Is It a Good Expression?

That question—the title of this post—was asked in an instructional video presented by a successful photographer. He was going through a list he uses to evaluate images: the making of them, along with the finished product.

It’s an interesting query that should perhaps be more widely applied. What if we were to ask ourselves “Is it a good expression?” when we get dressed in the morning, when we post to social media, when we’re weighing whether we should utter what’s on our minds?

Then again, we could ask the question of others: is his appearance a good expression of who he is? Is what she’s saying truly indicative of what she thinks, or is she emotionally vulnerable right now? Why would anybody share something like that with the world?

Could it be that face value is actually worthless?