Photo fails – the holiday snaps that didn’t make it to Instagram

I think I took more holiday photos this year than ever before and, if you follow me on Instagram, I apologise for that. One of my favourite things about coming home after a holiday is to look through all the photos we took while we were away. This is where I tend to find the awful photo fails and often, rather than delete them, I keep the bad photos because they make me laugh and remind me of a moment I’d otherwise forget – even if it’s not a moment I want to frame and hang on my wall.

With this in mind I thought I’d show you a behind the Instagram-scenes of the trip (although obviously I’ve already done this on my Vlogcation series over on YouTube) sharing some of my very worst holiday photos. There’s something about a complete photo fail that often makes me laugh so, in the context of balancing some of the Insta-perfection, here are a few of the totally awful photos which will never see the light of day apart from in this blog post…

The one that made it to Instagram:

The one that didn’t:

The toddler’s waving around a phallic looking sausage balloon (it was a poodle but she broke it within 2 minutes), I’m grinning like some kind of demented loon and there a load of random people behind us. Not the world’s most awful photo but not worthy of Instagram…

The one that made it to Instagram:

The one that didn’t:

As you can see from the NLM’s face in this photo, he was getting slightly narked. We’d walked out onto this veranda at the robot museum in Nantes and he was a) scared of heights b) sick of being asked to take photos of me for this outfit post and c) annoyed at having a camera shoved in his face. Poor bloke.

The one that made it to Instagram:

The one that didn’t:

This one was taken mid-argument between the seven year old and her sister. Frog took it, which really wound Baby Girl up because she wanted to be the one with the camera. It’s shaky, captures a cross two year old moment and is completely out of focus but just goes to show there were tantrums and angry words on holiday too…

The one that made it to Instagram:

The one that didn’t:

This was snapped by the NLM, as I’d asked him to take charge of the camera for a while so I could push the buggy and get some photographic evidence that I was actually on the holiday too. I’m not sure why he took this particular shot like some kind of sneaky paparazzi (I clearly had no idea I was being photographed hence the nail chewing, hunched shoulders and distracted facial expression) but it made me laugh because it’s evidence of how much the NLM hates being in charge of the camera.

The one that made it to Instagram:

The one that didn’t:

Again, the NLM was in charge of the camera here and obviously thought it would be funny to take a photo of me arse akimbo, riding an inflatable dolphin out to the middle of the lake. I think I fell off it about two seconds later. (By the way – the two year old isn’t drowning in this picture, she does actually have a back float on and is holding onto one of the dolphin’s fins.)

The one that made it to Instagram:

The one that didn’t:

Both these photos were taken within half an hour of each other and, if you look at Frog’s face, you can see how grumpy she was. In fact, I think I wrote on Instagram at the time that it had been the day of our first Family Holiday Row, that famous milestone which most families experience at some point. It involved me declaring I was leaving my family to cycle solo around France because they were all too grumpy. (We made up later that morning over cold Oranginas and icecreams in a pretty French cafe surrounded by Insta-tastic colourful umbrellas!)

The one that made it to Instagram:

The one that didn’t:

Oh where do I begin with this photo? The strange facial expression of my eldest? My youngest’s complete lack of co-operation to have her photo taken? The random guy in pink shorts striding across the background or my slightly forced and exasperated grin? Yeah. It’s not a good photo.

And the rest of the worst:

The two year old winding up her sister. Standard.

The two year old deeply unimpressed with something or other.

The NLM, doing his best “wave to the camera, I’m having a really good time even though I’d rather be sunbathing at the side of the pool reading my book” pose.

And there you have it. Now, tell me – do you keep all your holiday snaps – awful ones and all?!