Okay, they’re not daguerrotypes, but if you enjoy awkwardfamilyphotos.com I found the cutest set of awkward family photos from before 1930 (although I have my doubts about the time period on the Weekie Watchee mermaid.) Some of them are adorable, some of them I don’t get why anybody would find them awkward, and too many of them have creepy-ass dolls and puppets.
Awkwardness aficianados will note early armshelf, props, and height lineup.
Number 5 is a player.
#11 and #13 are so full of gay. When I use the term “gay”, I don’t mean the definition that the word had back in the era when those photos were taken.
#20 is kind of cute.
#3 is a neat photo, despite the “vagina as clown car” theme.
I want to give poor 8 a hug. (One assumes his name is Harry - much more awkward if it isn’t, though.)
12, the women have this look on their faces, all “My god, I begged and pleaded and he STILL wore that goddamned coat.”
I think the women in 21 are hostages.
Hahah, check out the kitten in #2. Poor thing looks like it was lost and had despaired of ever seeing the light of day again!
So’s 25.
Hell, so’s 14.
The guy in photo #1 wasn’t actually there when the picture was taken. He is believed to be Theodore (Petey) Pally who was lynched in 1893. He was an axe murderer but also known as quite the prankster and shows up in lots of their family photos in goofy poses.
#5, right side: What’s that kid doing with his hand?
#16: Is that a young Oscar Mayer?
I get that feeling on nearly every photo of women from yesteryear. There were some exceptions in this collection, but they usually look like torture victims from some gulag. My sister in law has her husband’s parents and grandparents, and both women look like they want to swallow a handful of cyanide.
#4 - the tall woman on the right - doesn’t she look like she hates her life? Cheer up, it can’t be that bad!
I wouldn’t doubt the kid in 8 was from Wisconsin and a circus family.
Half the of pictures are not bad. I don’t see pictures of people in bulky clothing as bad.
I think #3 is actually kind of cute.
Whoa. It starts off rather mild and just rolls downhill from there, doesn’t it?
1: Two more seconds of exposure and that would have been an action shot.
2: I HAS A BEARD
6: Creepy.
7: Left: Yo, Chunky G in tha house! Right: I’M A BOY, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?
8: Afterward, he spent a great deal of time on a couch talking to a bearded man about his mother.
9: (mother) I WILL EAT YOUR SOUL.
11: Sean Penn and Dennis Quaid: The Early Years.
15: Cat or kid: Which is creepier?
16: I don’t know what that thing he’s holding on to is, and I don’t want to know.
17: Looks more 50s or 60s to me.
18: W. T. F.
20: Dog or girl: Which is OH GOD SHE’S COMING AFTER ME.
21: WAT.
22: LAWDY LAWDY LAWDY.
23: Shari Lewis and Lampchops’ ancestors?
24: Sander Cohen?
I bet he lives in the beard and goes everywhere with his beard daddy. I think it’s sweet.
Harmonious Discord - even the ones with the creepy dummies?
I think the reason it’s funny is that I’ve spent too much time on Awkward Family Photos, and it’s hilarious to see the exact same silly photo poses in family pictures from the turn of the century, is all.
Yeah. And 14 looks like the southern point of that moon is… not where the sun shines!
I actually have a photo I love of my great-great-grandmother. The expression on her face (even clearer on the physical picture, that scan isn’t great) is just full of mischief.
What’s with all the creepy dolls? There are TONS of them!
I think #11 might be among the earliest work of Robert Maplethorp.
