On my way to any doctor’s appointment, most of which are more than an hour’s drive from my home, I stop to rest and get a photobooth photo. Why not? I need to rest for a while, even on these relatively short drives, due to having the neurological condition ME/CFS. The condition greatly limits what I am able to do in any one day and keeps me house bound most of the time. A half day out generally results in two or three days in bed to recover.

SO, why not analyse this photo in the context of my life at the moment, eh? Or let’s not. I found the “bars” on a walk with my pooch on a recently demolished house site. I saw some cool photobooth photos of people with faux bars and prison props that I thought I’d emulate. Stripes are a favourite of mine. Combine these factors and the result is this group of four images, simple as that.

But then again…

My favourite pic. I look like a cartoon character, somehow.

PS Although the image quality in digital prints is inferior to those from chemical booths, I like the flattening of the images and stark contrasts, especially when blown up.

Pennyland, New Jersey – Summer 1938

February 2, 2012

Vintage Photobooth

12 Comments

This blithe young man looks to me to be around 15 to 16 years old. Do you think it is one of the first times he was let off the leash by his parents? The cheeky look on his face in both pictures, but particularly in the pose with the cigarette, suggests, YES! Were these taken to impress a girlfriend, show off to his mates or as an accidental souvenir of his right of passage to adulthood? Whatever the case they were someone’s memento for many decades. Despite being faded, tarnished and stained, the photos radiate youthful joie de vivre some 74 years after they were taken. I can still feel his glee.

From what I have been able to discover, there were many Pennyland centres around the US and Canada offering a large selection of games and coin operated machines to amuse all ages. I think some were stand alone places but more generally they were part of a larger amusement park. The Pennyland where the above photos were taken has long since disappeared, as I can find no reference to it online. Any helpful information from out there would be most welcome!

Entrance to the Pennyland Arcade at the Glen Echo (Maryland) Amusement Park, 1928.

View of the Pennyland Arcade at 131 Royal Street, New Orleans. Date unknown.

Cigar Anyone?

January 16, 2012

Vintage Photobooth

8 Comments

These business men, chomping on their cigars, showing off their success, seem to have disappeared as a type, at least from Australia. I remember (and loved) the smell of cigars smoked by guests, before and after my parents’ dinner parties in the 60s and 70s. I cannot think of the last time I saw anyone with a double maduro or smelt the aromatic waft of cigar smoke.

There is still something appealing to me about this particular vice. Smoking a cigar has a chunky, masculine, bravura that now represents a very different age; a time in which men were men and women were mainly pissed off, but hey, who doesn’t romanticise the memories of childhood?

This is another great photomatic that just got a bit too pricey for my budget. I normally buy them for US$10.00 or less. This one went for over $60.00. I envy the owner. Indeed, I do.

Not A Good Picture Of Me

January 15, 2012

Vintage Photobooth

10 Comments

More and more, when I am shopping for old photobooth photos, I look for ones that appear in a context that gives me more information about the person than a single photo might. I was thrilled to find this beautiful and unintentionally funny letter written by Cathy Prindler to her favourite teacher Mrs McConnell. I am guessing she would have been 11 or 12 years old, as she is about to enter a junior high school in the USA, although the very 1960s back-combed, mini bee-hive “do” looks like it should belong to an older girl.

The letter has been glued to an album page and at some point cut out of its home, possibly for selling. It is another item made melancholy by the fact that it has parted ways with its owner through death, accident or neglect.

Photomatic Big Nose

January 13, 2012

Vintage Photobooth

6 Comments

Listing titles in online sales are often funny, sometimes completely wrong, sometimes overly flattering or in this case, just plain insulting. This poor man was listed as Big Nose. Written on the back is the date, 3rd of August 1939, with the place name Nantacket (sic) which I believe is how the place name Nantucket, is pronounced.

Nantucket is an island 30 miles (48 km) south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the United States. It looks to be a very pretty place for a holiday which means this is possibly a souvenir of a vacation. Big nose or not, this guy has a friendly and appealing face, as does his happy partner.

University Buddy Rediscovered

January 12, 2012

My Friends in Photobooths

3 Comments

This little gem is of my university friend Karin (left) with an unnamed friend of hers. Not sure when it was taken but it looks to be late 1970s to me. I was so thrilled to receive it in my in-box just now, I didn’t ask any questions as I was too impatient to wait for a reply!

Karin was a staunch friend to me at uni, often driving me home and helping me out in many other ways. She did fabulous delicate little pieces of ceramic art for her final folio. I still have pictures of her pieces, somewhere. After we graduated we lost touch. I went to live in England and she went to live in Bali. The wonders of the internet have reunited us. (Cheers facebook.)

Karin has encourage me a lot in using my photobooth pics by giving me great feedback comments and sharing her inspiring thoughts. So thanks, Kaz. You are a star!

Filling In Time – 29 March, 1996.

January 11, 2012

Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)

8 Comments

29 March 1996, Flinders Street Station, Melbourne

Filling in time before meeting my friend Petrina in town for some shopping. It was a warm day, I was eating a cup of frozen yogurt and enjoying a spot of photoboothing.

Not One Of Us

January 8, 2012

Vintage Photobooth

4 Comments

So far on this blog I have not revealed the actual dimensions of any of the photos I have posted. I suppose I have assumed that either it was irrelevant, or that people generally know how big a photobooth photo is. There is actually a considerable variation in sizes. Different types of booths produced different finishes, dimensions and formats of strips.

This pic, measuring 37 x 50 mm, is by no means the smallest type of booth photo around but it is small enough to lose a lot of the details of its condition without the magnification a good scan provides. Until scanned, this image looked to have a very minor mark across it but as you can see, what is minor in the original, is major in the blown-up version. I toyed with the idea of using a gel rubber to try to gently remove what appears to be a pencil line, but decided against it for fear of ruining the image.

From the costume and jewellery the sitter is wearing I would say this photo was taken in the early 1930s. The style of clothing is very similar to that worn by my Grandma in the same era. In fact this lady’s robust size is also reminiscent of my granny, who was a cuddly lady her whole life. The sitter also has a softness of feature and air of patience and kindness about her that I find very appealing. So having formed a strongly positive opinion of this woman, it was with some horror I read the note on the back of the image – “this is no relation of ours, thank god”. I take personal offence at this disparaging remark and wish to redeem the reputation of this lovely woman by saying I would be very pleased to be related to her. I thank god I am not related to the writer of that mean-spirited little note.

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!