Say Cheese, Then, Awkward!

The genius of the web is that people (often with too much time on their hands) are always thinking of new ways to put it to good use. And that's true of childhood friends Mike Bender and Doug Chernack who have fashioned a burgeoning career for themselves by giving us a place to put those wacky family photos we'd rather forget about. Motto: Spreading the Awkwardness.

It all began when Bender was at his parents' house and noticed a posed ski vacation photo with his dad and brother that was just, well, embarrassing. He quickly realized that everyone on the planet has similar cringeworthy family photos and faster than a camera shutter, awkwardfamilyphotos.com was born. The website now receives millions of hits daily and submissions from around the globe. On May 4, Awkward Family Photos, the book, will be released by Three Rivers Press with 300 graceless photos.

According to the website, Judd Apatow of The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, arguably the director of some of the most awkward-themed movies of the decade, says, "This is the best book of embarrassing and strange photos of people who look like my family that I have ever seen."

So maybe you never post your own oddball photo, it's all right. It's okay to just look and be uncomfortably reassured. We can all feel just a little bit better that our family isn't as weird as we thought.

Photo courtesy of Awkward Family Photos and video via YouTube.