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Vintage Photobooth

Death Cab For Cutie – Photobooth

January 26, 2017
Vintage Photobooth
8 Comments
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“Your lips touching mine in the photobooth.” A photo from my collection dating from the mid 1990s

My friend artist/musician Ted Giffin, who you might recall from this post and also from this one, recently published on his blog ‘Photobooth’ for Katherine. In the post he does a video cover of a Death Cab For Cutie song called Photobooth. Do pop on over and have a listen.  A big thank you to Ted!

Photobooth

I remember when the days were long
And the nights when the living room was on the lawn
Constant quarreling, the childish fits, and our clothes in a pile on the ottoman
All the slander and double-speak
Were only foolish attempts to show you did not mean
Anything but the blatant proof was your lips touching mine in the photobooth

And as the summer’s ending
The cool air will push your hard heart away
You were so condescending
And this is all that’s left
Scraping paper to document
I’ve packed a change of clothes and it’s time to move on

Cup your mouth to compress the sound
Skinny dipping with the kids from a nearby town
And everything that I said was true
As the flashes blinded us in the photobooth
Well, I lost track, and then those words were said
You took the wheel and you steered us into my bed
Soon we woke and I walked you home
And it was pretty clear that it was hardly love

And as the summer’s ending
The cool air will push your hard heart away
You were so condescending
And this is all that’s left
Scraping paper to document
I’ve packed a change of clothes and it’s time to move on

And as the summer’s ending
The cool air will push your hard heart away
You were so condescending
As the alcohol drained the days . . .

Ben Gibbard, Forbidden Love EP, Copyright 2000

The Photobooth Adventures Of Super Jim (Grey)!

January 25, 2017
Vintage Photobooth
39 Comments

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Above is teenage Jim Grey. Jim is from Down the Road, though not literally. That is the name of his blog where he writes about photography, cameras old and new, where he shares links to blog posts he has enjoyed in the previous week, and where he shares stories about his travels locally and around the world.

Some time ago he sent me scans of some photobooth images from a 1984 trip to Germany, and some other booth photos which he found when pulling out the first ones. It has taken me a lot longer than I intended, to share the scans with you.

So above is Jim in Germany. I think he looks like a young Clark Kent about to use the photobooth for his quick change into Superman. Yes, Superman does that! Well that is what he did in the Christopher Reeve movie of 1978. Besides, Jim just has to be Super as he likes photobooths, plus he went to the trouble of scanning his collection to send to me. Thanks Jim!

I will use Jim’s annotations to explain each strip.

Above – “Color shots of me in a photobooth in Krefeld, Germany, 20 July 1984 (I wrote the date on the back!) I had cut this strip apart, unfortunately, so I laid them on my scanner in order.”

I love the faces that Jim pulled, whilst keeping his shoulders and torso in virtually the same position throughout. These would make a great Gif! Below is Clark Kent/Superman in a booth.

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The Superman strip is a mock-up that is sold by Yourprops.com. I presume the copyright belongs to them. Thanks Yourprops!!

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Above – “More shots of me in another photobooth in Krefeld, Germany, also on the 20 July 1984. I held up a card and on the prints wrote “POLIZEI 503314 KREFELD” because I was trying for mug shots for a project I was doing. 503314 was the phone number of the family I was living with that summer. The last shot was of me wondering why the machine hadn’t taken the last shot yet.”

The deadly serious, authentic mugshot expressions in all these photos, are very cool. They are so serious that they have an unintentional comic edge to them.

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Above – “I was with some friends (Jim Ziegler and John Lodder) in Michigan City, Indiana, in the spring of 1985. We came upon a photobooth in a shopping mall. I think it cost a dollar. I had put in a maybe fifty cents when it started making images. Someone before me must have put in the rest of the dollar. That’s why this strip is what it is.”

And this is, so far, my favourite strip for the spontaneous, chaotic nature of each image. Jim has a very clear memory of how the chaos came about. It must have been a memorable day, with or without the photos.

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Above – ” Same place, same date, same people” as the previous photo strip. “This time my buddies and I were ready. I’m generally the one in the middle. John is the other bespectacled fellow. The other Jim is the one with no glasses.”

Unlike most modern, digital booths, you just never knew when the photos would be taken. Strange expressions, poor focus and lighting anomalies would abound, especially when three teenagers were let lose in one. I particularly like the third photo in this strip.

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And finally the polaroid, above. ” Right next to the traditional photobooth was a booth that took single Polaroid photographs for a dollar. So Jim, John, and I went in and hammed it up one more time. I have to say, this is the sharpest Polaroid photograph I’ve ever held in my hands.” I agree with Jim, and as a booth photo, it is very rare. As he says, the photo is sharp but also has a strong colour palette after all these years. It seems that this photo was meant for Jim to keep, as he certainly is the cheesy-grinned, star of the piece, as he is in most of this collection.

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Superman collecting his photos. I wish $0.75 photo booths still existed!

 

A Wildean Man

January 22, 2017
Vintage Photobooth
41 Comments
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From Germany. 1930s.

