Why is This Popular?

What's with everyone having their portraits taken on railroad tracks? Does anyone else find this fad totally disturbing? For example, Newborn portraits....why? What possessed the mother to lay her baby on the train tracks and have his picture taken? Postpartum depression?

Graduation pics are another baffling example. My guess is that the average student graduating in 2012 has never taken the train in his/her life....with the exception of big cities, but we're not talking about the subway. Nooo...nobody is having their senior pics taken on the subway. They're on a rural train track out in the middle of nowhere, and they've chosen this spot to represent their arrival to adulthood. With train tracks. Cuz that's realistic.

And while we're being realistic, why not traipse on down to the tracks in your wedding gown for some bridal shots. To me, these say, "I'd rather throw myself in front of a train than get married, today."

Anyway, why the railroad tracks? Someone please help me out here. I don't look at a train track and see, "Let's cherish this moment forever..."

I see, "...or at least until the Union Pacific charges through and kills us all."

I admit that I am a terrible photographer, so maybe I am not artsy enough.
I get that you need some kind of background, and that society is moving away from the "stand in front of the fireplace" backdrop that has served the holiday card gods for the past 50 years. I mean, if you see a cool bridge, group of trees, or the texture of a building would make a cool background, I'm all for that. But the railroad tracks...I just don't get that one.

And while I am glad that long gone are the days of the matchy matchy denim shirts and khaki pants family pictures, there are still some new trends that I just don't understand:

"Barefoot and pregnant... and freezing because I'm standing in this river."

and the bridal shot variation of this same picture:
"We're getting married and got in the river with all our clothes on because there's nothing like standing thigh deep in wet jeans and kissing to say, 'Hey! Come to our wedding!'"

another common family picture:
"Our family lives in the city, but we thought this old barn was cool, so we are standing in front of it for our Christmas card. Plus, it was right there, conveniently next to those cool railroad tracks we drove out to post on for our school pictures.

"We went to the beach to stand in the ocean and hold hands and jump. And we all wore white."

"We don't wear shoes when we take walks through urban alleyways"

and the worst photo prop fad:
"Hey look! It's our bed! It's randomly plopped down in the forest! Let's have a leaf fight and jump on the mattress!" Now, I do understand the bench, chair, and even the sofa (The Cranberries officially made that one cool in 1994) as part of the photo shoot. I mean, if people've gotta sit down, might as well use a beautiful furniture for seating.
But a bed? This makes no sense to me. Veto.

Don't get me wrong, if you live near the tracks/farm/barn/ocean/lake/river/bridge/alley/orchard or if it has some kind of significance in your life, well then...go right ahead. It makes total sense for you to pose there. (Except the railroad tracks. I don't understand that one at all, unless it's for comedic purposes. If it makes me laugh, it's ok.)

It's the country hippie people that pose on a city roof top, or the city people that pose on a cattle fence. It feels like misrepresentation...at least for the photo that goes out to x amount of people in the "this is what my life is like" annual card. Am I wrong?

Feel free to chime in here, with your opinion....especially those of you who take pictures.

Hmmm...I know you are all dying to see OUR family picture this year, now, so you can make fun of us and get even. Fair enough. Except we haven't taken ours yet. We're waiting for the perfect opportunity, and searching for the right spot.

Like on some railroad tracks that go through the ocean.
Top that one, cool people.