18 December 1998, Luna Park, Melbourne
Moana and I – still celebrating with icecream! Yay!
This strip is part of the series Photobooth 41 Year Project. You can see all the posts that document the series by clicking here.
Happy St Valentine’s day!
These sweet photographic love-notes are undated but I’d say they were taken sometime in the 1940s, possibly during WW2. They have the look and sentiment of war-time keepsakes, probably sent from the USA to this lady’s lover overseas.
They are so cute and unusual, I cannot understand why any descendants of this woman didn’t want to treasure them forever.
18 December 1998, Luna Park, Melbourne
My travelling companion, Moana, was visiting from the UK. My sister Sue, was temporarily living back in Australia, after a few years in Ireland. What better way to celebrate a reunion than with icecreams and a photobooth session?
This strip is part of the series Photobooth 41 Year Project. You can see all the posts that document the series by clicking here.
Undated
“Becky 22 yrs. Dec. ’77”
Undated with unidentified friend.
These are the final strips in my series about Becky and her friends. Our little girl has grown up but still loves to pull faces for the camera. And hasn’t she nabbed herself a gorgeous boyfriend?
I wonder where Becky is now? What is the story behind the photos? How did this brilliant series of souvenirs of a seemingly happy child’s formative years, come to be in the public domain?
I wish I knew Becky’s surname so that I could find her, but maybe her friend Pam Meadow will Google herself one day, discover these pictures and be able to tell us more of the life behind this archive.
17 November 1998, Spencer Street Station, Melbourne
These photos were taken on the way to Melbourne airport. I flew to New Zealand for a cycling tour of the northern tip of the North Island. Whilst there, I also visited multiple relatives.
I was already beginning to feel some of the effects of the neurological condition Myalgic Encephalomyelitis from which I suffer. Tiring easily, headaches and muscle pain, are some of the symptoms. The problems were mild at this time, so I was still able to carry on a normal life.
This strip is part of the series Photobooth 41 Year Project. You can see all the posts that document the series by clicking here.
Here is another of the rarer polaroid photobooth photos. Although the quality of the image isn’t great, I like the effect of the faces emerging through the darkened space.
I am betting that this photo belonged to Wesley and that he wrote the names on the front of the photo, misspelling Jaqueline’s. Yeah, typical boy. Yeah, sexist comment. Oh me, oh my.
6 November 1998, Luna Park, St Kilda, Melbourne
This is Hawkeye, my first trainee guide dog puppy. He was offered to me when I was a volunteer puppy-raiser, after he had made an “escape bid” from the Guide Dog Association’s kennels where he was born. It was such a drama that the fire brigade had to be called, resulting in a news article in The Sunday Age newspaper, below.
He was a precious little pup who worked very hard towards his goal of becoming a working guide dog but unfortunately that was not to be. More of his story to come.
This strip is part of the series Photobooth 41 Year Project. You can see all the posts that document the series by clicking here.
The newspaper article from August 1998.
The original photo from the news article.
An unpublished photo of the escape drama.
Undated. With unidentified friend or sibling. Could this be Robin?
Same unidentified child.
Same unidentified friend and a new one.
In part one I mentioned Robin, who could be a sibling or friend of Becky’s. The shots where he was named were missing from the archive of photos. This group of shots, all of the same, unnamed boy, suggest a younger brother or cousin, possibly named Robin.
In the strip with Becky, our happy, gap-toothed lad seems to be recovering from a fall or fight, having a large scab on his top lip. Fully healed in the second strip, his tousled hair and face-making skills are featured.
Finally, in the third strip he is joined by a little girl, who could also be a cousin to Becky, but I don’t think she is likely to be her sister. They are trying their best to pull faces, but seem unable to match their efforts to the timing of the flashes.
All undated photos, the top ones of Becky are probably from 1972 when she was about 17 years old, making the other strips more or less of the same date.
2 October 1998, Chadstone, Melbourne
My sister Sue and I after seeing the wonderful movie, The Truman Show. I love this strip of photos due to the great expressions on my Subie’s face.
It must have been too hot for me in the theatre, as unusually for me, I have my hair tied back.
This strip is part of the series Photobooth 41 Year Project. You can see all the posts that document the series by clicking here.
Undated. With unidentified friend.
Here is Becky and a new friend, once again having fun showing off in a photobooth, bless ’em.
I am guessing that this photo was taken quite soon after the picture, dated April 1969, from the previous post in this series. Becky would therefore be around 14 years old in this strip.
Becky’s pal either has bad teeth or braces. It is too hard to tell which, even with the ability to enlarge pictures with the scanner. I am going for bad teeth, as when I had braces, chewing-gum, (seen being chomped with gusto in the second frame of this strip), was an utter nightmare if it became attached to the wires.
Photobooth Journal 