{"id":9426,"date":"2026-06-16T18:34:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T18:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/?p=9426"},"modified":"2026-06-16T18:34:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T18:34:26","slug":"photographer-doesnt-force-young-girls-to-smile-in-photos-and-the-results-are-powerful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/?p=9426","title":{"rendered":"Photographer doesn\u2019t force young girls to smile in photos and the results are powerful"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cAllow girls to show up, take up space and not smile if they don\u2019t want to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The expectation to put on an air of happy, fun, pleasant nonconfrontation through baring teeth<\/a>, otherwise known as smiling<\/em>, is something many, if not most, women know very well<\/a>. What\u2019s more, this pressure is often introduced to women at a very early age<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, obviously, while there\u2019s nothing inherently wrong with naturally being a happy, smiling person, issues arise when kids are taught that being themselves, just as they are, isn\u2019t acceptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why people are so impressed with North Carolina-based photographer Brooke Light\u2019s (@bdlighted<\/a> on TikTok) hands-off approach when it comes to taking pictures of young girls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her philosophy is simple, but oh so poignant: Allow girls to show up, take up space, and perhaps most importantly, not smile if they don\u2019t want to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Light posted a video<\/a> showing some of her recent portraits, and truly, the work speaks for itself. Each of the girls\u2019 distinct, unique personalities shine in these black-and-white images. Plus the lighting is moody and artsy and cool as hell. So much better than a forced, cheesy, smiling pic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a look:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Comments began flooding in commending Light for how she authentically portrayed the girls as individuals, rather than producing cookie-cutter images of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love how they are not trying to be anything \u2018extra\u2019 just their own raw and savage selves,\u201d one person wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another added, \u201cI can feel their power through my phone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Light redirected the praise toward her clients, saying, \u201cThey are even more amazing in person! Like that vibe you feel is ALL THEM. I\u2019m just there capturing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many women who had their own memories of being told to smile for photos<\/a>, seeing the images had a profound effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCHILLS! This healed something in me. Thank you.\u201d one person commented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Sears family photo trauma was REAL\u201d wrote another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for the record, Light doesn\u2019t make boys smile either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In the post, Light shared how touched she was by the overwhelmingly positive response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never had my creativity or my photography validated so much in my life. Thank you for the outpouring of love on these photos this week. It\u2019s meant more than you can ever know,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine that\u2026celebrating others for their authentic selves, then being celebrated yourself. Now that\u2019s something worth smiling for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAllow girls to show up, take up space and not smile if they don\u2019t want to.\u201d The expectation to put on an air of happy,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/721454590_1488504936643826_5739033623925390640_n.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9426"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9428,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9426\/revisions\/9428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}