In 2013, the Australian traveler and photographer Jay Weinstein met a smile that changed everything. While wandering the streets in Bikaner, India, Jay spotted a man leaning against a row of motorbikes. The photographer was immediately drawn to the stranger, but felt it was best to avoid him. “Take my picture too!" the man shouted at Jay, who was shooting nearby objects, and Jay replied with a simple “Smile!”
This encounter started an almost decade-long mission of capturing strangers on the streets of the world, before and after them smiling. The simple act, sometimes genuine, other times forced, bears the transformative powers that lighten up the face and seemingly open up the soul within.
So let’s take a look at Jay’s captivating portraits from his ongoing “so I asked them to smile” series that, according to the author, documents the very universal side of smiling: that which “overcomes religion, ethnicity, class, gender, and language.”
#1
He was standing one morning, outside the open door to a home in an old Hutong neighborhood, near the forbidden city in Beijing, China... So I asked him to smile
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#2
He was walking down the street lined with cafes and bars, as the sun set over colorful Fitzroy, in Melbourne, Australia... So I asked him to smile
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#3
She was with a group of dancers, taking a break from recording a church choir music video on the helipad of the Kenyatta international convention center, while the sun set over Nairobi, Kenya... So I asked her to smile
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#4
He was standing at his stall, in front of the train station one afternoon, as the entire city of Thiruvananthapuram went on a three-day strike in Kerela, India... So I asked him to smile
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#5
She was with a her family, outside their simple home in the village of Gaudium, one rainy afternoon in west Bengal, India... So I asked her to smile
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#6
He was sitting outside a shop one afternoon as I explored the the vibrant and colorful shops and homes on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya... So I asked him to smile
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#7
She was playing with a friend one evening outside the family house in the village of Turtuk, Ladakh, India... So I asked her to smile
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#8
He was walking down a street with a group of pilgrims one morning, as I wandered the ancient pilgrimage town of Dwarka in Gujarat, India... So I asked him to smile
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#9
He was waiting for the traffic light to turn green one evening, as I walked across a busy traffic intersection in Koramangala, Bengaluru, Karnataka... So I asked him to smile
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#10
He was in his dimly lit shop as the sky faded into night in the village of Tharangambadi, as we waited for a bus in Tamil Nadu, India... So I asked him to smile
- You might also like: 50 ‘Weird Facts’ About The World That Might Give You A Fresh Perspective
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