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SALT LAKE CITY — A spontaneous smile for a TV camera at the end of the LDS general conference in April has gone viral with the image of Australian Dan Smith being made into posters, faux magazine covers and several video replays on YouTube.
While some have bristled and called the two-second smile disrespectful, the majority of the conversation online sees that unexpected moment more like when a movie maker plants a surprise at the end of the film credits for those who stay clear to the end.
I noticed on the two big screens at the side. I saw the back of me head and I'm like, 'Is that me?' So I shook my head a bit, then I turned around and smiled at the camera. I thought that was the thing to do. It was all spontaneous.
–Dan Smith
In Smith's case, the moment came after the conclusion of 10 hours of weekend general conference sessions.
In a video interview with LDSfriends.com, Smith said he was in the church's Conference Center for the Sunday afternoon conference session and saw the back of his head on two huge TV monitors just after the meeting had ended.
"I noticed on the two big screens at the side. I saw the back of me head and I'm like, 'Is that me?' So I shook my head a bit, then I turned around and smiled at the camera. I thought that was the thing to do," he said. "It was all spontaneous."
A still image of that moment is now Smith's profile picture on Facebook. The image has been made into a faux cover of the church's Ensign magazine. LDSFriends.com is having a field day with the image, letting visitors to the site add captions to a mock-up in the format of a motivational poster.
Most of the posters poke some fun at Smith's spontaneous, somewhat out-of-focus image with captions like: "Mormons — A peculiar people; some more than others" and "Mormons — Not your mom's idea of seeing you with the Prophet."The latter is Smith's favorite so far. Being from Australia, he doesn't relate as much to "Did someone say Jimmer?" or "He obviously went to the U."
LDSFriends.com co-owner Paul Wilson said visitors hit the site like a tsunami because of the poster campaign. "The first day we shared our general conference posters, our site traffic went up by 2,000 percent. The second day we saw a 14,000 percent increase from what we normally get in a single day." The video interview with Smith came well after the poster campaign was under way.
Did Smith have any idea the image would be so popular? "Absolutely not," he said, adding that he had no idea the images broadcast inside the conference center were also being piped outside the building.
Smith had been sitting with his parents when the smiling moment happened. Did they think it was funny? "Dad did. Mom told me to get out of the way of the camera."
One YouTube commenter said: "I love General Conference so much and get so much out of it that I always experience a hint of sadness when it's over. The grinning face on the screen totally took care of that! We replayed it three or four times, laughing our heads off. Thanks for a beautiful moment! All my best to you."
Smith's Facebook profile has identified him as "Smiling Guy at General Conference" and has samples of the posters among his pictures. He lists himself as a "Public Figure."
Email:sfidel@ksl.com
