When I published this strip of photos the other day, the response was very positive. More than one comment suggested the photos would look good as a mini-movie, aka a gif animation. I don’t have the software to do it myself, so I used a free gif-maker web page. I like the result but more experiments with other, longer series of photos might give me more of that mini-movie look I’ve seen elsewhere.
I made a gif!
Emulsion is peeling from the surface; there are cracks and tears in the paper. Although this photobooth picture is in very poor condition, as part of a series of photos of a German man over a lifetime, it is important to me to preserve as it shows him at him youngest.
I was in two minds whether to include so many non-photobooth photos here at Photobooth Journal. I would normally link the booth pic to another post of the rest of the photos on my other blog at Mugshots and Miscellaneous. However, I was inspired by a post at Ian Phillips’s illustration site of photos of one young man through various sittings and in various fashionable attire. Whether the images cover a long period of time, as shown here, or a much shorter period there is some fascination in following more than one moment of a person’s life, sliced out of time by a photograph.
Ian Phillips also has another fabulous vintage photo blog called Swimming in Pictures that I highly recommend for a squiz.
I bought this item under the title Original Saddam Era Military Identity Card From Iraq. Not being able to read the arabic script, there is no easy way for me to ascertain whether that statement is true. Regardless of its authenticity, it is an unusual item that shows the wide international usage and popularlity of the photobooth.
The fact that the gent in the booth is sporting a fabulous tache also makes for a great means of celebrating and promoting Movember. This charity fundraising event started its meteoric rise to international acclaim in a pub in Adelaide, South Australia in 1999. So you Mo Bros out there, how is yours growing and which charity are you supporting this year?
A vintage photobooth machine in action. This picture shows a booth installed in a shop, that appears to be a chemist or some type of general store. You can see examples of the types of options one had to get a booth photo enlarged and the white coated operator who directed the sitters to move and pose at different angles for each shot.
There is no identification on the back of this small, standard sized photobooth photo. It came from the USA via Ebay, which makes me assume these are US Navy boys. I think it could come from pretty much any time from WW2, right up to the 1970s as this type of uniform seems to have changed little over that period. My one worry about designating the clothes US Navy kit, is that these collars do not have the stripes that are on all the other examples I can find online.
What an extraordinary face and one hell of a “do”. This pic is from the USA and looks to me to date from the late 1960s.
Can’t make out what the writing on the back is about. I can read 2361 Lake but the rest of it I cannot read. Is it an address?
Like the similar photo that I published on 31 October, this 110 x 80 mm photobooth photograph is probably an enlargement made in a photographic store that had in-shop photobooths as part of their business.
There is no connection between this photo and the other in terms of provenance. However they are very similar in terms of scale, subject and outfit. Both boys are wearing uncommonly adult hats, heavy overcoats and formal neckwear. Photographer and blogger Alessandro Ciapanna commented that often photo studios kept props of all sizes on hand to lend to the subjects/customers for the shoot. Initially I thought he meant the hats only, but maybe the coats and ties could also have been props?
Alessandro also commented on the other post that “he looks like a small mobster”. Thus the title of this post was born. One or two other pics may well be added to this blog in future, to a new series called Mini-Mobsters.
Still unsure what type of hat this is despite searching in Google images for Homburg, Trilby etc …
This strip of photos was rescued from a rubbish bin beside a now defunct photobooth at Luna Park, Melbourne on the 6th of November 1998.
This 110 x 80 mm photobooth image is probably an enlargement from a standard sized smaller original. Photobooth machines were originally to be found in photographic studios that offered extra services such as framing, hand colouring and enlarging of your strip of pictures.
Being only 6 1/2 years old I imagine Robert Richard Rotowski’s hat was worn only for the sake of this photo. However, given that it fits so well and he is generally so finely dressed, it may have been a hat he wore regularly. I have another hand coloured image of another boy wearing the same type of hat, from the same era. Maybe it was the fashion for kids to dress like their da’s back then?
If anyone can tell me the name of this type of hat, I’d be grateful! Is it a homburg, a trilby or something else?
Photobooth Journal 
