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Tag Archives: vernacular photography

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.

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?

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.

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!!

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…