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People Submit Their Most Awkward Family Pics To This Instagram Account, And Here Are 50 Of The Funniest Ones (New Pics)
Full disclosure, Pandas, I feel incredibly awkward most of the time when someone’s taking my picture. It’s anticipating the flash and worrying about whether I’m not looking too goofy or too serious that messes my head up. Don’t get me wrong, I adore photography, but I still don’t have the confidence to look cool in photos. Awkward, silly, though? Sign me up, I’m your guy! I’m a natural at these!
Awkward photos are somewhat of a constant on the internet and in real life. Childhood friends Mike Bender and Doug Chernack saw this and created the ‘Awkward Family Photos’ project. What started out as a simple blog back in 2009 has since then ballooned into a multi-million-member project that celebrates the most awkward, uncomfortable, cringy, and simply downright-fun photos of family moments.
We can guarantee that these photos will boost your mood and make the wait for that wonderful thing called the weekend pass in a heartbeat. As you scroll down, remember to upvote and comment on your favorite awkward family photos. And if you feel like you haven’t gotten your daily dose of Vitamin A(wkwardness) yet, feel free to check out Bored Panda’s first article about AFP right here. Tons of nostalgic awkwardness and weirdness below, let’s not keep them waiting any longer!
Mike, the co-founder of AFP, told Bored Panda that the project has, at its core, always been the same throughout the years: "A celebration of awkwardness especially as it relates to family. We are still laughing 'with' and not 'at' people. We have built a community of folks who are comfortable enough to laugh at themselves," he said.
Meanwhile, photographer Dominic Sberna gave Bored Panda his perspective about confidence in front of the camera lens, how to feel more relaxed when having your picture taken, and what professionals can do to help their subjects feel less awkward. Scroll down for his thoughts on the topic!
More info: AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Game 1 | Game 2
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I Took My 2002 Senior Year Photo With My Bird, Jeff. It Made The Yearbook. Ten Years Later, I Caught Him Reflecting On Our Long History. Sentimentality In Its Truest Form
RELATED:
#2
This Old Picture Of My Great-Grandmother, Far Left, Makes It Look Like The Cameraman Just Stumbled Into A Secret Meeting Of The Grandmas
#3
So My Mom Sent Me One Of My Baby Pictures
#4
This Is A Picture Of My Brother. The Photographer Was Trying To Get Him To Look At The Camera And He Snapped His Fingers And Accidentally Scared My Brother- Perfect Timing
#5
This Is A Picture Of Me When I Was 12 Days Old
#6
Here Is My Sister Jan’s Graduation Photo In 1968 At 18, And A Redo That We Did In 2014 At 64
#7
I'm A Father To A 5-Year Old. Glad I Made The Cut
#8
I Was 45 Minutes Into Family Pictures With Two Hungry And Crabby Kiddos. Nothing Was Good. The Photographer Asked Me Five Times If I Really Wanted To Buy The Pics And I Said Absolutely Yes. This Was My Most Popular Christmas Picture Ever
#9
This Pic Is My Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister And Her Husband, Me And My Demonic-Looking Son. This Family Portrait Was Taken In The 80s…we Were Really A Scary Crew
#10
My Dad Used To Swing Me Around In A Tiny Garbage Can And It Was So Much Fun. I Didn’t Know It Was Weird Until I Asked Around And Found Out That No One Else’s Dads Swung Them Around In Garbage Cans
Mohsie Supposie 4 years ago
Who cares if other dads didn't swing them in garbage cans? Yours did and you loved it and that's what counts!
