Our Awkward Family Photos

Drew has this thing for a website called Awkward Family Photos. He turns to it for laughs after stressful days, and looking through other people's most awkward moments, documented on film and uploaded to the internet for the world to see, does wonders for his perspective. There are some definite recurring themes on the website. Among the naked, pregnant women (and sometimes husbands, too), themed family portraits, and the always reliable horrible wedding poses, you'll find lots of pictures from the 70's with cheesy, individual portraits overlain on a hazy, romantic silhouette of the couple. So, inspired by all of the awkward people on Awkward Family Photos, Drew decided that we should spend Family Home Evening this week creating our own version of the 70's my-head-inside-your-head shot. Here's what we came up with:

Original background photo taken by the wonderful Callie Beale Photography.

And here are a few out-takes:

With the benefit of digital images, the awkward ones are generally deleted these days, meaning that most of the photos of our little family probably wouldn't win any awards on Awkward Family Photos (there is, of course, a renowned Hall of Fame). However, we have plenty of snapshots in our immediate, larger families that would definitely make the cut. In fact, they're so abundant on our computers that Drew and Lori have recently embarked upon a joint, homework avoidance venture - creating a Facebook album titled The Barnes' at their Finest: Awkward Barnes Family Photos (you'll have to log in to see those gems). While it might not be so nice to derive such immense pleasure from other people's most awkward moments, I think it's quite healthy to learn to laugh at our own. After all, every family experiences plenty of awkward. At least the honest ones do.