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Monthly Archives: June 2016

My Aunt’s Visit – 27 October 2002

June 25, 2016
Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)
10 Comments

photobooth27:10:2002

27 October  2002, Leicester, UK

This photo strip of my Auntie Cecilie and I, was taken at Leicester train station. She was on her way to London to spend time with her daughters Xie and Rachel. I am lucky that people are so accommodating of my photobooth obsession, but the process can be daunting for some. I remember having to prompt Cecilie to change her expression, but didn’t do a great job of it myself!

Many of the photos in this long series are unremarkable. They make up a photographic album of my adult life, which gives me a lot of pleasure as I add each new photo to the collection. I also love the memories they bring back, when I write about them for this blog.

This strip of photos comes from my series Photobooth 41 Year Project. You can see all the posts that document the series by clicking here. I am still adding to this project using mostly digital booths to create the images. The project is now close to entering its 44th year.

 

 

Ted Giffin’s Portrait of Katherine

June 24, 2016
Vintage Photobooth
30 Comments

portrait-of-katherine

Ted Giffin – Mixed media on paper, 5″ x 5″, June 2016

The day before yesterday one of my blogger friends, Ted Giffin, asked me if he could use my Gravatar profile pic to make a portrait. Knowing and loving his work, “Hell, yes!”, was my immediate reply. I didn’t think anything more about it, as I did not expect Ted to be a super speed drawer/painter, or necessarily have the time to attend to the job in the immediate future. I was THRILLED when I opened my email app yesterday to find attached, the above scan.

I love Ted’s blog, especially when he publishes posts about his visual art. His drawings have a spontaneity I love. His paintings use heavy impasto layers to build up frequently colourful impressions of a friend or model. His view of the world when doing cityscapes, flowers or birds is often a riot of heavy layers of colour and texture.

Ted sent me an email with the scan and wrote –

I really do not know what color your eyes are,
but I thought bright green and blue and a bit of purple
would be nice.

 

Funnily enough, I actually do have green-blue eyes, albeit not as vividly portrayed above.

The portrait is based on the photobooth photo (below) which was taken in April 1997. It first appeared on this blog here.

Ted is an artist, musician and poet. His website is here. I urge you to take a look at more of his work.

photoboothGravatarApril1997

Ryan, Xie, Me – 11 October 2002

June 23, 2016
Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)
7 Comments

photobooth11:10:2002

11 October  2002, London or Leicester, UK

This photo strip was probably taken at a tube station in London, but could also have been taken in Leicester. Both my cousins from New Zealand were living in the UK at the same time as I lived in Leicestershire.

My cousin Krissie had her son Ryan in London. I like to spell her name Xie for fun, but also as her personality is as bright and enticing as a gift laden Xmas tree. As you can imagine baby Ryan is a strapping lad now. You can see more photos of Xie in this post from 2011, Xie Time Machine.

In my adult life, I think this is the shortest I have ever had my hair. As I was trying to improve my health by ceasing my exposure to the chemicals in hair dye, I asked Xie to cut it for me. This she did one day in a park opposite her flat. This was the second cut done by a hairdresser. Yuk. I like it much better when it is longer and madder.

Many of the photos in this long series are unremarkable. They make up a photographic album of my adult life, which gives me a lot of pleasure as I add each new photo to the collection. I also love the memories they bring back, when I write about them for this blog.

This strip of photos comes from my series Photobooth 41 Year Project. You can see all the posts that document the series by clicking here. I am still adding to this project using mostly digital booths to create the images. The project is now close to entering its 44th year.

 

 

Twins – 22 June, 1962

June 22, 2016
Vintage Photobooth
22 Comments

photoboothTwinsMF
As I still use a photobooth that produces images very like this one, it is hard to believe this photo was taken 54 years ago, today.

I recently bought this from an American seller. The listing stated that the pair above, were male and female twins, on the basis of an M and F marked on the back of the photo, along with the date. I don’t believe it. I think they are both boys. The letters could just as easily be referring to their names, Mackenzie and Felix for example.

I would like to know what you think. Are these twin boys, twin girls or a boy and a girl? Please leave a comment, below.

 

A Gentleman Of Distinction

June 17, 2016
Vintage Photobooth
15 Comments

photoboothGermanGentleman02

photoboothGermanGentleman01

I do not own these two striking portraits, unfortunately. These are scans from the website where they were sold. I was taken by the gentleman’s confident and regal bearing, so put in a bid, but lost out at the last moment.

These poses are more suited to a formal studio-composed photographic portrait, than to a five minute snap in a humble photobooth. The images date from the 1930s and were taken in Germany.

My gent is wearing a very well tailored and no doubt fashionable overcoat. His felt hat looks luxurious and expensive. I can just see him flicking the brim upwards, after having positioned the hat at just the right angle, prior to heading out into a bitter winter wind. Around his neck he is wearing what my Grandfather called an opera scarf, probably made of white silk. I imagine his breast-pocket handkerchief also to be white and made of the finest linen. His scarf is covering most of his tie but one can just discern a flattened dot pattern woven into the, doubtless silk, fabric.

He looks to be a well off and important man, who knows that image and demeanour are everything. I wonder why he chose to take these photos? Was his hat or coat new? Did he want to try a photobooth for the first time? It would have been an innovation and novelty in the 30s. No doubt he was very pleased with the results as the photos have been kept in good condition for over 80 years. I am envious of the new owner and hope that they look after the photos so that they last for at least another 80 years.

Faces Pulling Faces

June 1, 2016
Vintage Photobooth
16 Comments

photoboothBoys01

photoboothBoys02

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There is no information on the back of these photos to indicate a place, names or dates, despite the previous owner having gone to the trouble of numbering each photo. Why they should have been numbered 1, 2, 3 is unclear, as judging by the clothes of the boy who appears in all three shots, the images were taken on two different days.

I guess the boy who is mugging for the camera in the first photo is a brother of the guy in uniform. It is a shame he didn’t join in the face pulling. Maybe he liked his perfect look in his military duds too much to play the fool whilst wearing them. Or maybe he was too nervous to think of it, as he may well have been off on his first posting overseas.

I bought these photos as much for the background as for the fabulous, goofy faces. It was the first time I had seen a battleship in a backdrop. I have since found a few more, which I will share with you in coming posts.

I am guessing these images were made during WW2 as the military theme would have suited the many last souvenir photos that would have been made at that time.

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