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Monthly Archives: October 2011

My Dad

October 12, 2011
My Family in Photobooths
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David, 1994

This is my Dad, David.  As with my Mum’s photo, this was taken for an international drivers license in 1994.  Neither of my parents are all that fond of getting their photos taken but Dad is definitely the most reluctant.  He is a voracious reader and keen gardener, producing vegies and other comestibles year round.

Earlier this year I coaxed both Mum and Dad into a digital booth at Chadstone shopping centre.  I wouldn’t say there was a lot of moaning, but their reluctance was verging on outright refusal, until a deal was struck to make sure the visit included coffee and cakes.  It was a major victory for me to get them into a booth after a 17 year gap.  I will be posting the results one day soon.

My Mum

October 12, 2011
My Family in Photobooths
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Margaret 1994

This is my Mum, Margaret.  The photo was taken in 1994 for an international drivers license for her first trip overseas.  Sue was living in Dublin and I was just back from France when we met up with Mum and Dad in London.  Now 82, Mum is still a working violinist, teaching four afternoons per week.  She is also involved in many local musical projects and concerts, along with my Dad, David.

Shaky Sue

October 12, 2011
My Family in Photobooths
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14 January 1999

January 1999, Cheltenham, Victoria

This is my favourite strip of photos of my sister Sue and probably my all time favourite photobooth photos.  There is something about the movement in them all and the pixie-like impishness of the last photo that really appeals to me.  It was taken in an old black and white photobooth at Southland shopping centre when Sue was 5 months pregnant with her son Calvin Patrick.  It was our third outing to find me a bridesmaid dress for her forthcoming wedding to Tim Meaghan. I am not sure who was being fussy, Sue or me, (or both of us) but we still hadn’t found one at the end of this trip.

Leslie in the Dark

October 11, 2011
Vintage Photobooth
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Leslie

Leslie, Actual Size

Despite or due to (I’m still uncertain) the effects of time and the vagaries of the chemical processing of an automatic machine, I still love any booth photo. It intrigues me to find the odd and obscure products, like this one, that have survived so many years in such ill health.

This picture of Leslie was at the bottom of a box of larger photos in a second-hand market in a small town in the wilds of Arizona.  It looks to me, to be a photo from the 1930s. It cost me 25 cents.  You can only really see the image if it is tilted on a certain angle towards the light.  It is much clearer, even in the thumbnail scan, than in real life. I couldn’t even make out the name until I enlarged it.  Remnants of hand colouring can still be seen, so one presumes the poor chemical mix and almost opaque darkness was not evident until much later in its history.

Good looking and well dressed Leslie is a mysterious, romantic figure in this image. Who was he?  As Lisa from The Long Way Home blog (a good blog to check out, by the way) has said, in a comment on another post, “Wouldn’t it be wild if one of the people in the photos found the (image) on the ‘Net?”  In this case it would probably be too much to hope Leslie was still with us, but maybe a relative might accidentally come across this?  That really would be wild.

A Visitor and Another Journey

October 10, 2011
Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)
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Liarne and Kate 1993

July 1993, Spain

I left Guatemala and returned to London early in July.  Within days of my arrival back at my Holbrook haven, I had news from a friend in Australia, Liarne Corke, that she would soon be in the UK. A few days after her arrival in London, we bought cheap flights to Spain, hired a car and explored the southern coast for a week. Liarne and I had met as a result of sharing the same ex-boyfriend.  Our beloved Ricky-TP has the unusual trait of staying friends with every girl he has ever gone out with. We are both still good friends and Rick, too is still a very important person in both our lives.

This photo was taken in a photobooth that was on a back street, near the edge of a steep decline, in front of a row of homes.  We were in Arcos de la Frontera in Spain.  It is the only time I have managed to get Liarne into a booth, so far. It was also the first time, in adulthood, that I had been photographed in a booth with someone else. It has also turned out to be the earliest uncut strip in my collection.  All in all, a very special strip of photos.

