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.
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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.”
After you’re done, check out our previous posts with smiling people here and here.
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#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 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
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#3
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
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#4
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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#5
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
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#6
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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#7
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
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#8
He was playing cricket with friends one morning, in the midst of countless other cricket games running simultaneously in the oval Maidan park in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India… So I asked him to smile
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#9
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
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#10
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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#11
He was walking near the Lavander metro station one hazy afternoon in Singapore… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#12
She was sitting behind a stall, as I wandered the dusty back streets of Embu in the eastern province of Kenya… So I asked her to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#13
He was watching as I photographed a group of kids one morning, while nearby villagers watched and laughed in Kakhsar, Gujarat, India… so I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#14
She was sitting with friends in a quiet section of Uhuru park, below the towering buildings that make up the central business district of Nairobi, Kenya… So I asked her to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#15
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
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#16
He was standing outside a house that looked out over the village square in Khonoma, Nagaland, north-east India… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#17
He was standing outside his family compound, promptly invited us in for chai and rotis, as we explored the village of Bel Van in Uttar Pradesh, India… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#18
She was walking with her son one morning, in the residential neighbourhood I was wandering in Dwarka, Gujarat, India… So I asked her to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#19
He was walking down the cafe, bar and restaurant studded street, with a friend, as the sun set over the inner city neighbourhood of Singapore… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#20
She was passing by, as I wandered a park one afternoon with my sister in Shanghai, China… So I asked her to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#21
He was standing outside an ATM on the busy, shop lined, linkin road one afternoon, as I explored Khar (W) with my camera, in Mumbai, India… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#22
She was exploring the peaceful Nan Lian gardens one afternoon, as I wandered the traditional Chinese nature-scape in Hong Kong… So I asked her to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#23
He was walking down a colonnade of covered shops, restaurants and cafes one afternoon, as I felt right at home wandered the streets around ‘little India in Singapore… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#24
She was walking toward me along the busy street, as the sun set over colorful Fitzroy, in Melbourne, Australia… So I asked her to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#25
He was leaving the quiet square outside the Sri Krishna matha temple in Udupi, as I wandered amongst peaceful pilgrims one morning in Karnataka, India… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#26
He was waiting in traffic, as I crossed the street one evening in the Koramangala area of Bengaluru, Karnataka… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#27
He was walking down the bustling banke Bihari temple street during the Janmastami festival in Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, India… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#28
He was standing outside a simple dwelling one humid and overcast afternoon, in Nirdoi, a sleepy village on the banks of the river Ganges, in West Bengal, India… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#29
He was walking toward me, as the sun set over the colorful streets of Fitzroy, in Melbourne, Australia… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#30
She was creating art, perched atop an ornamental bridge within the magnificent west lake gardens one afternoon, in Hangzhou in the Zhejiang province of China… So I asked her to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#31
She was playing with friends outside her house, as her parents watched, on a side street near the Sri Ramanathaswamy temple in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, India… So I asked her to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#32
He was walking toward me one evening, as I explored the outer edge of Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, India… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#33
He was taking a breather with some other badminton players, outside their practice facility near Joo Chiat rd, in Singapore… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#34
He was walking through Uhuru park one afternoon, as workers on their lunch break hustled past others sat on the sturdy green grass lawns surrounding the small boating lake in Nairobi, Kenya… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#35
He was painting a house as I wandered narrow lanes in the friendly and ancient village of Yavat one evening, in rural Uttar Pradesh, India… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#36
She was walking near the long museum, as the sun set over the throng of people lazing on the grass along the west bund, in Shanghai, China… So I asked her to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#37
He was behind the counter of a shop one sticky afternoon, as I explored the colorful streets of Joo Chiat, Singapore… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#38
He was sitting in a small shop one afternoon, along a sleepy street in Krishna Nagar, West Bengal, India… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#39
He was offering his respects with hundreds of other locals, as the vibrant Jagannath Ratha yatra procession passed by on the humid streets of Mayapur, West Bengal, India… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#40
He was walking with friends, as I photographed the residential streets of port Melbourne one afternoon in Melbourne, Australia… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#41
We were driving from Hundar, when we stopped to talk to and photograph him and his workmates, as they labored under the harsh sun making the road to Pong Gong tso lake in Ladakh, India… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#42
He was walking down a street in Raja market one late morning, as the shops slowly began to open in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#43
He was sitting on a wooden bench warming himself in the winter morning sun as we drove through Govardhan town, in Uttar Pradesh, India… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#44
He was walking down a residential street with some friends one overcast afternoon, on the streets of Krishna Nagar, West Bengal, India… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#45
He was walking down Joo Chiat rd one afternoon, as I explored the area with my camera, in Singapore… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#46
He was walking towards me as I returned to my friends apartment near the Yarra river in central Melbourne, Victoria, Australia… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
#47
He was taking a break from cutting wood one morning, as we wandered the sacred hill in Hangzhou in the Zhejiang province of China… So I asked him to smile
Image credits: soiaskedthemtosmile
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