Did anyone notice that Emma Watson’s face looked prettier in her recent photoshoot? She showed off her new pixie haircut and if you look carefully, the make-up artist paid more attention to hereyes. Couldn’t they have given her good eye make-up when she had her longer hair? Why only make the eyes more distinctive with her boyish haircut?

The face is something many of us do not think about when we assess people, and especially in those first moments when we meet someone new. The shape of their nose, lips, eyes and overall shape of face tells us something,  which gives us the chance to make a judgement. If you were standing in the middle of Vaclavske namesti, and wanted to ask someone for directions, who would you ask? As members of a community specifically interested in long hair, would we go to the person with 1-2m hair and ask them? Psychologists talk about our skill in knowing who to trust just from looking at their face, or who seems to be dishonest. It cannot be proved of course, but for some reason each of us has this feeling inside of us about who we can trust and who we cannot, and I think the biggest factor is face, not hair. What can anyone say about someone with 2m hair?Erm, ok, they have the patience to grow long hair, but we cannot gain any information, or especially any impression about their possible character and personality.

Do you know the best way to show trust? Lift up the corners of your mouth and smile. Whatever shape your face, a smile has a lot of power, and it is one way to let people feel comfortable around you. One curious habit which I noticed in Czech people is they never smile in photographs. Everyone looks serious – as if they are at a funeral. It’s the same in shops and supermarkets. I remember one game I used to play between myself and whichever shop assistant served me in Globus. Most of them don’t smile, and when they were scanning my groceries I would make eye contact and start smiling at them. They probably wondered why I smiled at them, but I found it funny and guaranteed after a few minutes they would smile with me.

When I photograph someone, I try to capture their natural smile. It’s nice to tell a joke, or do something to make them laugh, and if I am lucky the camera records their smile. Take a look in my gallery and you will only see natural smiles. Everyone I photographed laughed or smiled in the exact moment I captured their facial expression. I enjoyed it because every smile is different. Their face became brighter and they had a warm glow ; as if they looked alive, not like some dead depressed zombies. The time to frown and look serious is when we lie in our coffin, but I remember seeing some dead bodies in hospital which had smiles on their faces and it made me think their last moments must have been happy.

Due to the nature of this community, we are making more assessments and impressions of each other than other communities which are not so photograph-based. We don’t need people to trust us, but isn’t it nice to show a good impression when we stand in front of a camera, or even when we attend some little meeting? As one of my favourite villains said in a film : “Why so serious?” Smile, and the world will smile with you. That is my motto.