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Tag Archives: self-portrait

Louie Despres Photobooth Project

December 3, 2019
Photobooth Stories
27 Comments

North American Photographer Louie Despres (above) has a number of wonderful photo projects on his website, which you can find here. I particularly love The Believers, and Vanity I – Bathrooms, but of course my favourite just has to be Vanity II – Photobooths.

One of my earliest memories is having my picture taken in a photobooth with my brother and sister when I was probably 3 years old. I marveled at the machine which flashed 4 times as you sat there in front of a darkened screen, then the humming sound of the unseen mechanics working inside the box, and, finally, the magic of the wet strip of four pictures delivered in the silver slot on the side. Suddenly, there YOU were, in beautiful black and white.

Please take a look at Louie’s collection. In addition to his self-portraits, like me, Louie is a collector. At the moment he has a project where he is asking for submissions of photobooth strips from around the world. If you would like to contribute, you can contact Louie through his website or Facebook.

Below is the strip I sent to Louie.

Reflections

October 20, 2019
Vintage Photobooth
35 Comments

This two image strip of photos was purchased for me as a gift from a marché aux puces, south of Paris. Brian of Equinoxio blog, very kindly sent me this, and several other portraits, in August last year. Three sets came from photobooths, some were small studio photos and some were from a Polyfoto studio.

I chose to share these first as the reflection in this gentleman’s very groovy glasses, is so pronounced you can see some of the details of the booth’s interior. I’ve never seen that before. The reflection is likely the instructions on how to operate the booth, but I’m guessing, for the details are indistinct.

I would say that these pics were taken in the 1960s as my dad used to wear very similar glasses and ties in that era. I’d like to think this man was a writer, solely because I think one of these photos would’ve made a fabulous author’s portrait for the dust jacket of a novel.

Montreal Plus One – 26 May 2003

October 12, 2019
Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)
33 Comments

26 May 2003, Montreal, Canada

I was in Montreal for a conference that my then-husband was attending. This is Donna who I met for the first time at that conference. We got on fabulously and stayed friends for a number of years until we, sadly, lost touch.

This strip of photos comes from my series Photobooth 47 Year Project. The complete set of posts to date, can be seen in reverse order at the link Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive) under the Categories heading in the side bar, on the right of this post.

For those of you who are new subscribers or visitors to this blog, UK artist Dick Jewell made a video using photos from this project in 2012. It can be seen on Vimeo here.

 

Background Battleships

September 25, 2019
Vintage Photobooth
65 Comments

I am tentatively dipping my toe back in the blogging pool after a long hiatus. To ease myself back in, I’ve chosen the painted backgrounds of the photos, instead of the people, as the focus.

These items are all from the USA and very easily dated to WW2 thanks to the painted battleships in the backdrops. It amuses me that the composition is virtually identical in each of the three examples, yet different enough to suggest they were painted by different artists. So which one was the original design, if any of them? Does this follow the layout of a navy recruitment poster or a propaganda leaflet? Did Fred Nerk, Joe Blogs or Jane Smith come up with the design for his/her photobooth business, only to have it copied, to varying degrees of proficiency, until it spread the length of the country?

 

Montreal – 24 May 2003

June 15, 2018
Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)
19 Comments

24 May 2003, Montreal, Canada

This was my first visit to Canada and thus to Montreal. There were photobooths all over the city at train stations, shopping centres and  tourist spots. Yay Montreal!!

This strip of photos comes from my series Photobooth 46 Year Project. The complete set of posts to date, can be seen in reverse order at the link Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive) under the Categories heading in the side bar, on the right of this post.

Many of the photos in this long series are unremarkable. They make up a photographic album of my adult life, which gives me a lot of pleasure as I add each new photo to the collection. I also love the memories they bring back, when I write about them for this blog.

For those of you who are new subscribers or visitors to this blog, UK artist Dick Jewell made a video using photos from this project in 2012. It can be seen on Vimeo here.

 

Photobooth Journal Lomography Magazine Interview

June 5, 2018
Photobooth News
35 Comments

I am very grateful to Peter from Documenting the Obvious photography blog, who let me know last week that an interview I did with Lomography Magazine had been published. I had been checking their site on and off, hoping to find it but without success.

It is the second time I’ve been mentioned on Lomography.com but the first time I’ve been formally interviewed.

The link is here if you’d like to have a read. This is the previous mention. Thank you to Ciel Hernandez, one of the copywriting editors of Lomography Magazine, for contacting me. I was very pleased to be asked.

London to Canada – 22 May 2003

May 6, 2018
Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)
13 Comments

22 May 2003, Leicester Station, Leicester, UK

This was taken on my way to London to stay the night with my cousin Xie. I flew to Canada the following day.

This strip of photos comes from my series Photobooth 46 Year Project. The complete set of posts to date, can be seen in reverse order at the link Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive) under the Categories heading in the side bar, on the right of this post.

For those of you who are new subscribers or visitors to this blog, UK artist Dick Jewell made a video using photos from this project in 2012. It can be seen on Vimeo here.

 

A Visit To Dublin – 7 May 2003

April 28, 2018
Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)
31 Comments

7 May 2003, Dublin, Ireland

When I lived in Leicestershire I was able to frequently visit my sister and her family in Dublin. Here I am with my nephew and godson Cal, and his baby sister Penny. I imagine this was taken somewhere near Tallaght where they live.

This strip of photos comes from my series Photobooth 46 Year Project. The complete set of posts to date, can be seen in reverse order at the link Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive) under the Categories heading in the side bar, on the right of this post.

Many of the photos in this long series are unremarkable. They make up a photographic album of my adult life, which gives me a lot of pleasure as I add each new photo to the collection. I also love the memories they bring back, when I write about them for this blog.

For those of you who are new subscribers or visitors to this blog, UK artist Dick Jewell made a video using photos from this project in 2012. It can be seen on Vimeo here.

 

The Easter Bunny Is Coming!

April 15, 2017
Vintage Photobooth
36 Comments

I think I might have gone a bit over the top, (some might say a bit mad), when making my Easter bunny mask and eyebrows. Stangely, even though the eyebrows are made with the same colour pink paper as the cheeks, (see below), they do not register the same way in the photo. Even after all these years, I am still struggling with working out the best colours and tones to wear to get the best results in black and white booths. A bright orange dress I was wearing the other day, read as black in the photos. That was a total surprise to me. I guess that means Orange really Is The New Black.

The photobooth where I took these strips, is in a suburb of Melbourne that is close to the hospital where my cardiologist has her consultancy. Though going to endless specialist appointments is tedious in many ways, if I can squeeze in a trip to an old fashioned booth at the same time, I am happier.

I hope you got a laugh from my photos. I sure did! Happy Easter to you all.

What’s Up Doc?

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