Photomatic Prices

October 9, 2011
Photobooth News, Vintage Photobooth
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Some months ago I was sent an email from Ebay for the day’s listings of photomatic photobooth items. These two darlings were listing as a buy it now for $9.99. I immediately clicked on the link to make a purchase but the items had been removed. They had been re-listed as two separate auctions. The first one sold for $70.99, the second for $92.00. Needless to say I was not the winning bidder on either lot. It made me very happy about the wee, wee prices I have paid for my many treasures. I bet the seller was thrilled!

Photobooth Photo Prices

October 9, 2011
Photobooth News, Vintage Photobooth
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Ebay Sale October 4, 2011

Since the time I started buying photobooth photos online, the prices have gone up and up. I am occasionally amazed at how high a price will go.  I can see why this photo is desirable, as it is quite old and very unusual, but $153.50? My feeling is that the competing bidders had money making projects in the works.  Will this photo eventually appear in an exhibition or book?

Coffee Banana Volunteers

October 8, 2011
Other Passport Sized Photos
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Antigua Guatemala 1993

Moana. October 22 1993

March 1993, Finca de San Cayetano

Moana and I were so happy doing Spanish lessons, enjoying the friendship of and social activities with other travellers and with our teachers, that we decided we would not venture out to explore the rest of Central America but spend our whole time in Guatemala.  I stayed for 6 months.  Moana stayed for over a year, eventually working as office manager for the Cervantes School. We took weeks off from our studies to travel and explore the region,  but always came back to Antigua for our lessons and to see people with whom we had made friends.

Towards the end of my stay, Moana and I did one month’s volunteer work at a child care centre on a struggling coffee and banana plantation. It was owned and managed by indigenous Guatemalans under cruel opposition from other non-indigenous farmers. There had been raids where their equipment had been stolen or damaged beyond repair, and a level of fear that was evident in their need to make armed patrols of the grounds every night.  The groups of foreign volunteers were there, in essence, to provide an extra level of security, for the many families that lived and worked on the plantation. Each day, we played games with the children, made things with them, taught basic literacy and had a lot of fun.

Another Guatemalan Visa

October 7, 2011
Other Passport Sized Photos
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13 February 1993

February 1993, Antigua Guatemala

Moana and I were settling into a daily routine at the Cervantes School in Antigua, where we did our Spanish language lessons.  Initially we boarded with separate families in order to, we hoped, encourage us to speak less English.  We found that each of our families had up to 6 foreign students at a time.  The only language we had in common with our fellow boarders, who came from all over the world, was English.  We quickly gave up the idea that we would progress better if we lived apart. Moana joined me where I was staying and we walked to the school together to start lessons at 8 am each day, finishing at midday.  At some point we decided to take our daily walk home via an uphill detour to El Cerro de la Cruz, a lookout above the town with a magnificent view of the volcano, Volcán de Agua.   The first few times the steep track nearly killed us.  By the end of my 6 months there, we tripped up with little exertion.  I think neither of us had been, or have since been, fitter.

Once again no photobooths were in evidence in Latin America but yet again I needed an id photo.  After only 4 weeks in Guatemala, Carlos, the director of our school advised me to start the process of getting my visa extended. I still had two months to go but he had experience with the ins and outs of the immigration department and thought 8 weeks early, wasn’t early enough.  This photo was taken at his insistence. I was not pleased at his nagging, as I had just had a home-made haircut from a new English friend Justine and additionally was suffering from a nasty coldsore.

As it turned out Carlos was right and the nightmare of getting the visa extended only ended after 3 or 4 trips to the capital, long waits in multiple queues per visit, payments for paperwork, further payments for stamps, finger-printing and finally, a small bribe. I received the official documentation in my passport  just two days before I was due to leave. In all it took me five months to get it sorted.

The L Magazine

October 6, 2011
Photobooths in Print
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The L Magazine Photobooth Cover

The L Magazine Centre Spread.

While searching through storage boxes on an unsuccessful quest to find a group of missing photobooth photos, I discovered this magazine I had kept as a souvenir of a trip to New York.  I am always on the lookout for anything related to photobooth photographs, from badges to adverts, articles, anything.  I was thrilled that this free edition was out on the streets of the city at the time of my visit. I also loved that it focused on my favourite old-style chemical booth pics.