#11
Unfortunately, It’s Me. I Took Dance In High School. Don’t Regret Taking Dance, Just The Picture
#12
Just Thought I'd Share This Old Picture I Found Of Me And My Dad
#13
Found This Old Picture Of My Dad From Back In 1976
#14
We Were Having A Great Time At My Wedding
#15
The Moment My Eldest Met Her New Baby Sister
#16
I Photographed My Sister-In-Law’s Wedding (My Husband’s Sister). I Knew The Window Overlooked A Part Of The Hotel’s Roof, But I Didn’t Notice The Workers Until After I Snapped A Few Pictures. When I Got Home And Downloaded All The Pictures, I Couldn’t Stop Laughing When I Saw This. Lucky For Me She Has A Good Sense Of Humor And Allowed Me To Share It With You
#17
I Looked Over 40 But Was Actually 12
#18
This Is My Only College Graduation Picture
#19
This Is A Family Portrait From 1987. I Just Love The Contrast Of The Punk Rock Kids, Coupled With The Wholesomeness Of Mom And Daughter. It Brings A Smile To All Of Us, And We Want To Share The Photo On Your Website
#20
That Time I Went To School As Humpty Dumpty For Nursery Rhyme Day, But Ended The Day As A Ballsack
#21
I Asked My Parents To Do A Family Photo With Me And This Was The End Result. I’m A Very Festive Person
#22
This Beaut Of My Uncle, Aunt And Cousins Was Proudly Displayed In Their Home For Years
#23
Here’s My Mom And Dad In September 1970. This Was Always My Favorite Photo From Their Wedding Because It’s Just So Cornball. You Have To Give Credit To The Photographer For The Picture Of My Dad In The TV. This Was Years Before Photoshop, So I’m Not Sure How The Heck He Pulled This Trick Off
#24
I Just Wanted A Nice Vacation Photo
#25
My Dad (Sitting In Bench, Right) With His Rock Star Wedding Party In 1987
#26
I Won A Cutest Baby Award At A Local Health Foods Store And This Was The Photoshoot That I Won. Thank You, Mom And Dad
#27
We Were Trying To Get A Family Photo Including Our Two Friendly Chocolate Labs
#28
This Is Of My Older Sister, Perfect In All Pictures, And Older Brother’s Gigantically Chubby Head. The Photographer Thought This Was The Best Picture Of The Whole Shoot. My Mom Thought It Was Hilarious And Horrifying, So Of Course She Bought It
#29
Another Win For The Panoramic Camera Function
#30
My Friend Mike’s Rock Star Mullet When He Was Two Years Old In 1989 In Fairbanks, Alaska. I Think It’s One Of The Best Photos On Earth
#31
I Made My Cat A Work From Home Set Up
#32
For My Daughter’s 12th Birthday Party, We Made Masks Of Her Obsession, George Michael, For All Of The Little Girls. Didn’t Realize How Scary It Would Look When They Pulled Them All On At The Same Time
#33
This Was Taken In 1990, Alberta Canada. Can You Tell My Mom Used To Do My Dad’s Hair?
#34
Here’s My Old Breakdancing Crew, The Suburban Street Rockers, In 1985
#35
Our Daughter Wanted To Throw Rocks Not Flowers At My Cousin’s Wedding
#36
This Is My Family Christmas Card From 1999. I Was The Angel
#37
My Sister Dumping Me Out Of My Stroller In 1994. This Perfectly Sums Up Our Relationship As Children
#38
When I Was In 6th Grade, My Two Older Sisters Were Popular And Had Big Hair, And I Was An Awkward Kid So I Thought I’d Be Cool For A Day. I Went To Town On The Aquanet Hairspray. I Used Almost Half A Can To Get This Big Bang As Tall As I Could. The Photographer Literally Had To Take A Step Back To Fit My Hair In The School Photo And I Really Don’t Know How He Kept A Straight Face
#39
This Is The Way My Mother Found My Sister Sleeping. In Her Pajamas She Has A Puppet, A Stuffed Monkey, A Stuffed Seal, Two Blankets, And A Watch
#40
This Is My Husband And Four Children. We Asked The Kids To Sit Down With Dad To Get Their Pictures Together, But My Daughter Didn’t Want To Be In The Picture, So We Said, “Okay, Just Stay Over There.” I Started To Take The Picture And She Got Even More Upset For Being Left Out Of The Picture. As You Can See My Husband Was Also Annoyed!
#41
Took My 3rd Son To A Photographer For His Baptism (Which Was 1 Year Late Due To Covid) And They Went A Little Over The Top With The Green Screen Backgrounds
#42
This Was My Senior Picture And My Mom Thought It Would Be A Great Idea To Pose With Some Of My Cabbage Patch Collection Of Dolls. For Some Reason, I Decided To Go With The Sultry Look. The Rest Is History As You Can See
Craig Prins 4 years ago
....(Turn around) every now and then I get a little bit terrified And then I see the look in your eyes (Turn around, bright eyes) every now and then I fall apart (Turn around, bright eyes) every now and then I fall apart And I need you now tonight.... Hahahaha!
