Archive

Tag Archives: photobooth

My Femme Fatale – Part Two

November 1, 2011
My Femme Fatale, Vintage Photobooth
2 Comments

March 1968

Chronologically, this is the next of the dated booth photos of the series of 14 of my lovely French lady. This strip was cut, as you can see.  I especially love this photo as my sister was born in the same month and year.  Why does that make any difference?  I suppose I enjoy seeing what else was going on in another private world at a significant time in the life of my family, similarities and differences, another incarnation of the period. I am amused by the fact that at around the same era, my mum had a furry hat very similar to the one worn above and she was also fond of the same type of fashionable silk scarf.

Another Price Stunner

October 31, 2011
Photobooth News
4 Comments

Two hundred and twenty five dollars!  This is a standard sized photobooth picture, 40 x 50 mm. It has “some residual glue or sticky substance” on the right side, with wear to the edges. Even as an avid collector I can’t figure out why someone was prepared to pay so much for one little, “distressed” photo. Will I be posting another record price soon?  Who knows? The market is certainly hot at the moment.

My Femme Fatale – Part Three

October 28, 2011
My Femme Fatale, Vintage Photobooth
2 Comments

29/05/1968

15/08/1968

These are the last two strips of dated photos from my mysterious, beautiful French lady.  Looking glamourous in her pearls and just as chic in her more casual stripes, she is the image of a 1960s conservative yet fashionable young thing. There are eight strips of undated images to come soon.

Ma and Pa Make Me Laugh

October 28, 2011
My Family in Photobooths
6 Comments

Although I didn’t manage to get my Mum and Dad into a photobooth in London, they promised to keep an eye out for a booth on their travels.  They posted this to me when they returned to Australia.  It cracked me up. I love Dad’s stunned mullet look and the action of his leaving the booth before the last shot was taken. It still makes me smile. Mum is looking joyous: she was very excited by her European travel adventure.

This pic was taken in Switzerland in May 1994.  My Mum had never left Australia before and it was only my Dad’s second overseas trip, having come over to London for the first time in 1989 to nurse me after I was discharged from Hither Green Hospital .

Sisters Reunited

October 27, 2011
My Family in Photobooths, Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)
4 Comments

2 April 1994, London

It had been many months since I had seen my Susie. She was visiting from Dublin where she was working as a nanny and taking advantage of the wild 90s club scene there.  Up until yesterday, I would have described her as a “party girl” but having only just learned this has pejorative connotations, courtesy of an episode of Madmen, I had better not. She has always loved people, fun and up until recent years, big eyebrows. Stop the plucking and bring ’em back, Sue-poo, I miss them.

This is the first of many occasions when I have been photographed in a photobooth with my darling baby sister.  We were at the post office at Charing Cross on our way to meet our parents, who were visiting London for the first time together. We each took two of the strip of four pics.

Della Time Machine

October 26, 2011
My Family in Photobooths, Photobooth Time Machines
2 Comments

Del was my landlady in London.  She is also Rosie’s mum.  Del took in boarders for many years.  I think I was the only one they were never quite able to get rid of. Living with the Holbrooks meant fraternising with diverse people through a succession of boarders of many nationalities and with their friends from all over the world. Del and her spouse, Lindsey, were the epitome of hospitality and generosity, often, with patience and humour, putting up with the foibles and troubles of, mainly female, under 25 year old strangers.

I cannot list how many times Del collected me or dropped me at train stations or airports and offered me other kindnesses and support.  In 1989, I contracted hepatitis from another boarder who had just returned from Africa. I was admitted to a distant hospital, yet with all Del had on her plate as a mother of two young kids, I received regular visits from her. I was at Hither Green in the infectious diseases isolation ward. One day she brought the kids, Ros and Rich, with her. They were only allowed to stand outside the door and wave as I was still in quarantine. It was such a lovely gesture and a massive boost to my morale. Also, due to her thoughtfulness, I did not die of starvation on the ghastly NHS rations and was also saved from 10 days of boredom due to her lending me a tiny portable TV. All that love, along with magical Christmasses, birthdays and many other fun experiences plus their continuing friendship, makes me count all the Holbrooks as a very special part of my extended family.

My Femme Fatale – Part Four

October 23, 2011
My Femme Fatale, Vintage Photobooth
1 Comment

These two strips of undated photos from my mysterious French lady show her with the second and last of her lovers in the series of photos in my collection. Is this the man she stayed with? She certainly looks very happy with him.

Rosie Time Machine

October 22, 2011
My Family in Photobooths, Photobooth Time Machines
5 Comments

I first met Rosie in London, when she was 7 years old. I was one of the many boarders from around the world that her mum took in. Although none of the above photos are dated, the second pic is how I remember her looking at that age.  Ros came to visit me in Australia when she was 16, for a one month stay and we catch up via email and whenever I visit London. I think of her as my second little sister and love her dearly. When she was ten or eleven she gave me a new nick name, Kitty. Ros was the first person to call me that, which I found delightful!  She more often calls me Kit-Kat these days.

Now in her early thirties, Ros is newly married and a successful academic. She still has the same cheeky sparkle in her eyes that she did when she was little.

Photobooth Time Machines

October 22, 2011
Photobooth Time Machines
3 Comments


Part of my fascination with photobooth photos is that they are one of very few types of informal photography that consistently isolates the image almost exclusively to the sitter’s head and shoulders. Therefore any changes to the person that have happened over time are immediately apparent. The images condense these changes over a period of months, years or decades and each set becomes a personal time machine. Sometimes the changes, from one shot to another, are minute or only apparent in changing modes of clothing, hair and occasionally, make-up.  In other sequences of photos, the jump from one image to the next could be twenty years or more, showing the ravages of time or the subtly developing features of experience and maturity, depending on your perspective.

The category Photobooth Images 1973 to Present is my time machine. For everyone else, I have a new category showcasing small progressions of change over time, of friends, family and other unidentified people from my vintage collection as they grow, develop and evolve.

My Femme Fatale – Part Five

October 22, 2011
My Femme Fatale, Vintage Photobooth
4 Comments

 

Here is my lovely French lady once again.  I gave up trying to guess what order the photos were taken, so have just selected them randomly.  I don’t think it really matters what order we see them in. She is photogenic and interesting in any of her snaps, no matter when they were shot. There are two more strips to show you before the big reveal about how she came back into my life. Stay tuned!