Is This Bella?
I haven’t published a Photomatic photobooth photo (above) in a very long while. For those of you who have never seen one before, it came from a type of photobooth that produced a framed image directly from the machine. The frame acted as a developing tray for the photo. Such a wonderful concept, yet the machines disappeared well before the demise of other types of chemical booths.
Above is a photo which I believe to be a Florida woman named Bella Emanuel. I’m not sure of it, but the image came from the same seller, albeit several years later, where I bought some other photos of her. I wrote about Bella and her husband Jay in 2013 in this post. You will find the other photos of Bella there. You can see the couple, pictured below, in another Photomatic.
So, what do you think? Is it the same woman?
If you would like to know a little more about Photomatic machines please click here.
This post, has an example of the back of a Photomatic photograph, where you can see the way advertisers were able to use the instant, framed photo concept to promote their businesses.
Absolutely it is Bella! Thanks for educating me with this post!
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Cool! Thanks Shayne. One good recognition deserves another! (re Your recent fb photobooth pics 😀) . Glad you now know a bit more about Photomatics, they are so brilliant. ❤️😊
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I have to wonder what their lives were like. Amazing. ❤️☺️
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Thanks John. I bet they mingled with the best!
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I say, yes it’s Bella. (Same dimples.)
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Thanks Liz! I love the word “dimple”! 😊
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If it isn’t Bella she had a double!I’ve never heard of those machines. I’m wondering if Polaroid got their own idea from that.
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No one ever has an original idea these days, so you could be right. I printed out your essay on Assignment 3. It was insightful and so well researched. I loved the idea that photography in journalism is more of a collaboration than it once was.
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I agree, it’s Bella!
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I’m thrilled about the agreement. You, more than most, would understand how exciting it is to find the same person’s photo after years of ownership of others. If that makes sense?
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It’s Bella alright, but she looks so sad compared with the lively face in previous pictures. In mourning perhaps?
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Possibly, but I’ve pulled faces like that after a bad day with public transport cancellations etc! 🙂
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Most definitely Bella! What a cutie! 🙂
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Thanks Olivia. It is looking like a unanimous result!
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Nice one.. I love the way you write👍
Check out my new post.. Its on how to style peplum tops..
https://tinutrends.wordpress.com/2018/06/09/how-to-style-the-sleeveless-peplum-top/
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Thank you! And I did check out your blog. You are a very stylish young woman. Hope blogging is all you want it to be! 🙂
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THose little pictures are windows on the soul of people you don’t know and you want to imagine what their life was. It opens imagination !
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I sooo agree!! 🙂 🙂
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Bella it is!
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Thanks Stacy. I trust your opinion above all.
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I would say yes, definitely, the eyebrows seal the deal. How much did one of those cost in comparison to a regular strip?
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From US sellers they are generally around the same price as one strip or one PB photo these days. Strips seem to be listed at $9.99, single photos often start at the same price and so do the photomatics. I’m pretty sure this was $9.99 plus postage.
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Absolutely Bella! She is still glamorous; a little more serious but still glamorous.
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Thanks for your help, Roberta.
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Fascinating concept. Thanks for the info
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My pleasure Brian!
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We must have crappy yard sales and thrift stores (and no flea markets) where I live. I always look for boxes of old photos, hoping for this kind of stuff, but never find any.
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I never find photos at garage sales (that is what we call a yard sale), or charity shops and rarely even in antique and collectables arcades. I buy most of my photos online from your neck of the woods (do you guys use that expression?) and from Germany and France. Australia is not a great place for vintage photo finding, sadly.
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I soooo agree, unmistakably it’s Bella. I noticed that her lower right lip is slightly more full than on the left. And … those eyebrows… oh my…. defo Bella!!! :-)))))
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