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Tag Archives: identity photo

Getting Enrolled

October 14, 2011
Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)
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September 1993

Early September 1993, London

By the time this photo was taken I had decided to enrol to study French at the Institut Savoisien D’Études Français, a Department of the University of Savoy, in Annecy.  The institute was for foreigners to learn French and starts from the beginner level.  It was quite a surprise therefore, to find all the application forms and information about accommodation were solely written in French.  I was extremely grateful to Del Holbrook for her French language skills, as the project wouldn’t have moved passed the enquiry stage without her help. I had less than a month left in London before the course started.  I remember being very nervous as it was the first time I had gone anywhere on my own without the prospect of meeting up with friends on arrival.

Liberty Again

October 13, 2011
Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)
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August 1993

August 1993, London

While away, I decided that I would definitely give up my place on the museum studies course in London.  Meeting an American, who spoke fluent French, at our language school in Antigua, made me reconsider past ambitions to learn to speak French. Back in London I reapplied to Liberty for a few months work, while deciding where to go to study in France.

This is a picture taken for my second identity card for Liberty of London.

My Dad

October 12, 2011
My Family in Photobooths
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David, 1994

This is my Dad, David.  As with my Mum’s photo, this was taken for an international drivers license in 1994.  Neither of my parents are all that fond of getting their photos taken but Dad is definitely the most reluctant.  He is a voracious reader and keen gardener, producing vegies and other comestibles year round.

Earlier this year I coaxed both Mum and Dad into a digital booth at Chadstone shopping centre.  I wouldn’t say there was a lot of moaning, but their reluctance was verging on outright refusal, until a deal was struck to make sure the visit included coffee and cakes.  It was a major victory for me to get them into a booth after a 17 year gap.  I will be posting the results one day soon.

My Mum

October 12, 2011
My Family in Photobooths
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Margaret 1994

This is my Mum, Margaret.  The photo was taken in 1994 for an international drivers license for her first trip overseas.  Sue was living in Dublin and I was just back from France when we met up with Mum and Dad in London.  Now 82, Mum is still a working violinist, teaching four afternoons per week.  She is also involved in many local musical projects and concerts, along with my Dad, David.

Shaky Sue

October 12, 2011
My Family in Photobooths
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14 January 1999

January 1999, Cheltenham, Victoria

This is my favourite strip of photos of my sister Sue and probably my all time favourite photobooth photos.  There is something about the movement in them all and the pixie-like impishness of the last photo that really appeals to me.  It was taken in an old black and white photobooth at Southland shopping centre when Sue was 5 months pregnant with her son Calvin Patrick.  It was our third outing to find me a bridesmaid dress for her forthcoming wedding to Tim Meaghan. I am not sure who was being fussy, Sue or me, (or both of us) but we still hadn’t found one at the end of this trip.

Coffee Banana Volunteers

October 8, 2011
Other Passport Sized Photos
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Antigua Guatemala 1993

Moana. October 22 1993

March 1993, Finca de San Cayetano

Moana and I were so happy doing Spanish lessons, enjoying the friendship of and social activities with other travellers and with our teachers, that we decided we would not venture out to explore the rest of Central America but spend our whole time in Guatemala.  I stayed for 6 months.  Moana stayed for over a year, eventually working as office manager for the Cervantes School. We took weeks off from our studies to travel and explore the region,  but always came back to Antigua for our lessons and to see people with whom we had made friends.

Towards the end of my stay, Moana and I did one month’s volunteer work at a child care centre on a struggling coffee and banana plantation. It was owned and managed by indigenous Guatemalans under cruel opposition from other non-indigenous farmers. There had been raids where their equipment had been stolen or damaged beyond repair, and a level of fear that was evident in their need to make armed patrols of the grounds every night.  The groups of foreign volunteers were there, in essence, to provide an extra level of security, for the many families that lived and worked on the plantation. Each day, we played games with the children, made things with them, taught basic literacy and had a lot of fun.

