With the warmer weather, you may be taking beach-portrait pics or other summery family snapshots, to be proudly displayed in pretty picture frames. But what about the awkward family pics? Those are the ones everyone really wants to see, it turns out: The creators of the wildly popular website Awkward Family Photos recently released a new book that debuted at number three on the New York Times bestseller list.
The website, created by high school pals Doug Chernack and Mike Bender, gets tens of thousands of visitors daily and 6,000 photo submissions each month. In an interview with Today, Chernack explained how the concept was born:
"It started out with a vacation photo my mother hung up in our house....I was very confused about why she would hang it up because it was an awkwardly painful memory for me. Doug and I were out to lunch that week, and Doug said he had a ton of those photos. We thought, ‘What if we could create a place on the web where people would feel comfortable sharing all their uncomfortable family photos?’ ”
The site favors older pictures (because they're harder to digitally alter) of scary Easter bunnies, shirtless dads, and families in matching pajamas. They keep it clean -- for the kids! -- and will always take a photo off the site if it an unwitting family member discovers it and gets offended.
Do you have a horribly hilarious awkward family photo? Chime in below!
PLUS:
- 11 Father's Day gifts he's been hoping you'd get him
- How much is everyone else paying for childcare? See our poll!
- 15 free (or almost free) kid-friendly summer activities
