Hilarious photo series captures 'imperfect side of parenting'

Photographer Danielle Guenther wants parents to remember those "pull your hair out" moments.

"Life moves at a tremendous speed once you have a child, and all of those little crazy moments will be soon be forgotten."

So Guenther created a photo series to reflect those moments called "Best Case Scenario."

Guenther, a photographer and mother living in New York City, knows those moments all-too-well. She told ABC the story of such a time:

The story has a happy ending, as Guenther and her son were soon reunited.

"I laugh so hard about it now," she said.

Guenther told ABC she thinks every parent can relate to her "mom fail" and that, although her son turned out fine, it was quite a chaotic few minutes.

"That statement you hear all the time once you're a parent, 'You will NEVER believe what happened today!'" Guenther said, "I believe it. It's THAT moment I want to share."

Though individual photos were inspired by stories like those, Guenther said the "Best Case Scenario" series was inspired by a moment during another shoot on the job, when a model slumped onto a couch to portray exhaustion. She posted it to her Facebook page and got a positive response for her depiction of the "imperfect side of parenting," so she decided to run with the idea.

Shooting the series was a lot of fun for Guenther and her models big and small.

"They really get into it," she said of the children in the photos, "and so do the parents!"

And, inevitably, real chaos broke through the staged chaos.

"On a recent shoot, a sibling started to fight with his brother on set, grabbed the umbrella we were using as a prop and started bonking him with it," she said.

She let it happen, briefly, so she could capture the true-to-life moment, as that's what the series is about, she said.

In the wake of the popularity of the series, Guenther said she's getting requests from parents to create a photo that captures their family's unique chaos.

"I'm so excited that families are starting to reach out to me asking to create an image that speaks to them," she said.

Photos used with permission from Danielle Guenther Photography.
See more of Guenther's work on her Facebook page.

Do you have a story like the ones in these photos? Tell us about it in the comments.