Another Guatemalan Visa

October 7, 2011
Other Passport Sized Photos
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13 February 1993

February 1993, Antigua Guatemala

Moana and I were settling into a daily routine at the Cervantes School in Antigua, where we did our Spanish language lessons.  Initially we boarded with separate families in order to, we hoped, encourage us to speak less English.  We found that each of our families had up to 6 foreign students at a time.  The only language we had in common with our fellow boarders, who came from all over the world, was English.  We quickly gave up the idea that we would progress better if we lived apart. Moana joined me where I was staying and we walked to the school together to start lessons at 8 am each day, finishing at midday.  At some point we decided to take our daily walk home via an uphill detour to El Cerro de la Cruz, a lookout above the town with a magnificent view of the volcano, Volcán de Agua.   The first few times the steep track nearly killed us.  By the end of my 6 months there, we tripped up with little exertion.  I think neither of us had been, or have since been, fitter.

Once again no photobooths were in evidence in Latin America but yet again I needed an id photo.  After only 4 weeks in Guatemala, Carlos, the director of our school advised me to start the process of getting my visa extended. I still had two months to go but he had experience with the ins and outs of the immigration department and thought 8 weeks early, wasn’t early enough.  This photo was taken at his insistence. I was not pleased at his nagging, as I had just had a home-made haircut from a new English friend Justine and additionally was suffering from a nasty coldsore.

As it turned out Carlos was right and the nightmare of getting the visa extended only ended after 3 or 4 trips to the capital, long waits in multiple queues per visit, payments for paperwork, further payments for stamps, finger-printing and finally, a small bribe. I received the official documentation in my passport  just two days before I was due to leave. In all it took me five months to get it sorted.

The L Magazine

October 6, 2011
Photobooths in Print
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The L Magazine Photobooth Cover

The L Magazine Centre Spread.

While searching through storage boxes on an unsuccessful quest to find a group of missing photobooth photos, I discovered this magazine I had kept as a souvenir of a trip to New York.  I am always on the lookout for anything related to photobooth photographs, from badges to adverts, articles, anything.  I was thrilled that this free edition was out on the streets of the city at the time of my visit. I also loved that it focused on my favourite old-style chemical booth pics.

Guatemalan Visa Panic

October 5, 2011
Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)
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14 January 1993

January 1993, London

Moana and I had decided to start our journey in Guatemala.  We hoped to do Spanish lessons in Antigua before heading off to explore the region.  In the months leading up to our departure there was something nagging at the back of my mind, that I chose to ignore until my last day in the UK. Moana and I had organised our tickets through an agency that also researched whether we needed any visas for our trip.  Well, they said they had looked into it.  Despite them knowing I was travelling on an Australian passport they had failed to check entry requirements for my nationality and I, stupidly, had also failed to check.

Del Holbrook had organised a lovely farewell lunch for Moana and I, to which Helen White had been invited.  After Helen arrived, something she said made me realise what my nagging concern actually was – did I really NOT need a visa? I was encouraged by all to make a phone call to check, the result of which was an abrupt departure without my lunch, a quick set of identity snaps in a photobooth at Victoria Station and an emergency interview at the Guatemalan Embassy to get the visa I should have organised weeks earlier.

A Photobooth Card to My Sister

October 4, 2011
Found Photobooth Photos
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Found Photo Greeting Card

This greeting card was found in a box of things my sister Sue, left with our parents before moving permanently to Ireland. I dashed off this card for her, when she was first living in Dublin in the early 1990s, before she had met her husband Tim, before she had decided to make Ireland her home.

Written inside the card – “Dear Sube, I’ve had a special personality profile done for you at a local singles dating agency. Lucky, you! You can choose from any of the men on the cover to be your next snog, bonk or (who can tell) husband?  I bet you are as excited as I am.  You must get in touch with Bashful Boys Agency as soon as possible as these guys will be snapped up quickly!  Be sure to quote their code number – I’d say 009 looks like your type.  Failing this why don’t you just send me some photobooth photos of you and Andy together? xxxx love from Baff.”  “Baff” was/is one of Sue’s nicknames for me. Ah, the lengths I was beginning to go to to extricate photobooth photos from a loved one – didn’t work, unfortunately.

I have no idea where these booth photos came from originally but they were obviously not part of my treasured collection, as I would not have parted with any of those.  I have a vague idea they were cut from old ID cards as they are mostly laminated. I hasten to add that this particular effort does not represent the quality of cards I was making to sell!!