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A collage of family photos.

Shannyn Weiler, a Utah-based interior designer, has sparked a debate on TikTok after urging people to exercise caution when displaying family photos in their homes. The discussion started a debate over whether a home should be decorated for visitors or the family itself, and if having a “shrine” dedicated to family members is tasteful.

The video began with a stitch from a designer passionately saying that one should “never" display “personal photos” in the living room. “So family photos can become a problem when they become what I refer to as the shrine,” Weiler begins the video. She shared an example from her life to illustrate why family photos should be hung judiciously.

“I got married when I was 21,” she shares. “We were both in school, absolutely broke, we had $50 to buy a couch, so imagine what type of couch that was. We went to go decorate our first apartment and lo and behold, there’s no money for decoration. So we do what most newlyweds do, we use our wedding photos, because we’re so cute and we’re so in love and we just love our wedding day. Everywhere in our apartment was wedding photos… it felt like what I call ‘the shrine.’”

“It’s very real. This also happens if you have one baby, and you might have baby photos taken and it’s the shrine to the one kid,” she continues. “This also happens if you have one grandkid.

@shannynweiler

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Weiler believes that people should hang artwork or photography about more than one subject. “They can’t just be on every wall with one subject,” she says. “We need to mix it up. There needs to be a mirror in the space. We need some Etsy art prints or something like that. We just need to mix it together to get rid of that shrine feel.”

The post bothered many who love having pictures of their family around the house. The vast majority of commenters were people who love having family photos strewn about their homes. "The house is for us not company," Sarah Murdock, the most popular commenter, wrote. "I’d rather have pics of my kids and our life up than prints of random flowers and art," Ty Harman added.

"I grew up in an interior design magazine and HATED that my mom never displayed any photos of my family. Felt like she cared more about material things," Alexandra DiGiovanni wrote.

family photos, interior design, taste, class, style, home design, photos, family photosA wall of family photos.via Stacey Rackley/Flickr

Others noted that people decorate their homes for themselves, not for guests. "OR we do what we want with the homes WE live in, not guests," Ergot wrote. "I like myself, I don't have a problem seeing myself everywhere. After all, I paid the bills," Gege Chic added.

Some people agreed with the interior decorator and said that having too many family photos in a house looks tacky.

"YES. Photographs of ourselves in my own house feel so weird to me. Narcissistic kind of Jamiecakes wrote. "I don't have a single photo of a person in my house. I think they look tacky," C wrote. "One friend's house comes to mind for me, it was tacky (for me) to see nothing but wedding pics. Like, do you have other interests? Just my opinion but also, they’re divorced now. Mixing in art helps," _sigred added.


Even though the post received a pretty sizable backlash, Weiler’s opinion is widely accepted in design circles. “To us, having too many portraits of yourself on display in your home is kind of like having a tattoo of yourself on your own body. It can come off as vain and tacky,” Sarah Han writes at Apartment Therapy.

Woman's lifestyle blogger, Joanna Goddard, asked herCup of Jo readers if it was tacky to hang family photos in the living room, and she received similar responses to Weiler. Some were passionately for it, while others were passionately against it.

"I have always felt like it was bragging to have family pictures in the 'public' areas of my home. However, in the bedrooms I have nice family pictures. If someone is close enough to me to be in the bedrooms they probably know my family. It certainly isn’t that I’m not proud of each and every one of them, just a pride that I don’t care to display to casual acquaintances," Bridget wrote. "I think people should be able to have whatever they want in their homes. I have family photos throughout my house and don’t care if it’s trendy or acceptable. My house my choice! Do what you want in your house," Jean added. After her thoughts on family photos went viral, Weiler posted a follow-up video where she shared an example of a student changing their mind about home decor.

“Sometimes in design, we hear the design ideas and go, 'Mmm nope, that's not for me.' Sometimes, we try those ideas and we still say, 'Nope, that's not for me.' But occasionally we try things and we go, 'Okay, I do kind of like that,’” Weiler concluded her video.

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This article originally appeared last year.

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Meet the teacher who's trying to turn gunshots into camera shots.

His movement is a step away from gun violence and a step toward peace.

This teacher found a brilliant way way to respond to gun violence ... through a camera lens.

Photo by Yasin Osman/#ShootForPeace; all images used with permission.

Yasin Osman has lived in the crime-rattled neighborhood of Regent Park in Toronto, Canada, all his life and is thus all too familiar with gun violence. He's seen friends shot before his eyes and says most locals have had at least one friend or relative shot dead.



As Yasin grew up, he also grew tired of hearing the same gun-related stories over and over again. He wanted to find a way to change the conversation from one of fear and hate into one of art and creativity.

Yasin began a project called #ShootForPeace — an idea born out of a weekly excursion he took with kids from the neighborhood, several cameras, and the goal of teaching how to take great photos.

Photo courtesy of Yasin Osman.

As a local early childhood educator and professional photographer, Yasin was the perfect person to lead this charge.

The project started because of a conversation he had with the kids about Instagram, Yasin told Upworthy. 

"A few of the kids were asking me about my Instagram photos one day. They had very specific questions like 'How do you blur the background?' and 'How do you take a photo of a moving car?'" he explained. 

"What sparked the idea for #ShootForPeace was because of how interested they were in the technical aspect of photography."

He formed a photography group made of 12 kids between the ages of 8 and 16 and started small — photographing Regent Park — but they quickly branched out to the surrounding neighborhoods, areas many of the kids had never even seen.

Photo by 16-year-old Ali Shali.

"The first week we had class, kids couldn't wait to get their hands on the cameras. They wanted to shoot everything, especially the CN tower. It was very inspiring," recalled Yasin.

The idea was to get the kids to see "shooting" as a creative outlet rather than a destructive one.

Photo by 10-year-old Adam Elisar.

The classes are simple enough — they usually meet on Sundays and head to a predetermined spot where Yasin gives the kids a photography challenge. 

Photo by 12-year-old Mutada Abdelkarim.

Not only is Yasin seeing the kids' enthusiasm for photography grow, he's noticing they're becoming truly gifted "shooters." 

For example, Mumu (short for Mutada), one of his youngest students, came to class not even knowing how to turn on a camera and would often take photos with the lens cap still on. Now, he's schooling some of the class' most esteemed photography mentors.

According to Yasin, when Charlie Lindsay (a well-known NBA photographer) came by one of the classes, he tried to explain to Mumu how to photograph a ball in mid-air without a blur only to be startled by Mumu interrupting him, "[you change the] shutter speed!" 

"Charlie's face was priceless," Yasin recalls. "He looked over at me and said, 'How old are these kids and how are they shooting on manual already?'"

Yasin just laughed and told him the kids were geniuses. 

The best thing about the class is that it's just as rewarding for Yasin as the teacher as it is for his students.

"My favorite thing is seeing the joy on their faces when they take a shot that they like and how eager they are to show one another. They remind me every Sunday why I love photography," said Yasin.

If this sounds like a project you'd like to bring to your own neighborhood, Yasin has some sound advice:

"Talk to the kids. Don’t start anything until you consult them and ask them what they’re interested in," he says.

Photo by Yasin Osman.

Yasin fervently believes #ShootForPeace belongs to his students just as much  — if not more — than to himself. 

Their ideas about how the class should be run are vital to its success, he said, and giving them ownership over the class means they'll give it their all when they show up, and the beautiful shots will keep on coming.

Photo by 13-year-old Houzayfa Zene.