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Monthly Archives: May 2014

Kids and a Camera in a Photobooth

May 31, 2014
Vintage Photobooth
9 Comments

This is the type of picture that everyone who collects photobooth photos wants to own and will be willing to pay a high price to get.

photoboothKidsWithCamera

The above photo of two young chaps posing with an Imperial box camera, was highly sought after on Ebay. As most often happens, I was unable to compete with more highly cashed up collectors when it went up for auction early last year.

Judging by the black paper background, I think this photo was one from Broken Heart Gallery, the shop of Albert Tanquero who did a guest post for me last month.

It is a standard photobooth print size of 40 x 55 mm.

The International Photobooth Convention 2014

May 31, 2014
Photobooth News
6 Comments

IPC 4x6- SCREEN

The International Photobooth Convention presented by premier photobooth website  Photobooth.net, will be held at A&A Studios in Chicago soon. It runs from , June 6-8, 2014.

Organisers for this year’s convention include Tim Garrett, Brian Meacham, Anthony Vizzari and Meags Fitzgerald, whose new book I recently reviewed.

Details of the programme are below. There’s a good balance of events for photobooth artists, technicians, vintage photo collectors and for the general public. All are welcome to attend. It kills me that I won’t be there!!!

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Photomaton Geant – The Giant Photobooth in Paris

May 28, 2014
Photobooth News
6 Comments

This photobooth is, in essence, a giant outdoor advertisement for McDonalds “Come As You Are” promotional campaign. Photomaton is the original company name for many of the world’s photobooths and is the generic term for the booths in France and other European countries.

The interactive booth is situated at La Defense in Paris. The  “Come As You Are” campaign focuses on the values ​​of diversity, acceptance and the spirit of hospitality. The booth has a touch interface which offers the public an opportunity to take pictures that are integrated directly into the campaign visuals on a giant screen. As you can see from the video, the participant receives a large printout of their photo from the booth and can also receive the picture via email.

The video was only posted 24 hours ago on the production company’s Vimeo page, so it is possible it is still up and running. Any readers in Paris able to pop over and check it out? Let me know what you find.

Book Review – Photobooth A Biography

May 23, 2014
Photobooths in Print
8 Comments

Cover Image-Photobooth A Biography- WEB

I have been accused by many of being overly obsessed with taking photos in photobooths, having amassed hundreds of strips, taken over a period of 40 years. Some have said my dogged desire to track down and buy books about photobooths, photobooth artists and the history of photobooths is a strange compulsion. However my passion looks more like a passing fancy when one reads of the intense and personal relationship Meags Fitzgerald has with the subject in her newly released, first book Photobooth – A Biography.

In this non-fiction graphic work, Fitzgerald weaves the story of her developing and ultimately all-consuming love for all things related to photobooths, with the history of the invention of the modern chemical machine, its rise in popular use, popular culture, art, and business. The demise, and possible extinction of the once endemic machines is also documented in a staggeringly personal and emotional roller coaster of a story told through illustrations laid out in blend of bande dessinée, manga and modern graphic novel styles.

meags - Nakki Page copy

Her personal journey is expertly woven into and becomes part of the story of Siberian immigrant to the USA, Anatol Josepho’s efforts to invent an automated photography machine, his success, the spread and development of his idea and the fate of the machines. While it is a formal examination of the subject, personal observations and anecdotes written in the style of a travel journal, (for she travelled extensively to do the research for the book) make the work far more interesting than a standard history of any subject could be.

Meags (pronounced “Megs”) has produced richly detailed drawings that highlight her skill as a designer and artist. There is a theatricality in the illustrations, layout and design of the book that shows an influence from her love of improvisation theatre. Her  background in performance theatre is also seen in her photobooth stop-motion films in which she performs.

Sample Pages- Nostaglia2- WEB

She includes interviews with artists, small business owners, technicians, enthusiasts, authors and promoters of all things photobooth, who also have a dedication to using and preserving the machines that use the “dip and dunk” chemical technology. She also documents the many different types of photobooth machines that have existed and their different types of output and looks at the technical side of owning and maintaining a chemical booth.