#43
This Is Me With My Younger Brother, Our Grandparents, And Our Father In Hot Pants. Circa 1985, Australia
#44
Circa 2016 At Knotts Berry Farm With My 2 Younger Daughters
#45
My Dad (Left) Shortly After He Emigrated From The Soviet Union To Chicago In 1980. Sorry Ladies, He’s Married To My Mom
#46
I Very Much Enjoyed Being Tucked Into A Bag And Carried Around By My Dad
#47
This Photo Of My 6 Month Old Brother Was Taken On My Second Birthday. Apparently My Siblings Thought It Would Be Hilarious To Tie Balloons To All Of His Limbs And My Parents Were Just Like, ‘Whatever.’ He Was The Eighth Child, So I Guess By Then Nothing Mattered
#48
My Mom’s Friend Dressed As A Clown For My Parents’ Wedding Day. Nobody Knows Why
#49
Me, Sophomore Year In High School In 2002
#50
When I Was A Senior In High School, I Was Obsessed With Mountain Dew. I Would Have Like Six A Day, Any Size. There Was Never A Time One Was Not In My Hand. So For My Senior Photos, I Thought It Was Going To Be A Great Idea To Make A Throne Of Mountain Dew To Sit On. I Went Out The Morning Of My Photos And Bought Six 24-Packs To Build My Throne. It Took Me A Few Weeks To Get Through All Of It. It’s Hilarious Now Because I Don’t Drink Mountain Dew Anymore
Esmée Ayres 4 years ago
Actually looks pretty awesome! Well done for going with your obsession 👏
#51
Our Grandma Used To Not Only Give My Sister And Me Mullets In The 80s, She Would Then Perm Them. Matching Permed Mullets. Need I Say More?
#52
I Did Glamour Shots When I Was 12 And Chose The ‘Divorcee Who Is Taking Back Her Life’ Package
#53
Our Family Vacation At Long Beach Island, Nj And We Wanted A Nice Family Photo. Our Daughter Wasn’t In The Mood So We Were Swinging Her Around To Cheer Her Up
#54
My Wife And Two Sons After I Returned From A Fishing Trip With The Catch
#55
My One-Year-Old Son Likes To Peek Into My Home Office Doors From Time To Time Just To Smile At Me. Doesn't Say Anything, Just Stands There And Smiles Until I Acknowledge Him
#56
In 1980 My Mom Won Free Photos At A Mall In Vancouver. My Mom Had To Beg My Dad To Go But He Didn't Want To And Said He Wouldn’t Spend A Dime If They Ended Up Not Being Free. But Once They Got There My Dad Ended Up Upgrading And Spent $100 On The Deluxe Package
Craig Prins 4 years ago
If Tom Hardy and Patrick Wilson had a baby who grew up to play a serial killer and this is the movie poster
#57
1981… My Mum Thought I’d Be A Good Model For One Of Her Wigs
#58
Me In The Late Eighties, Timeless Class
#59
Classic Post-Soviet Photoshoot At School. They Dressed Me Up As A Character From A Russian Fairy Tale And I Sat There Smiling Waiting For Them To Shoot. And Then The Photographer Said, 'Don't Smile, You're Dressed As The Princess Who Never Smiled!' And So I Went With My Most Disappointed Facial Expression Ever. My Parents Decided We Needed A Calendar
Wonderful 4 years ago
I had to look it up on wiki: The Princess Who Never Smiled, The Unsmiling Tsarevna or The Tsarevna who Would not Laugh[1] (Russian: Царевна Несмеяна, Tsarevna Nesmeyana) is a Russian folk fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki There was once a princess who never smiled or laughed. Her father promised that whoever made her smile could marry her, and many tried, but none succeeded. And more on wiki. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Who_Never_Smiled
#60
My 80s Rockstar Parents And Me Looking Like A Marionette
#61
My Parents On Their Wedding Day, Vancouver 1986
#62
For Thanksgiving They Asked My Son What He Was Thankful For
#63
I Was 11 Going On 41. Glamour Shots At Their Finest. I Remember Being So Proud Of My Hair While Walking Around The Mall, And Everyone Looking At Be Because I Was So Beautiful. I Look Like I Have Two Volleyballs On The Sides Of My Head
#64
Back In The 80s, Being A Single Mom With 2 Jobs And Having To Improvise A Halloween Costume With No Budget Wasn’t An Easy Task But My Mom Managed To Pull It Off. Luv U Mom!
