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Tag Archives: self-portrait

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.

A Visitor and Another Journey

October 10, 2011
Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)
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Liarne and Kate 1993

July 1993, Spain

I left Guatemala and returned to London early in July.  Within days of my arrival back at my Holbrook haven, I had news from a friend in Australia, Liarne Corke, that she would soon be in the UK. A few days after her arrival in London, we bought cheap flights to Spain, hired a car and explored the southern coast for a week. Liarne and I had met as a result of sharing the same ex-boyfriend.  Our beloved Ricky-TP has the unusual trait of staying friends with every girl he has ever gone out with. We are both still good friends and Rick, too is still a very important person in both our lives.

This photo was taken in a photobooth that was on a back street, near the edge of a steep decline, in front of a row of homes.  We were in Arcos de la Frontera in Spain.  It is the only time I have managed to get Liarne into a booth, so far. It was also the first time, in adulthood, that I had been photographed in a booth with someone else. It has also turned out to be the earliest uncut strip in my collection.  All in all, a very special strip of photos.

Photobooth Photo Prices

October 9, 2011
Photobooth News, Vintage Photobooth
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Ebay Sale October 4, 2011

Since the time I started buying photobooth photos online, the prices have gone up and up. I am occasionally amazed at how high a price will go.  I can see why this photo is desirable, as it is quite old and very unusual, but $153.50? My feeling is that the competing bidders had money making projects in the works.  Will this photo eventually appear in an exhibition or book?

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.

Saving and Working

October 3, 2011
Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)
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September 1992

September 1992, London

When this was taken, again in London, I was very busy with my three part-time jobs and still very much looking forward to my Central American adventure.  I must have taken this for a reason, as is the case with most of the previous photos I have posted.  The fact that there is only one left of the strip, confirms this, though I have no recollection of the use that was made of the others.  I was not yet in the full swing of collecting and taking photos just for fun. That frenzy was yet to come as will be seen in future posts…

Cocomaton

October 2, 2011
Photobooth News
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Selected images from the photomaton advertisement campaign from Chanel, “Cocomaton”, with some behind the scenes shots. Please click the above thumbnails for a larger view of each pic.

B. A. F. – Mon, Sept. 3 1944

October 2, 2011
Vintage Photobooth
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Barbara Ann 1944

Two more photomatic photobooth photos of Barbara Ann Fremier.  The photomatic format, as far as I have been able to discover, was never available outside the USA.  If any one finds that I have misread the hand written name on the back of the picture, please let me know your interpretation and I will consider it and make changes.

Barbara Ann, Lost?

October 2, 2011
Vintage Photobooth
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Barbara Ann Fremier 1940s

One of my reasons for collecting found and vintage photos is the wonderful sense of melancholy and nostalgia they invoke.  Clothes, hair-styles, the many different photograph formats, stains and scuffs, all add to the otherworldliness of each image. Is it that this little girl, now dead or an old woman, is no longer loved and remembered? Were the photos discarded accidentally, perhaps carted away unseen at the bottom of a box of miscellaneous goods at a garage sale?  Perhaps it was just the poor condition and quality of the photos that caused their separation from the original owners?  Whatever the reality, to me they make up a beautiful wee story-book of possibilities.

An Opportunity at the Tate

October 2, 2011
Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)
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16 July 1992

16 July 1992 No.2

July 1992, London

Whilst in my final months at the Crafts Council in Melbourne, I was lucky enough to be involved in organising a national craft-prize exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. I enjoyed the experience so much that I started to consider the possibility of doing a course to further my qualifications and job prospects.  Once I realised I had more time in London than previously envisaged, I applied to the Tate Gallery, now known as Tate Britain, as a volunteer in the Registrar’s Department. I worked there 2 days per week for 5 months, concurrent with my job at Liberty.  I also applied for a position and was accepted to study for a Museum Studies diploma at the University of London for the 1993 academic year.

Although working at the Tate was a great experience where I had opportunities to get my hands on some extraordinary art works, visit St James Palace, (which is not open to the public) and delve into the sketch book archives of J.M.W. Turner, my time there made me reconsider whether I would enjoy a career in that field.  Still undecided close to my departure from the UK, I thought I’d keep my place on the course until I returned from my trip to Central America, in case I had second thoughts.

The photobooth pictures above were taken at Pimlico tube station near the Tate Gallery.