She communicates a gentle and self-effacing humour about her obsession with photobooths yet, at times, there is a level of despair at the inevitable fate of the machines. The book concludes with a grudging acceptance that she is unable to stem the tide of change, but also with hope that the passion we in the photobooth community have for our subject, will see a different life develop for the machines in the future.

Photobooth – A Biography was published by Conundrum Press, Canada and is available in bookshops worldwide and from online booksellers.

Here are some links to more posts about Meags Fitzgerald on Photobooth Journal.

Authors Portrait- WEB

Two Old Birds In A Photobooth by Ted Strutz

May 21, 2014
Photobooth Stories
6 Comments

Last week I published two strips of photos from Ted Strutz in the USA. It was accompanied by a witty history of their creation. The success of that post lead to an idea – would he be willing to write a short story about one of the strips from my collection?

Below Ted has used his creative writing talents to illuminate the booth images, below, using two of his favourite characters Ethel and Cheryl.  They do so look like an Ethel and a Cheryl don’t they? Please enjoy his story…

IphotoboothTwoHappyLadiesSeniorPower

TWO OLD BIRDS IN A PHOTO BOOTH… A Drabble

“Cheryl!!!” (said in a whisper)

“What???” (a whisper back)

“What am I supposed to do?” (still whispering)

“What the hell are you talking about, Ethel?  Why are we whispering?” (a little louder)

“I’ve never done anything like this before.  (still whispering)

“Stop whispering, dammit. It’s a photo booth for God’s sake!!! What did you think we were doing?” (increasing louder)

“I know it’s a photo booth, Cheryl! I’ve just never done it before. Where do I look?” (normal tone)

“Here, where it says ‘Put Eyes At This Line’!!!” (very loud)

“Now what do I do?”  (normal voice)

“SMILE!”

a light flashes…

 Please click HERE to see the original post on Ted’s blog where you will find many other stories and more of the adventures of Cheryl and Ethel.

If anyone else would like to write a small piece using some of my photobooth photos (chosen by me, emailed to you) as a prompt, please get in touch!

Tattered and Lost – Vernacular Photography

May 20, 2014
Photobooth News, Reblogged Photobooth
11 Comments

Tattered and Lost Vernacular Photography blog is run anonymously by an imaginative, dedicated blogger, who also publishes books on vernacular photography. There is an element of fun in most of the posts, a lot of social history and some melancholia. Through keen observations and sometimes, lateral thinking, the commentaries on each photo reveals something more about American life, past and present, than might have been clear at first glance.

Evidence of the author’s vital imagination oozes from this blog, no more so than in the Time Travelling Celebrity category, which recently featured a photobooth photo of a gentlemen who very closely resembles the British actor Alan Cummings. (Click here to see original post). The author supposes that Alan has slipped into a time machine and whizzed back to 1940s USA, recording the adventure in the photo, above.

I love the concept of this series. In my mind there is a connection between a photobooth and Doctor Who’s TARDIS. They are of similar size and form and one can enter into each and then close out the rest of time and space. They are both “bigger on the inside” – one’s intentions and imagination creating the illusion of this, in the case of the photobooth. Finally they are both vehicles of time travel. The TARDIS can travel infinite distances through space and time. Photobooths work more slowly, sealing a fragment of time on paper,  a moment that moves with the rest of us at a minute at a time, hour by hour, day by day.  (See my photos in the category Photobooth Time Machines).

colorful Lil_tattererdandlost

There are more photobooth photos to be found on the blog, like the one above, and there are many more to be found in the archive link, here.

Below are two more notable examples. I hope you will visit Tattered and Lost Vernacular Photography and enjoy exploring  what you find there.

young love_tatteredandlost

mellow yellow_tatteredandlost

Keep Outta My Booth! or If Looks Could Kill.

May 17, 2014
Vintage Photobooth
21 Comments
photoboothUSAgirls01

A happy, private moment of shared friendship…

photoboothUSAgirls02

…interruptions will not be tolerated.

What a face! What happened to cause this look of utter disdain? Obviously some stupid grown-up was trying to interfere!

