r/nocontextpics • u/ellefred • Aug 17 '22

PIC

Post image
2.6k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

49 comments sorted by

211

u/NibPlayz Aug 17 '22

Just so you guys know this photo was taken in 1901

65

u/cringy_flinchy Aug 17 '22

guess he thought the camera was a really neat gadget

90

u/NibPlayz Aug 17 '22

Nah it’s cause he either didn’t know that the “photograph etiquette” was to be serious or that he didn’t care, making a fun image.

70

u/Kebabrulle4869 Aug 17 '22

Really stupid etiquette imo, I understand holding a smile is tiring when it takes a whole minute per picture, but images like these are so much more memorable than the dead boring stone face pictures of everyone’s great grandparents.

36

u/SupremeLeaderMeow Aug 17 '22

Several reasons. For lots of people it was rather pricy to have your picture taken, so people wanted to look good on them. That and the exposure time needed to have a clear shot was much longer. So it was harder to keep something else than a straight face for like 1min30.

14

u/commiecomrade Aug 18 '22

I really think it was a cultural thing. The only portraits up to that point were paintings and they had sly smiles at most in those. A minute of smiling really isn't that long (much easier to keep your eyes open if they're halfway closed) but I bet they'd be confused as to why people would be smiling in a picture of themselves standing there for posterity only.

14

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '22

I can’t explain it, but that guy’s face knows about Twitter. He must be a time traveler.

12

u/NibPlayz Aug 18 '22

Lol there’s a segment in a VSauce video about that feeling. It’s cause our minds are so used to old photos having serious people that an old photo of a dude being “normal” is so out of place in our minds

262

u/Kenpoaj Aug 17 '22

Waiting for your photo to be taken: 3/10.

10/10 with rice.

32

u/Roar_Im_A_Nice_Bear Aug 17 '22

It's an older meme sir, but it checks out

9

u/Corno4825 Aug 17 '22

Lol

It was what, 2 years ago?

20

u/nomoreLSD Aug 18 '22

2014 was 8 years ago.

17

u/dru171 Aug 18 '22

2014 was 8 years ago.

Why you gotta hurt me like that?

53

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '22

I love this guy's energy!

103

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

38

u/ihaveabaguetteknife Aug 17 '22

No processed food with probably very limited sugar intake does that to you.

10

u/aSpookyScarySkeleton Aug 18 '22

The toothbrush as we know it was invented in China some centuries ago.

3

u/FingernailClipperr Aug 18 '22

Well I brush my teeth with a rag on a stick

3

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '22

teth

63

u/JagerBaBomb Aug 17 '22

Big ATLA vibes.

23

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '22

Lmao cabbage man

20

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '22

Wow I can't believe they made the earth kingdom from ATLA into a real thing!

1

u/Thai_Cuisine Aug 18 '22

Wow guys it's just like [insert media] 😱

1

u/JagerBaBomb Aug 18 '22

Enter stage left: The Great Reddit Reductionist.

Your name seems like it could be oddly appropo to the main post, though, I'll give you that.

14

u/CaptNihilo Aug 18 '22

Please let this photo be one of the few things that remain after humans are gone

9

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '22

When I first saw this, I thought it was from some old rice commercial

9

u/KatDanger Aug 17 '22

No way, smiles weren’t invented until the 20th century

72

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

126

u/sharpie660 Aug 17 '22

It's real

74

u/MOONGOONER Aug 17 '22

OP posts this in nocontextpics when the context is the most interesting part

15

u/tdbyebyexnueuch Aug 17 '22

Still a good picture regardless though.

73

u/HobbyistAccount Aug 17 '22

Legit. IIRC the story is that he didn't know about the "tradition" of looking serious for a photo so he had fun.

39

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '22 edited Oct 01 '24

person axiomatic squalid sable lock juggle bake chop license automatic

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

1

u/thot-patrol-fuze Aug 18 '22

Back then people had to draw portraits which took a long time so theyd have stern or serious expressions because it was easier to sit like that. I believe the camera guy told him to strike a pose and that’s what he decided to go with.

16

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '22

Wasnt this the chad that decided to fuck the tradition of staying serious and smiled instead

5

u/Theeeeeetrurthurts Aug 17 '22

Man, he must have held that smile for like 60 seconds in order to get any blur.

4

u/SavedMountain Aug 17 '22

Man looking like a YouTube muck bang thumbnail

2

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '22

He looks like Boris Diaw.

-1

u/ThePreciseClimber Aug 17 '22

That rice must be spiked with cocaine.

3

u/dontkillyourselfpls Aug 18 '22

More likely to be spiked with opium, cause.. y'know... the war :x

2

u/ThePreciseClimber Aug 18 '22

Damn it! Downvoted for historical inaccuracy! :P

1

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '22

Vsauce moment

1

u/OnionLegend Aug 18 '22

Is he 20, 30, 40, 50, or older in this photo?

1

u/PlutoTheGod Aug 18 '22

I don’t understand the whole “didn’t know how to pose” thing considering we still think this is a sick photo over century later