No more smiles around the table

I'd like to propose an end to the around-the-table photograph.

They suck. 

You go to a restaurant for a special occasion, engage in lively and engaging conversation, enjoy good food and drink, and then someone decides that "We need a picture!"

Sure.  That's fine.  But not around the damn table. 

Of all the places that we could take a group photograph, why do we ask people to crowd around one end of the table, bending at impossible angles in order to face the camera and squeeze into the...