Totally awkward

Fun new exhibit coming to Temple Railroad & Heritage Museum this summer

May 25, 2023

Oops! These three young ladies almost completely match…almost. The photo is one of 200 images in Awkward Family Photos, a collection of offbeat photographs coming to the Temple Railroad & Heritage Museum on June 30, Museum curator Amanda Martin said today. Exhibit photo

The idea was to create a family photo suitable for a Christmas card, but sometimes the best of plans just don’t pan out. The photo is part of Awkward Family Photos, a collection of offbeat photographs. Exhibit photo

DAVID STONE | OUR TOWN TEMPLE

A photo exhibit coming to the Temple Railroad & Heritage Museum this summer won’t contain a whole lot of educational value, but it does promise to be a ton of fun.

Awkward Family Photos, a cringe-worthy but hilarious collection of images, debuts at the Temple museum on June 30 and will run through Sept. 1.

“It’s going to be a fun and completely silly exhibit,” said Angela Martin, curator of the museum. “Why not? It’s almost summertime, and this is an exhibit we could bring to the community that people likely won’t see elsewhere.”

Get ready for leisure suits, beehive hairdoos and crazy photo juxtapositions that will leave you in stitches.

The exhibit features images from the popular Awkward Family Photos website and book series full of strange portraits, vacation snaps, inappropriate wedding pics and clumsy pet shots. Some of the logic-defying photos will leave you scratching your head.

“Awkward Family Photos celebrates the perfectly imperfect moments that come with the family experience and provides a place for people to take comfort in the fact that their family is not alone,” said Dough Chernack one of the creators of the exhibit.

“The collection includes more than 200 classic awkward photos set in vintage, era-appropriate frames, along with the ‘behind the awkwardness’ stories,” he said.

The Awkward Family Photos concept began in 2009 by childhood friends when one of the buddies noticed a vacation photo hanging in his parents’ house. Realizing there likely were other people out there with their own awkward family images, they decided to create a family place where people could share their offbeat images. The website took off, and was followed by a book and the touring museum exhibit.

Currently, the Railroad & Heritage Museum is featuring The Bikeriders, a collection of 50 photographs taken by daring photojournalist Danny Lyon, who joined a notorious Chicago gang in the 1960s to capture inside images of biker lifestyle.

The Bikeriders exhibit ends June 17.

The Temple Railroad Museum is located inside the Santa Fe Depot, 315 W. Avenue B. Exhibits are open for viewing from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.