It started with an awkward family photo from a skiing holiday that one US man shared with the world.
PHOTOS: Awkward family photos go global
Fast forward 20 months and that same man, Mike Bender, has picked through 80,000 similarly cringe-worthy snaps sent to him from families around the world hoping to be featured on his website, Awkward Family Photos.
The California-based 35-year-old launched the site in April 2009 "as a fun side project" with a childhood friend and within a week it had amassed one million hits.
"It's become sort of a full time job," Mr Bender told ninemsn.
"It always blows me away, that these uncomfortable moments that happen are relatable to everyone."
The website has inspired a book, a spin-off site (Awkward Family Pet Photos) and a TV show in the works by the producers of cult show Arrested Development.
But there is one photo that keeps making headlines around the world.
It is of a 1970s Californian family celebrating Christmas wearing Santa Claus hats and not much else (see photo above).
When asked about the photo, which features some tactfully placed large leaves and a coconut bra to protect the family's modesty, Bender laughs and says: "It was a different time then, people were a little more free" .
Bender said the family snap was genuine and he had the original copy to prove it had not been digitally altered.
"When we got that photo we thought, is it real?"
Bender said the photo was sent in by the family's father whom he guessed was "a bit of a hippy".
Bender said he receives 100 to 150 photos a day and has developed an eye for images that have been altered.
"To Photoshop something convincingly is hard," he said.
Most photos on the website are similar to those you can find in your own family albums, Bender said.
"The naked Christmas photo is probably the most extreme. Everything is really meant to be a celebration of awkwardness, not mean-spirited.
"We do get a lot of photos that we can't publish because they're too bizarre … like a woman in the middle of a water birth or strange funeral photos."
Bender hopes to dedicate a whole book to awkward photos from family holidays.
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