yes so serious!!

A very sophisticated gathering Brandy.

very serious ... nice

anybodies guess.seems so many pictures of people in the early days of photography they were always with such serious if not mad looking expressions.I do not recall seeing anyone smile

Hehe! She is probably in pain in that tight bodice. They were told not to smile as the picture took quite a few seconds to expose.

Wonderful picture!

So very neat hun, I love these!!

AmaZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzing old photograph! Soooooooooo much can be learned by just looking at an old photograph such as this one! It's like instant time travel!

The sneer could possibly be from hard work and hard times too and if I may add the undergarments they wore in those days. Ha! This is a great photo and I wonder what they're occupations were.

Brilliant. love old photos.

really serious indeed !! beautiful this sepia style!!

The old stuff is often the best sometimes-The old guy at the back look's blind ?

Great capture of this old photo!! It evidently was not fashionable to smile back then. LOL!!

I really like the vintage mood here!

I always try to imagine people in antique photographs wearing modern clothing. It is difficult with men wearing long beards and women with the old, tight hairstyles of their day. This has got to be from the last half of the 1800s. Have enjoyed this look at the past with you.

You've done a wonderful job on these!

it makes you wonder if they ever laughed back then, life I think was a lot more serious back then. nice work my friend

Ha ha yes but they are NOT serious. They are staying very still and waiting for the very slow shutter of the day. The exposures times were loooooooooooooooooooooong! It's easy to hold this pose than to keep a smile perfectly still! That's why the first street scenes where often, well, almost empty of people. It wasn't that the streets were empty, but that they blurred into nothing as they moved due to the slow shutters of the day. Check out the work of someone like Eugène Atget.

Even with faster shutter speeds, I've noticed a serious look is always there. A possible explanation is that in those days having a photo taken WAS a serious business and costly, so I suspect photographers were quite stern with their clients. I'll bet they were all laughing right after the shot...well, okay, maybe not! I can't imagine more uncomfortable clothing!

VERY NICE

It would be most hard for me not to smile. :))))) So I think it was best that I was not born back then. LOL!!!! I love the dresses the ladies are wearing. :))))) Most excellent capture and most beautiful work my friend. :))))) Thank you for sharing this beauty. :))))) Carry A Smile In Your Heart :)))))))

Another great photo and work! blinkings is quite right. At first, the picture (blueprint or daguerreotype) needed a long exposure so that only the dead could be photographed. They were the only ones who could sit still as long as the exposure lasted. Then increased the sensitivity of the emulsion (the equivalent of our ISO)and one could be able to photograph living humans, provided they were motionless. If you blink, your eyes in the photo was empty, like the ancient statues, due to the sweeping movement of the eyelids.Now think: How many time can you hold a natural and sincere looking smile?

wonderful series

Very serious look, well except for the one you mentioned on the right. Wonderful old photo!!

A very interesting group and I can't imagine the row of buttons and the high collars on the ladies. They look Amish! A wonderful look back in time an a great restoration series by you.

GREAT photo, dbm!

I love old photos. I'm amazed at how many people do not understand why they were not smiling. It took many seconds of holding perfectly still, or the photo wouldn't turn out. These needed much longer exposures than today's cameras do.

I love old photos and family history. My mom has gathered together photos and family histories from her family and my dad's and is making a book for each of her four daughters. It's great to look at images of your ancestors and know their names, how they are connected to you, and if you are lucky, a little bit about them. It is a connection with the past and with all of humanity. We have copies of courting letters of my father's parents and also copies of letters between a pair of my ancestors during the American Civil War, when he was a Confederate soldier, and sick in a camp in North Louisiana. He died of dysentery, leaving her with a small child and a baby. It amazes me that history can be so dry and boring in school, when it is the stuff of humanity. Stories of people just like us throughout the ages. Excellent job, restoring this. It looks even older than the others, more like the Civil War era. Look at this image of Clara Barton in 1865: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Clarabartonwcbbrady.jpg Of course sometimes fashion in the rural areas stayed the same for longer periods than the fashion in the urban areas. I see two of the people here that look more friendly even with the difficulties of standing still for long exposure times. The lady standing on the far left, looks kind, though tired, and the gentleman standing on the right, has friendly eyes. Lovely old photos, Brandy, I have enjoyed seeing them a lot.

This is really a gorgeous old photo my friend, excellent work!