Why the Long Faces in Old Photos?

An interesting article appeared in Maureen Taylor's Photo Detective blog today. She attributes the fact that so many of our ancestors look unhappy or angry in old photographs partly to the devices that were used to help people hold poses through the long exposures required by Nineteenth Century cameras. As Maureen writes:

Look closely at your early photographs and see if you can spot a posing device such as a wooden stand behind the subjects' feet. This device sometimes extended as far up as the head and had clamps around a person's waist or head to keep him still for the long exposure time. Would you feel like smiling?

There is no shortage of really interesting people who cover this field.