be expressive is to look in the mirror and use a handkerchief to cover everything below the eyes. Before this can be effective you must know what you are looking for in expressions of the eyes. Tyra Banks, the famous model and TV producer of America’s Next Top Model tell how to learn to smile with your eyes. She did a video for the NY Times Magazine on fame, her career and what every model needs to know. She talks about seven types of smiles in the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdLZNeM3CH8 Tyra says a big mistake people make is smiling with your mouth and not your eyes. The muscles used to smile with the eyes are involuntary and normally only become engage in an authentic smile. Photographer can help people to smile for the camera, but only about 50% of the folks will present that genuine Duchenne smile on command. So what do you do for the rest of the folks?
A real smile arises from your own personal joy. A photographer must get the subject to think about subjects that make them happy. That’s why a pre-session consultation is important. During a consultation it’s easy to discover the makes them smile naturally. Perhaps it is their families or their hobbies. You’ll spot the genuine smile while talking with them. Just make notes and use the subjects when you photograph them. A trick I use is to ask them to tell me the name of the person they have just been talking about; invariably it brings a smile not only to their mouth, but the eyes smile, also. Remember what Tyra Banks demonstrated where the eyes were smiling and not necessarily was it a big teeth smile to be a real smile. After a while you will be able to get more than just the Duchenne smile but maybe all the 275 smiles that Tyra eluded to. Most research shows more than 50 types of smiles.
Aaron Sorkin, "The West Wing" had Leo say to Bartlett "Act as if ye have faith, and faith shall be given to you. To put it another way, fake it till you make it." It might just be a biblical principle. The writer of Hebrews 13:7 says, “Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” The windows to your soul are your eyes so learn to smile with them and not just your mouth, because people are drawn to people who exude happiness. To many people a smile in a photograph is like location in real estate – it is the most important part of the deal. |
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