Clowning About in a Photobooth
From my collection.
Here is a wonder of my world. A clown that loves a photobooth! I actually don’t like clowns very much. They are a bit scary, too noisy and not terribly funny. However, for some reason that I cannot quite fathom, I like photos of clowns and people in clown party costumes. I have many party souvenir photos of clowns in formats other than photobooth strips. None of the sitters could be mistaken for real clowns.
Happily for me, I believe this is a real clown. He takes his job very seriously indeed. The photo above (the only one which I actually own) shows our man in a harlequin style outfit with a big ruffle. In the photos below, taken from the Ebay seller’s archive, he has two other costumes to show off. None of the images are of an extraordinary quality in terms of contrast, sharpness and tone but they are rare in the world of photobooth photos and thus much adored by me.
All these images are undated and originated in the USA, where else?
Another from the series. (I do not own this image)
And another. (I do not own this image)
Photobooth Journal 
these are amazing and terrifying and i love them! i’m so happy to see a post from you pop up in my email – welcome back.
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Thanks Lisa. Having a good day, so making the most of it!
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Red Skelton ruined clowns for all time with his obsession of painting them.
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Just had a quick look at what he did. I so totally agree with you. The revelation may have ruined my former admiration of Red as an actor. They are so horrible, I’m not sure if I can now separate the two entities.
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Katherine, So wonderful to hear from you. I have missed your posts.
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Thanks so much Georges!
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A lovely series of snaps – and it is great to see you posting again! Welcome back!
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Thanks Lemuel. SO out of touch it took me ages to work out how to do it again. Been following your posts at a distance. Glad you are in it for the long haul.
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I agree with everything Lisa says!! x
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Weird how we all find them scary and yet love them!? Thanks for coming by Cousin Xie. xx
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Yay you’re back!
BUT then clowns are super freaky so mmmm maybe I’ll stay away from those pictures
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Thanks Akshay. (You make me laugh!)
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Well apart from the middle image, this clown looks almost approachable. I love that background too. But why are clowns so scary?
And yes, lovely to see a post by you.
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Hi Ziggy. I think they are scary because they hide their real faces… and because they think they are funny, when they are (mostly) NOT!
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That’s it. You’ve nailed it.
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It is a strange and very dated thing to want to dress up as a clown. I wonder what the connection between jesters and clowns – there must be one.
And, nice to see you back 🙂
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Hi Mr E, yes it is dated. I guess clowns and circuses (circi?) have died out together. Re Jesters and clowns, no idea but the commedia dell’arte characters have got to be in the mix there with them both, don’t you think?
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Yes, I think you are right. Interesting how formal the clown look is – there are many rules adhered to around the world, and through time judging from your photo.
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Hide children, hide!
(I would tell them the same thing if it was a priest)
Kat’s back! How nice.
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What a wickedly subversive man you are Mr Fiveson.
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What a wonderful thing to call me. I am tickled!
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I so hoped you would be!
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these are really quite scary… and welcome back!! yay!
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I was following these auctions and wondered who got them! They’re so excellent.
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I missed out on several (too expensive) Was thrilled to get one!
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Hello Katherine, I’ve never seen a Clown Photobooth image before. The second image is quite scary!
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They are most rare, Richard. I was rather thrilled to get the top one.Would have liked them all (I think there have been 8 up for auction, so far) but they are mostly going well out of my price range.
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