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Tag Archives: self-portrait

Kunis Restaurant – 25 January 1997

March 9, 2012
Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)
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photobooth25-01-1997Edited

25 January 1997, Flinders Street Station, Melbourne

On the way to meet friends at a favourite Japanese restaurant in Melbourne, Kunis.

I was introduced to Japanese food in the early 1980s by a school friend’s much older, extremely sophisticated (in my eyes) boyfriend. At the time there were only two authentic Japanese restaurants in Melbourne. Now there are dozens.

Kunis was the first Japanese restaurant I went to and is  Melbourne’s oldest having opened in 1978. It is a special event to go there even now.

This strip is part of the series Photobooth 41 Year Project. You can see all the posts that document the series by clicking here.

Another Anonymous Young Man

February 25, 2012
Vintage Photobooth
16 Comments

These two undated, photomatic photos from the USA, of a young, possibly handsome, possibly weird looking boy, were probably taken in the 1940s. I can’t make up my mind on his Read More

Pretty Lady Full of Joy

February 20, 2012
My Family in Photobooths
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My cousin Caroline and her siblings grew up in Canberra, so it wasn’t until Read More

Happy New Year!

January 1, 2012
Vintage Photobooth
18 Comments

With party hats and cheeky glints in their eyes, this lovely older couple look to me to be celebrating something. Was it the arrival of a new year?  These undated photos were taken in a photomatic photobooth at the Hotel Morton – “Rich in the things that make people happy”- in Atlantic City, USA, probably in the late 1940s or early 1950s.

This photo, the third in the series was also taken at the Hotel Morton, on a different day but, no doubt, on the same visit.

According to the postcard, below, the Hotel Morton was noted for its homelike atmosphere and excellent cuisine. It was centrally located and close to beaches, the Boardwalk and the Steel Pier. The hotel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Atlantic County, New Jersey on July 15, 1977 and then inexplicably demolished  around 1985.  The site is now occupied by the Trump Taj Mahal, a casino. Ah, progress!

Hotel Morton Circa 1945

Printing on the back of each photo.

Vintage Photomaton Advertisement From Brisbane

December 19, 2011
Photobooths in Print
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Photobooths were invented by Anatol Josepho in 1925.  They were an immediate success in his adopted home of New York City. When he sold the invention in 1927 it rapidly spread across the USA and the world.  As early as 1929 advertisements like these were appearing in many newspapers around Australia. It is a surprise to me that the Photomaton company found its way here so quickly.

In the 1970s it took more than two years to get Doctor Who episodes to Oz, yet in the 1920s, this lumbering hunk of technology arrived in faster time. And faster time is what this machine promises. Six perfect portraits, six different poses, in six minutes.  In the days when most photographers were struggling to get photos back to clients within one week, to wait only six minutes was nothing short of miraculous.

“If you are one of those people who do not take a good photograph, try the Photomaton way. They are natural and lifelike and they do not fade.” I can attest to that. Having numerous photobooth examples from the 20s and 30s which have lasted better than family photos from the 1980s, this was no idle boast.

This advertisement, for booths at two Woolworths stores in Brisbane, was published in the Brisbane Courier, on the 9th of October 1929.

My apologies for the poor quality of the image, which was taken directly from the Trove online resources website, of the Australian National Library.

An Early Morning Swim – January 1996

December 17, 2011
Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)
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photobooth01-1996BeachEdited

January 1996, Luna Park, Melbourne

After an early morning swim at St Kilda beach.

This strip is part of the series Photobooth 41 Year Project. You can see all the posts that document the series by clicking here.

New Zealand – 18 May, 1995

December 14, 2011
Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive), Polaroid Photobooth
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May 1995, Hamilton, New Zealand

On any visit to NZ, visiting relations is my first priority. I stayed first with my Aunty Cecilie and Uncle Gregor in Hamilton where their magnificent hospitality was laid on, as usual.  After a few days with them, for the first time in my life, I hired a car to go out and about on my own. Unable to sleep due to nerves and excitement, I took off at 2.30 am one morning to drive to Wanganui to see my mate, Moana. I only managed to complete the journey without an accident, due to three catnaps at various points along the way. Moana and I then did a week-long driving tour of the South Island. We then drove back up north, to Rotorua to meet up with Cecilie and Gregor, where we took advantage of the many thermal bath opportunities on offer.  This visit was the last time I saw my Uncle Gregor, who had inspired my first international travel adventure. He died in May the following year.

I have been to New Zealand many times but this was the first, and so far only time, I ever found a photobooth machine there. Not my favourite type of booth, having only a single shot option, with a polaroid product, but to my mind better than nothing.This was taken in a store on Hamilton’s main shopping street on the 18th of May, 1995.

Flinders Street Station – 22 April 1995

December 10, 2011
Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)
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photobooth22041995

22 April 1995, Flinders Street Station, Melbourne

Apart from the fact this photo was taken at Melbourne’s historical railway station, Flinders Street, on the above date at 5.15 pm there is no information written on the back. The occasion on which the photo was taken will thus remain a mystery.

This strip is part of the series Photobooth 41 Year Project. You can see all the posts that document the series by clicking here.

Bug’s Eye View Found Photo

December 1, 2011
Found Photobooth Photos
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I have no idea where this set of pictures was discovered, what the date was, or even the country in which it was found . I’ve no idea if I myself retrieved it from oblivion, or if a friend found it for me. I can only imagine that these two cuties were extremely disappointed when they found they no longer had it.

Xie Time Machine

November 22, 2011
My Family in Photobooths, Photobooth Time Machines
4 Comments

When I was living in Leicester and my cousin Krissie was living in London, for fun, I started writing her name as Xie. I used the X the same way it is used for the “Chris” syllable, as found in the spelling Xmas.*  It is her Rock-Girl Superstar name, which fits her perfectly, because to me she is a superstar.

Xie is as optimistic and generous as her mum and has an amazing sense of humour. She loves dogs, walking, fun and being mischievous…and cigarettes. Xie adores cigarettes. (I occasionally share one or two with her, just to stop her feeling like a pariah, you understand.) She is also a fabulous mother to her 9-year-old son, Ryan, who is the baby in the pics, and a supportive and loving wife to her hubby, Tony, also pictured.

To spend time with Xie is to be entertained, to laugh and be uplifted. She is one of my most favourite people in the world, but of course from what I have just written, you didn’t already know that!

The only down side in this cousinly love affair is, that apart from a blissful 2 years in the UK, we have never lived in the same country. Even then, when we finally managed to be on the same island, we were not in the same region. We made as much time as possible to see each other, always including her sister Rachel, when we could, and had some fine adventures exploring the countryside around Leicester and cool shops and cafés in London.

These pics were taken over a relatively short period, mostly in the UK, and are in chronological order.

* As I don’t know anyone who pronounces the “t” in “Chris’mas”.

NB For those of you with an etymological bent, the spelling Xmas should be pronounced the same way you’d say Christmas. The X comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός, translated as “Christ“. Xp was also a commonly used form to shorten the manual labour of producing hand written manuscripts. Wikipedia has a great article on the 1000 year-long history of this abbreviation.