a combination of today's photography equipment and the newer trend of smiling for personal portraits that most of what we see now are smiling portraits. I'm glad others commented on this too because I was wondering if I'm the only one who noticed this. ttp://www.peggywiltzphotography.com Peggy My comment is in reference to the comments below on the facial expressions. I am a photographer and I agree that it was easier to hold a straight face as opposed to a smile because of the long exposure of that type of photography. You can tell even when they are not looking at the camera they are standing still because of the water running in some of them. It is flowing and they are still, not caught in action like we can do today. They would be very blurred if they were moving like the water. But I have seen some photographs of this time period where the people are smiling. If you look at the painted portraits before cameras, almost all are not smiling. The Mona Lisa is famous because she is 'almost' smiling. Today in my photography I am amazed at how many people just don't like to smile for a portrait. When I am doing a business head shot, most don't smile. I think it is a combination of today's photography equipment and the newer trend of smiling for personal portraits that most of what we see now are smiling portraits. I'm glad others commented on this too because I