Awkward Family Photos | Why You Should Partake

Awkward Family Photos is a big hit

I’m a big fan of surrealism in everyday living. By that, I mean that I am a purveyor of the odd and the unusual. I believe that almost any moment can be heightened by a dash of lunacy and a pinch of silliness, delivered with the utmost seriousness. Always keep them wondering, keep them wanting more. That’s what Awkward Family Photos does for me.

We’ve all been there, haven’t we? Captured on film at the wrong moment (I’d say perfect), showing the world our pride, vanity or out-and-out tomfoolery. Awkward Family Photos is the naked lunch, head-of-a-pin moment for us all. It’s the instant payday loan of lunacy, served fresh.

Make that clenched face…

… like when you had to come up with a lot of collateral for a secured loan. That expression could be on Awkward Family Photos!

Matthew Moore reports for the London Telegraph that the Awkward Family Photos blog just started, but it is already drawing over 2,000,000 visitors per day. Not surprisingly, publishers are talking book deals. Harper Collins, Penguin and Time Warner Books have all come forward to express interest in releasing an Awkward Family Photos book after the site was recently featured on Gawker and Boing Boing.

The premise – awkward family photos with amusing captions – has struck a nerve. Perhaps millions of us have suffered in shame for having such awkward relatives. Perhaps we too have suffered before a photographer’s cloth pastoral scenery. The people on Awkward Family Photos have lived to tell, and it is delightful.

Family ties that gag

The family ties that bind are a rich vein of comedic moments. Witness a recent family portrait entitled “The Choker.” Everyone is smiling. A willowy lad is standing behind his mother, hand wrapped around her throat. Dad sits idly by in his dog collar and shorts. The caption reads: “This is what happens when your male role model is both a priest and a gym teacher.”

Awkward Family Photos co-founders Mike Bender and Doug Chernack hope that their Web site will become a “communal celebration of awkwardness.” Humiliation was not their intention, but as I see it, people need to lighten up. If you can’t have fun with family, stop the world. I want to get off, and I’m taking my instant payday loans with me.

Loans world secured sense of whimsy

The first photos displayed on Awkward Family Photos were submitted by friends and family of the founders. They’d been lifted from elsewhere on the World Wide Web. Now that the idea has taken off, a flood of reader submissions has come in, proving that we are all exhibitionists and voyeurs at heart. It is our heart’s fondest desire – and greatest fear – to be exposed. Doing the Watusi in mashed potatoes at that moment in time is expected. I would wear open-toed rubber shoes and dance.

“Our fear was whether or not we’d get submissions, but people have been sending them in like crazy. and they really seem to get it, because the majority of photos are great,” said Bender. “I think there is something kind of cathartic for people about sharing the oddness of their families.”

Contrary to popular belief, however, no all frosty nuggets sent to Awkward Family Photos make it to publication. But rather than describing it to you myself, I’ll allow Bender to convey his feelings on the matter: “We had one woman send in a photo of her during a water birth. She thought it was awkward. We were disturbed.”

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