Ask people to describe a smile, and typically you hear about mouths – that the ends curve up, that a big grin shows teeth, etc. It's funny, though, because while that happens, that's not really where we smile – or show anger, grief, amusement or any other emotion. It's our eyes that tell others what we're feeling. It's how we can discern fake smiles from real, and teasing from genuine anger. Without words, our eyes reveal cowardice or confidence.

In this shot, the girls are unquestionably smiling real smiles. Forced grins would have been invisible, camouflaged (pun intended) by the masks, yet because we see their eyes, we're reminded that even amid COVID, we find ways and we find joys. We don't need to see their mouths to see their mirth in this moment.

English novelist Samuel Richardson said, "Where words are restrained, the eyes often talk a great deal." In a still photo, words are entirely restrained, so eyes do all the talking.