This gentleman has a touch of Oscar Wilde’s sartorial elegance. (See photo, below). The shirt he is wearing has a light grid pattern, possibly created by stitching on the fabric. His hat, hand-knotted bow-tie, stiff white shirt-collar and the velvet detail of his coat collar, speak of a man very aware of the image he wanted to project to the world. Like the photo in a previous post of a German gentleman of this era, he understands how to pose to convey style and class. The deep shadow cast by the brim of his hat gives him an air of gravitas and mystery. I think he is a thespian, so confident and calculated is his demeanour.

This photo is superb, as I look at it now. The tones are rich and defined. They are uninterrupted by the light flares and vertical lines you can see here.

I cannot tell you how disappointed I was to see the scan. I feel I need to apologise for the poor quality. I tried the photo on different resolutions, manually adjusted tint and brightness. I tried doing it sideways and upside-down in case there was a textured nap in the paper. I cleaned the photo with a soft cloth and delicate touch. I cleaned the scanner bed. Nothing helped. I also scanned another photo from 1930s Germany at the same time, with very good results.

Usually, when scanning photos of this era the resolution is astonishing, even when enlarged to two or three times the original size. But not for this photo and I cannot work out why. Perhaps it is just another secret of this man of mystery.

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Oscar Wilde by Napoleon Sarony

Found a Photobooth…

January 18, 2017
Reblogged Photobooth, Vintage Photobooth
19 Comments

While I have been bemoaning the probable loss of a photobooth, my friend Ted has found one for me. In the strip he appears with his granddaughter Ula Grace.

Thanks for the pics Ted, and for all the friendship and the support you give me. X X

Flinders Street Station Photobooth Calamity

January 17, 2017
Vintage Photobooth
49 Comments

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Above is the photobooth where the majority of my recent booth pics have been taken. I take multiple strips each time I visit, as due to my health, I am never sure when I will be able to make it there again. It is a place for me to be creative, a place where I love to play.

In 2011 Lindy Percival of The Age newspaper wrote a piece about this booth and the owner Alan Adler. In the article, Alan could not see a bright future for his business. The photographic paper was getting harder to source and he was scaling things back due to his advancing years.

For some years after the article was published, every time I’d go to the centre of Melbourne, I would hold my breath as I turned into Flinders Street. Will the booth still be there, I’d wonder? At one point, I had a gut wrenching moment when the booth was not in its usual position. That was quickly over, as a photobooth-enthusiast ticket inspector directed me to the new location. Gradually I forgot about the probably looming disappearance of this and Alan’s other booth in Chapel Street, South Yarra.

Most of my excursions to town are as a result of appointments to see specialist doctors. Having an appointment on Monday, Saturday saw me thinking about what props I might take with me for the trip to the booth and how I might use those props. Later that day, I received a comment on this blog that the booth was going to be removed on Sunday. Noooooooo!!!!!!

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I googled the information to see if I could find any news reports about the booth’s imminent demise. Nothing. I tried Facebook and other social media. Nothing. How could I find out if the story was true? I messaged people who would be in the know. Nothing. Then I received confirmation that a friend’s daughter had also heard about the removal. There was nothing for it. I needed to get into the city pronto. There was no way I was well enough to make the trip there and back twice in two days, so I leaped onto Trivago in the hope that I could find a cheap hotel in which to spend Sunday night. Nothing I could afford came up, so thwarted in that plan, I decided to just hope for the best that it might still be in situ on Monday morning.

And lo and behold, when I turned into Flinders Street, there it still was, in all its dishevelled glory! My heart leapt, as subsequently did my collection of booth strips.

And yet the plot thickens. While waiting for my final strip to emerge, I was taken by a very elegant and superbly rendered tattoo of David Bowie on the calf of a young woman. As it turned out, she was waiting for a friend near the booth. I mentioned my last post on this blog about Marco Ferrari and his tattoo photos, as I thought it might interest her. As we chatted I mentioned the removal rumour. She knew all about it! Yes, the booth had been scheduled for removal on Sunday. Apparently it is not the shortage of paper or the looming retirement of the owner that were at issue. It is the station management that want the booth removed. I say “damn your eyes”* to those anonymous corporate destroyers of a much loved Melbourne icon!

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My new companion knew even more. Apparently the booth has had a temporary reprieve until the end of this month. There is also a campaign to lobby for a permanent stay of execution. Unfortunately, it was a hot afternoon, I felt woeful and I was fretting about leaving the city before peak hour, so I forgot to ask who was organising the campaign and if there was anything I could do to help. Duh, double duh! I am a failure as a knight in shining armour for my beloved booth!!

Now, I am hoping that this post might be seen by the elegantly tattooed bearer of the news. I gave her my card, (Yes, I have a card for this blog. I’m obsessed, remember?) and she said she would check it out. Any comments from anyone who knows more about the Save Our Flinders Street Photobooth Campaign would be very, very welcome.

*A favourite quote from Young Frankenstein. God bless Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle and Gene Wilder.