These two standard sized photobooth photos came from the USA and are undated. They look to me to be from the 1930s. Photographically they are not the best quality that a booth of this era was able to produce, but the sweetness and comedy of this pair of snaps make them a highly prized addition to my collection.

A Commissioned Work By Damian Michaels

May 14, 2014
Photobooth Art
24 Comments

In February last year I did a post about Damian Michaels whose altered, photobooth self-portrait I had purchased on Ebay a few weeks earlier. As a result of that purchase and an admiration of his work, I decided to commission him to alter one of my photobooth strips. The finished work can be seen below along with the original strip. photobooth11:08:2009No.3 I was very pleased with the results. My favourite image being the last of the three. Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment, below. You can find out more about Damian and his work by following the links below.

  • At Raw Vision, Colin Rhodes writes about Damian's underlying creative processes.
  • Damian's Flickr Photostream where you can see more of his altered photos and other works.
  • His facebook page
  • and Damian's website where you can buy copies of his publication Art Visionary magazine

Tattoo Man – Part Four

May 13, 2014
Tattoo Man Series, Vintage Photobooth
6 Comments

photoboothTattooManSeries04

This is the final photo that I have of USA, Tattoo Man and his partner. Probably the least exciting of the lot. I wasn’t able to find this photo in its original context, so below you will see three more low resolution strips from the original sale, just for fun.

He appears to have had a great time creating this lot, especially so the first strip! Having been made around the turn of the century, I cannot imagine what circumstances allowed this collection to end up for sale on Ebay so quickly, but I am glad they did.

photoboothTattooManPart4Edit

Ted’s Photobooth Story

May 12, 2014
Vintage Photobooth
18 Comments

Cheryl and Ted

One of the more exciting, and for me, unexpected aspects of being a blogger is the amount of enthusiasm and generosity that comes to my inbox out of the blue and from all around the world. I have recently started following a blog by Ted Strutz of Friday Harbor, Washington State in the San Juan Islands, USA. The blog is called TedBook and has some very amusing conversational short stories that I encourage you to check out. Ted emailed me the above photos and the following history a couple of days ago –

When I lived in Chicago in the 80’s and early 90’s, there was a bar called the Rainbow Club.  It was quite large with a big horseshoe shaped bar, booths, tables and a stage, maybe a dance floor.  They played 33 LPs on a phonograph.  Kind of an artsy place.  There was a photo booth as well.  It was very popular, and I would imagine they made almost as much money off that thing as the booze.  I think it was a buck.  I’m sure they have quite a few strips that were left behind.  It was a lot of fun.  Of course that was one of the first places we took out of town visitors.

Anyway… I guess it was 1988 or so when an old girlfriend came from Sacramento to Chicago to visit me.  I had been there for two years, and although she was ‘the one who got away’ we had stayed friends.  I took her to the Rainbow Club, as it was close to the Wicker Park neighborhood where I lived and a fun place to go.  My daughter and her friends hung out there a lot, and that’s how I was introduced to the place.  I didn’t go there that often, except when people came to visit so we could do the photo booth. It is interesting to look at people in these strips and how they react to what the other person in the booth does.  It’s kind of a mini play sometimes.

We had a good time on her visit, and I eventually introduced her to a friend in Sacramento who she would later marry.  They had two kids and are still married.  I was a good matchmaker.  Interesting to note there are two backgrounds… one with photo strips, it looks like, maybe to show people how to use it, and a curtain. My other strips all have the curtain. I would say that the first one we did is the one without the curtain.  For that reason, and in the first photo Cheryl is posing with her reflection as it was the first thing she saw.  She always did ‘duck lips’ when looking in a mirror and my two tiny daughters would copy her when looking in a mirror.  They still laugh and talk about her when they do it now. The bottom of one of the strips has the corner torn off.  Those were fun times.

When I saw your blog, it reminded me of that time and I went and found them.  I have 7 of them and a strip of my daughters when they were little kids… they are in their 40’s now.  The last time I was in a photo booth, was with my mother about 5 years ago shortly before she died at 90.  We had gone to the movies and she wanted to do it so she would have a picture of us two together.

Thanks so much, Ted, for sharing your photobooth memories and your photos. Thanks to Cheryl, too.

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