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DRAPER — Mike Allen woke up at 6 a.m. to two text messages from friends saying he was on the front page of Reddit.
The father of two posted professional photos of him with his two daughters on the website at about 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 1 with the comment that he was "embracing single-parenthood by getting the family pictures I always wanted." While Allen slept, the retro ski-themed photos gained traction online.
"Waking up, I'd forgotten I even posted them on there," he said. "By the time I got the girls ready for school and went into work, it had gone... crazy. By noon I was getting emails from all of the places asking if different websites could run the pictures and stuff."
Allen's photos — which were taken by his friend Chad Braithwaite — and story were featured by sites like BuzzFeed, The Huffington Post and Cosmopolitan. He said it has been entertaining to watch the coverage unfold online and his daughters think the whole experience is funny. One of the things that has surprised Allen the most is how positive all of the comments have been.
"I've read a lot of good messages from people saying they want to do something like that, and a lot of guys who have recently got divorced reaching out," he said. "That has been really, really cool to have that type of interaction with people."
The photo shoot was the first time Allen had taken professional family photos with his two daughters, ages six and seven, since he got divorced. At first he played with the idea of doing a Great Gatsby themed photo shoot, but landed on the 1980's ski theme with the help of friends.
"I knew I wanted to do something in a studio because I don't want to be the typical family that goes out in the fall foliage with sweaters by the river," he said.
Initially the two young girls didn't want to do the photo shoot, according to Allen. He said their mom is a photographer, so when they were married the family took a lot of traditional pictures together. The girls were worried that people would laugh at the themed photos because they are unusual. However, as soon as they saw the positive reactions to their ski outfits in the studio, the girls started to have a lot of fun and realized they could do whatever they wanted since it wasn't a serious shoot.
Braithwaite said he loves it when people come into his studio with fun, creative ideas.
"It turned out even better than we hoped," he said. "Mike and I have already started brainstorming our next idea… we accidentally set the bar really high with this portrait — the next one will have to be even better."
Allen said the photos are the perfect representation of his daughter's personalities. They've already hit the slopes together four times this year. The family also regularly goes rock climbing and mountain biking together.
Out of everyone, Allen's mother might actually be the most excited to see the family photos. Allen said she has been bugging him to take professional photos and loved the results. He also received a lot of positive feedback from friends who came across the photos while browsing the Internet, some of whom he hasn't talked to for years.
"I was actually going to do a Christmas card, which is not my thing," Allen said. "Now I don't have to do that because everyone has already seen them."