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Jolly Ho Ho Hos – It’s Xmas 2016

December 21, 2016
Vintage Photobooth
29 Comments

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Things to do for Xmas –

  • Decorate the booth – Check
  • Get out the tree – Check
  • Find the tinsel – Check
  • Where is the star topper? Oh right . . . – Check
  • Fluff up the tree – Check
  • Find the ribbon and Christmas paper – Check
  • Wrap the presents – Check

Now all the preparations are finished, I’d like to thank you all for your continued support despite the weeks when I haven’t posted and through the weeks I haven’t even been well enough to visit your blogs. Ehlers Danlos Syndrome is hard to manage but it is that much easier knowing I have so many friends in the blogging community.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a fruitful and fun 2017.

Kate

Father Xmas Equals Merry Xmas*

December 19, 2016
Vintage Photobooth
10 Comments

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Earlier this year at everybody’s favourite online garage-sale, I bid on the above Christmas themed photobooth photo. It wasn’t outrageously expensive, and my bid was a low one, so I assumed that I would not be successful. But, I was. Yay!

Over the years, I have bid on many Father Xmas booth photos without success, so I was ecstatic about my prize. When it arrived in the post, I put it away extremely carefully. Then, of course I couldn’t find it. Bah humbug!

I looked and looked and finally gave up. Then lo and behold, there it was sitting right in front of me! It was nestled in the corner of the frame of a larger photograph. I’m sure Santa was winking at me to get my attention. Having found him and his minuscule charge, it is indeed a Merry Christmas for me!

This photo is from the USA and probably dates to around the 1950s. To me he looks more like a European style Saint Nicholas, thinner and less hirsute than a big, round, bushy American Santa. The image was sold as a “Creepy Santa”**, but I do not find him so. I think he has kind eyes. His charge does have a bit of a “what the hell?” look on his face, but I think that is more to do with his mummy being out of sight, than fear of the big red fellow beside him.

* This is part two of three Xmas posts for this year.

** Like “Creepy Clowns” that is a thing, apparently.

A Far Away Look

December 17, 2016
Vintage Photobooth
15 Comments

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With tousled curls, topped with an almost completely obscured ribbon, this simple, yet elegant young woman has made a superb self-portrait. Whether deliberate or accidental, there is something of a Hollywood professional portrait to this photo.

Her gently pursed lips are sensual and painted in a soft cupid bow. Her head is tilted gently backwards and her eyes are directed toward the camera lense. She is aware of the viewer but disregards us. It is as though she is looking past the camera, past the technology that will process her photo, through the back of the booth and beyond. She is looking past us to a beautiful, far off horizon of youthful hopes and dreams. I hope those dreams were fulfilled. I hope she was loved and cherished, more than this wee souvenir that somehow escaped its rightful home.

From the USA, the photo is undated, however her hairstyle, the padded shoulders of her jacket and dark matt lipstick suggest this was probably taken in the era of the Second World War or shortly afterwards.

This photobooth image was a gift from my friend Ted. Many thanks to him! Ted is also a blogger who loves photos, photography and photobooths. Through those mutual interests we have become firm friends. He regularly surprises me with cards and photos, some of which I have already shared here. Other images from him, and of him, I will share with you next year.

Pierrot Le Fou

December 1, 2016
Vintage Photobooth
18 Comments

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Smile child, smile!

With a noise maker in hand, lovely ruffled collar and sweet clown costume, one wonders why this child looks so miserable? Probably without even knowing it, he is wearing the costume and face of Pierrot, the sad clown. He is pining for the love of Columbine. Perhaps he knows she will break his heart and leave him for the more light-hearted Harlequin?

I am guessing that the long object protruding from the back of his hat is a long stemmed feather, but you may have some other theories?

This is another in a series photobooth photos of children with toys and animals, which come from between the two World Wars. As in the previous posts, this picture is from Germany.

Teddy And Friend

November 3, 2016
Vintage Photobooth
18 Comments

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With badly peeling emulsion, this German photobooth photo went for a song. Deterioration such as this never bothers me, in fact I think it adds to the image’s charm. The missing emulsion is probably due to the fact that this pic was trimmed and glued into a photo album.

The modern design of the print fabric of this girl’s dress, belies the fact that this photograph was taken in the 1930s. I don’t think there is much about the photo that suggests it is over 70 years old.

It looks to me to be a celebratory photo. Her Mutti and Vatti have just bought this fluffy new teddy, spotted a photobooth and decided to mark the occasion. Our sitter is truly delighted with her new friend, isn’t she? I wonder if she chose this particular bear because he also had a big ribbon bow like the one she is sporting?

It is delightful the way our little girl is supporting her bear so tenderly. She is holding his left paw, as one might hold the hand of a child that is sat on one’s lap. Mr Bear seems a bit distracted, though. His attention is definitely focused on something outside the booth. He is probably already sick of all the human chatter and is looking for a more ursine entertainment, such as a snack. As Pooh-Bear says, “It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like ‘What about lunch?'”.