Blacksheep Backsheep 4 years ago
Thats a great mom knowing she tried despite the circumstances
#65
When The Photographer At My 8th Grade Dance Asked Why I Brought My Board Instead Of A Date, I Told Her 'Skate Or Die'
Tobias Rieper 4 years ago
looks like the main character of an 80s action movie called skateboard cop
#66
I Wasn’t Allowed To Have A Dog Because My Sister Is Allergic With Asthma. So I Raised An Emu That Stayed In Our Suburban Backyard Of Denver Co
#67
I Feel Obligated To Share This Photo Of My Parents In The 80s
#68
I Liked To Take Naps With My Plastic Potty. My Parents Told Me I Literally Carried It Into Bed And That The Plastic Potty And I Had A Special Bond
#69
When My Son Hopped On The Bed And His Elbow Nailed Me Right On My C-Section Incision
#70
New Orleans 1997. Let’s Just Say I Was A Shell Of The Man I Am Today
#71
My Daughter Fixed Her Cousin's Barbie After The Head Popped Off And Would Not Reattach
#72
The Perfect Haircut Did Exist. Me, 1975
#73
This Is My Oldest Brother. When He Came To The States , His First Obsession Was Rock & Roll, Followed By Big Hair
#74
This Is A School Photo Of My Older Sister From 1988. The Monstrosity Upon Her Head Is Reflected In Her Expression. The Lasers In The Background And Applique-Roses Sweatshirt Only Add To The Epic-Ness
Jayne Kyra 4 years ago
With those large eyes she has face like a doll! Nowadays people photoshop their eyes to look like that.
#75
My Mom Loooooves Jason Momoa, So For Mother’s Day I Surprised Her With A ‘Life Sized’ Cutout Of Him. Apparently She Liked The Present
#76
My Brother And I Took A Pony Ride At The Whaling City Festival In The 80s And The Pony Ride Operator Had Swagger
#77
This Is Me, My Brother And My Mother On A Disney Cruise Ship In The 1980s. It Was Called The Disney Big Red Boat And I Had A Sharkskin Suit
#78
Back When My Wife Went To Get Our Christmas Tree From The Attic. I Told Her Not To Step On The Drywall. She Later Admitted She Didn’t Know What Drywall Was
#79
My Dad Had A Medical Procedure The Day Of My Prom And Was Out Of His Mind On Pain Killers When My Mom Insisted That I Pose With Him Before Prom. I Like To Think He Would’ve Put Down The Hose For The Pic If He’d Been In His Right Mind, But In All Honesty It Could’ve Gone Either Way. He Has No Memory Of Taking This Photo
#80
Our Loving Mother Scheduled Our Youngest Sister’s Wisdom Teeth Extraction On Her Sixteenth Birthday. Here She Is Celebrating Afterwards. Cake, Anyone?
#81
My Dad, His Brothers, And Their Mullets
#82
This Is My Little Sister In 4th Grade. My Mom Took Us To Get Our Pictures Made, And My Mom And Sister Thought It Would Be A Great Idea To Add The Trolls Into The Mix. As You Can See: Awkward Gold!
Memere 4 years ago
Oh, I have the troll in the red dress & cap! She's Mrs. Santa Claus, and was my mom's - for some reason, Mom loved Mrs, Santa & bought it for herself. And she never let any of the grandkids play with it, so it's in great shape. I nabbed it when we were clearing out Mom's things after she passed away back in 1998.
#83
Glamor Shots Came To Ridgecrest California When My Brother And I Were 9 & 10 So My Mom Brought Us For A Session!
#84
This Is Me And My Mom, Circa 1982. I Was An Extremely Picky Eater As A Kid And Each And Every Meal Was A Battle. I Don’t Think My Mom Got To Enjoy A Single Meal Between 1976 And 1985
#85
My Daughter's Preschool Photo. Not Sure If She Was Sick Of Pre-K Or Just Hating The Dress? But You Gotta Love The Matching Crayon Hair Tie
#86
My Wedding: August Of 2004. In What Has Become Known As A “Family” Thing, Men From His Side Shed Clothes As The Night Goes On. This Is Me And My Husband’s Uncle About Halfway Through Our Reception At A Local Restaurant/Bar
#87
My Mom Just Wanted A Nice Picture In Paris
#88
Who Doesn’t Enjoy Being Lazy?
Final score:
31points
Francesca Bizzell (Submission author) 4 years ago
Getting home from gymnastics he would take her down to her mum in a towel as a clean present once all the chalk and grazes were taken care of before bed.
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