Life, 1923-05-03 · page 15 of 40
Life — May 3, 1923 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This six-panel satirical comic mocks the vanity and poor results of early portrait photography. The narrative follows a man preparing for a professional photograph: 1-2: He anticipates looking dignified, hoping the photographer will touch up his appearance. 3-4: The finished photograph reveals unflattering reality—bags under his eyes, poor presentation—disappointing compared to expectations. 5-6: When confronted about paying $25 per photograph, he realizes he's been fleeced, comparing himself unfavorably to coal miners in appearance. The humor targets both the pretensions of early 20th-century portrait photography and subjects' unrealistic expectations. The joke reflects contemporary frustration with photography's inability to enhance appearance as much as hoped, and photographers' seemingly exploitative pricing.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
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