Today, we look at our parents’ old, yellowed photo albums with pleasure and nostalgia. And some blogs have caught on.
My Parents Were Awesome plays on our soft spots for old-fashioned pictures. Eliot Glazer, the site’s creator, wants us to remember that the young people in these photos had a life before they were our parents—they were cool once. Starting in Autumn 2009, the site began collecting old family photos, the site quickly attracted enough attention to merit the release of a book in Spring 2011. Although Glazer might look at these shots with a certain tenderness, others only want to make fun. Mike Bender and Doug Chernack, two childhood friends, had the idea for Awkard Family Photos after seeing an embarrassing photo hung up at Mike’s parents’ house. The site became an overnight success, and now counts more than a million clicks a day and over 200,000 “compromising” photos sent in from around the world. In early 2012, two books of the site’s best pictures have been released, with one dedicated to family photos with pets.
