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" Remember when the whole family would head to a photographer&amp;#039;s studio to pose for a portrait? It&amp;#039;s exactly those moments of overly staged family bonding that Mike Bender and Doug Chernack were banking on when they created AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com, a website devoted to embarrassing user-submitted photos. Started on a whim after laughing over their own family pictures, the site was an immediate success, with over a million visitors\u2014and a book deal\u2014only a few days after launching. Since then, it&amp;#039;s grown to 200 photo submissions a day from all over the world, proof that awkward families are universal. Read on to see seven of the authors&amp;#039; favorite shots from their new book, Awkward Family Photos. Punks in Space  This mother-daughters portrait was one of the first submissions Bender and Chernack received for their website. &amp;quot;We just love this one visually,&amp;quot; says Bender. &amp;quot;The juxtaposition of the mom and her kids is great. And one of the best things about studio portraits is the backdrops they use, and this backdrop is amazing.&amp;quot; Dust Storm  One Christmas, this grandmother came across a sale on Dustbusters and decided to get one for each family member. They all posed with their new gifts and took a series of photos of themselves cleaning different parts of the house. &amp;quot;It just combines a great holiday photo with the randomness of the whole family holding Dustbusters,&amp;quot; says Chernack. The Oh-What-a-Feeling  &amp;quot;There are so many things going on in this family reunion photo,&amp;quot; says Bender. &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;ve got the khakis filling up with air, the matching outfits\u2026and there&amp;#039;s something about the group pose that is just wonderfully and gloriously awkward. We love the two people that have their knees up\u2014the show-offs of the group.&amp;quot; Matchy-Matchy  When they first started their website, Bender and Chernack were shocked by the number of families photographed in matching outfits. &amp;quot;We just love the idea that it&amp;#039;s not enough you&amp;#039;re related, you look like each other and you have the same last name. But you all have to wear the exact same outfits to hammer that point home,&amp;quot; Chernack says. The Kiss-Off  These parents were clearly trying to capture the perfect family moment, but instead they ended up with this hilarious shot. &amp;quot;Kids just give the most honest reactions\u2014they can&amp;#039;t hide them,&amp;quot; says Bender. &amp;quot;That&amp;#039;s what makes this picture so funny.&amp;quot; The Rockettes  This is the photo that started it all. When Bender saw this vacation shot hanging on the wall at his parents&amp;#039; house, he knew it was special. &amp;quot;It was my dad&amp;#039;s 60th birthday and he really wanted us to do this Rockettes thing\u2014and he&amp;#039;s doing the full-body turn with the head turn. Classic. But I remember just being in pain. It was painful, and it still is,&amp;quot; he jokes. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m grateful that we were able to make use of this.&amp;quot; Holidays  One of the daughters in this incredible Christmas shot submitted the photo to AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com, but when her parents saw it on the site they weren&amp;#039;t as amused, and asked that it be taken down. &amp;quot;Literally the same day we removed it, it was featured on Time.com. So then it was really out there.&amp;quot; says Bender. &amp;quot;When we told the family they were so cool about it. And then they let us feature it in our book. It&amp;#039;s one of our all-time favorites.&amp;quot; All photos courtesy of Mike Bender and Doug Chernack from Awkward Family Photos. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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