There is something about this photobooth diva that reminds me of one of national treasures, Ms Kylie Minogue. (See pictures, below.) Affectionately known in Australia, as Our Kylie, the dininutive singer has also, at various times in her career, been tagged with the honorifics Goddess of Pop, Princess of Pop, Disco Queen, and the less than flattering Singing Budgie.
Unidentified lady in 1950s photobooth strip from Germany. It was listed as Stripe of Young Woman, which is appropriate given the visual effect of the backdrop curtain.
I bought this strip of photos from Ebay (of course!) but this one is sentimentally special because it was posted to me at my address in New York City, when I had an apartment there on Beekman Place. For two whole months I was a resident of that great city, with my own place, a gym membership, a favourite local diner and a cool local friend called Kelly.
These two are having a good laugh in what appears to be a relatively recent photobooth strip. I can only imagine how this ended up being sold online so soon after its creation. Was it one of those not-quite-perfect sets that ended up discarded on the ground, prey to someone like me, who loves a found photo?
These two young ladies are identified as Cleo and Etta. The photo is dated 1934. Etta’s intense Read More
This is another lady whose beautiful face and eyes draw me in. She is from Germany and given the cloche hat the date of the photos must be the 1920s.
This series of eight photos (many of the earlier booths took eight consecutive shots rather than the four we see today) is unusual due to all the original number being present. They look to be perfect for an animated gif but I thought I would try the slideshow option to see how that looked. If you hover over the image a control bar appears and you can fast forward through the images to get a bit of an animated feel. The original photos are below.
When I published this animation the other day, the movie was
static until clicked. That opened a link to another page where the gif played and the image was very large. Apparently the size of the original files was the issue.
Thanks to Lemuel from the blog History Geek for telling me why it wouldn’t play automatically and for telling me how to fix the problem. If you are reading this blog you will likely find a lot to interest you at History Geek, so check it out here.
When I published this strip of photos the other day, the response was very positive. More than one comment suggested the photos would look good as a mini-movie, aka a gif animation. I don’t have the software to do it myself, so I used a free gif-maker web page. I like the result but more experiments with other, longer series of photos might give me more of that mini-movie look I’ve seen elsewhere.
I made a gif!
Emulsion is peeling from the surface; there are cracks and tears in the paper. Although this photobooth picture is in very poor condition, as part of a series of photos of a German man over a lifetime, it is important to me to preserve as it shows him at him youngest.
I was in two minds whether to include so many non-photobooth photos here at Photobooth Journal. I would normally link the booth pic to another post of the rest of the photos on my other blog at Mugshots and Miscellaneous. However, I was inspired by a post at Ian Phillips’s illustration site of photos of one young man through various sittings and in various fashionable attire. Whether the images cover a long period of time, as shown here, or a much shorter period there is some fascination in following more than one moment of a person’s life, sliced out of time by a photograph.
Ian Phillips also has another fabulous vintage photo blog called Swimming in Pictures that I highly recommend for a squiz.
I bought this item under the title Original Saddam Era Military Identity Card From Iraq. Not being able to read the arabic script, there is no easy way for me to ascertain whether that statement is true. Regardless of its authenticity, it is an unusual item that shows the wide international usage and popularlity of the photobooth.
The fact that the gent in the booth is sporting a fabulous tache also makes for a great means of celebrating and promoting Movember. This charity fundraising event started its meteoric rise to international acclaim in a pub in Adelaide, South Australia in 1999. So you Mo Bros out there, how is yours growing and which charity are you supporting this year?
Photobooth Journal 
