Photomaton photographs are the most natural.

8 poses
8 different expressions
8 minutes waiting
Five lire!

These are the only Italian photobooth photos that I have in my collection. The envelope they came in is very rare. Though I have a number of these from France, I have never seen another one from Italy. There are 6 of the original eight photos in the group. I had thought there were only four, but received a welcome surprise on scanning them, when I notice another two, lightly stuck to the back of another pair.

The photos show a very handsome young man in a formal collared shirt and tailored jacket. He was obviously having trouble with knowing what to do, as can be seen by the pictures where he is looking down and by the gloved, pointing hand that appears in the bottom left image, below.

The number of booths in each country is listed on the back of the envelope.

The above film still from the 1928 film The Shopworn Angel, was sent to me by Les Matons, also known as the photobooth artists Hélène Fabre and Christian Bonifas from France.

I was very excited to receive this image, as it shows one of the earlier incarnations of an automatic photo machine. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there had been many different attempts to make a reliable automated photo apparatus. However, no one truly succeeded until Anatol Josepho patented his fully automated Photomaton in 1925. By the time this film was made, the above booth was very old fashioned indeed, and quite ready to be consigned to the rubbish tip.

Unlike the type of photobooth pioneered by Josepho, which produce the familiar, paper, photobooth strip, this booth produced a single tintype photo.  Thanks to the impeccable research of Nakki Goranin in her book American Photobooth, I was able to find what I think is a tintype from this type of machine, or from a machine very like this one. (See below) The image did not scan or photograph well, so I included both, in the hope that you will get an idea of what this machine might have produced. This tintype photo measures approximately 45 mm (1 3/4″) in diameter and shows a young man wearing what is possibly a bowler hat. It is hard to be sure as the top part of the crown is obscured. This gentleman is well dressed in shirt and tie and very confident in front of the camera.

While this item doesn’t set my pulse racing, the way early paper-strip photos do, I am very happy to have this part of the photobooth story represented in my collection.

Jean-François Jonvelle (1943–2002) was a French photographer often touted as a master of the erotic image. The link I have added to his name, above, shows a selection of his other work. It is a Google translation of the page, which I hope has worked!

Despite the lass exposing her knickers, I love this, and any other photo that shows, similtaneously, the outside and inside of a now virtually extinct type of photobooth. The prices shown are all in the defunct currency of French francs. This machine offered a choice of options in rare square format prints. But hey, none of you care about any of that. You are too busy looking at the gorgeous woman’s behind, are you not?

What more can I say except bless him for having used a photobooth for one of his shoots, and for not having made it too saucy for this blog.

When I purchased photos of Bill Alcott, also known as Yo Yo the clown, I also bought some of his brother Jim Alcott. As there are no photos of Bill without his clown make-up to be found online, I thought it would be the next best thing to have a glimpse of his real features through those of a close member of his family, and also, of course via photobooth photos. There is a definite resemblance if one only takes into account the shape of their faces.

I think these are also fabulous photos in their own right. Jim has a handsome and kindly face that I find very appealing. I know nothing of Jim’s occupation, but he looks to me like a man of the land in his bib and brace overalls. The first photo also puts me in mind of a storybook locomotive driver, mostly due to the hat he is wearing.

In the photo below, Jim is with a friend named Elmer. With no disrepect meant, he reminds me of his namesake the  Warner Bros. character Elmer Fudd.  This is as much for his looks as for the fact that, until these photos arrived, I had never heard of anyone in real life with that name before.