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Tag Archives: vintage photography

Last Post For A While

March 23, 2012
Random Posts
20 Comments

I am always thinking about my blog and excited about any new photos I may take or find. Unfortunately my health is extremely poor at the moment. I have been finding it hard to read other blogs lately, let alone post on mine, so it is time for a formal break until things improve. I hope I will be well enough to get back on task again very soon.

Meanwhile this recent pic, taken when on my way to visit yet another specialist, pretty well sums up how I am feeling about stopping the blog.  I am lucky, as I can still get a lot out of my limited energy, thus this series of pics doesn’t sum up how I feel about my life, which despite everything, is exciting and interesting in its own unique way.

The new “do” requires some explanation. After having taken three years to grow out the last one, I swore I would never get a dye-job again.

Last week, Mum decided I needed a haircut (as mums do) and, as I couldn’t be fagged making the appointment, she lined one up and sent me off. The situation of being in thrall to my mother’s opinion about my “coiff”, is as much a symptom of my infirmity as due to the fact that I HATE hairdressers. I swore black and blue that I would return with a light trim almost indistinguishable from the shag I was sporting. However as I have no defences against flattery, and NO sales resistance whatsoever, I was wooed into accepting the above style. Hmmm.

AFTER the dye was on, the owner, who had been the force behind the obsequious fawning that lead to my being held prisoner to the chemicals for three hours, came over and threw in the following statement for good measure, “That grey hair was doing you no favours. It was making you look so old”. In front of 6 pensioners, I loudly told him that if he had said that before the process had begun, I would have told him to fuck off. Ahhh, how he laughed! How strange of him to think I was joking…

On the day of the event, I posted on Facebook the Photocabine series you can see above. I did so, as much as anything, because my friend Marcelle told me to!  I was overwhelmed by all the comments from my, hitherto undeclared, legions of admirers. I was especially thrilled by the comment of my brother -in-law, Timo, who is now my favourite person in the multiverse. He thought I looked younger than when we first met 14 years ago. Yes, I am a true sucker for a compliment!

Hasta luego a todos. I will be back asap with more pics and ramblings.

PS The hair was only straightened temporarily. I am way too fond of my monstrous mop-head to farewell it for long.

Cycling Adventure – 3 May 1997

March 15, 2012
Photobooth 45 Year Project (Archive)
4 Comments

3 May 1997, Spencer Street Station, Melbourne

These booth photos were taken on the way to meet friends to do a short cycling holiday from Daylesford to Castlemaine, with stops planned at picturesque campsites along the way. My partner Garth was one of the troupe. We caught the train part of the way and then started pedalling. It rained the whole time we were away. Camping in such wet conditions, was out of the question as far as I was concerned. I had no problem riding for hours each day in the rain, so long as I could be dry, clean and warm each evening. Cheap accommodation in the region isn’t hard to get, as normal, sensible tourists tend to stay at home when it is bucketing down!

The bizarre white thing on my head is what passed for a safety helmet in those days.

Tranquil Beauty – Photobooth Photo?

March 10, 2012
Vintage Photobooth
17 Comments

Original size

There are many of these unusual format photos listed online as photobooth photos but I am still unsure as to whether that description is entirely correct. I cannot imagine an automatic photobooth this size. On page 125 of  Näkki Goranin’s book American Photobooth, there is an example of this type of photo illustrated, leading me to believe that they must have existed somewhere, at sometime. However, I can find no mention of this type of booth in the text of the book.

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Horton In A Berlin Booth

February 29, 2012
Vintage Photobooth
20 Comments

In my never ending pursuit of fabulous photobooth photos, I come across many other types of vintage photos that take my fancy. Some time ago, while browsing online, I spotted a lot of photographs of a vaudeville actor and his partner that really fired my imagination. After having purchased one group of pictures, another lot was listed, which I also bought. The seller had apparently purchased over 400 Read More

Another Anonymous Young Man

February 25, 2012
Vintage Photobooth
16 Comments

These two undated, photomatic photos from the USA, of a young, possibly handsome, possibly weird looking boy, were probably taken in the 1940s. I can’t make up my mind on his Read More

Pretty Lady Full of Joy

February 20, 2012
My Family in Photobooths
7 Comments

My cousin Caroline and her siblings grew up in Canberra, so it wasn’t until Read More

Psychologise This – Part 2

February 7, 2012
Digital Photobooth Images
6 Comments

A second strip from the first of February this year.

Still looking boxed in, eh, Kat?  No, no. Just coincidence, I assure you.

Psychologise This – Part 1

February 7, 2012
Digital Photobooth Images
5 Comments

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.

A Different Land, A Different World

February 5, 2012
Vintage Photobooth
15 Comments

Up until today, all of the Photomatic photos I have written about are from the USA. Photomatic booths were different to other photobooth machines, as they produced only one photograph, which was delivered to the sitter ready framed. Frames were made of cardboard and metal in various coloured finishes. Towards the end of their existence the frames were plastic.

In Australia, the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney believes that only one photomatic machine was imported into Australia and it is possible that it was never put into service. Finding an Australian photomatic example is extremely remote, therefore finding any photomatic that is not American, was quite exciting for me.

This picture of mother and son was taken in Scotland. The Scottish seller theorised that it may have been taken at the Empire Exhibition, in Scotland in 1938. The event was an international exposition held at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow, from May to December 1938. It showcased the best of Scotland’s industry and creativity, while also offering a chance to boost the country’s economy, which was recovering from the depression of the 1930s.

I find the atmosphere of this photo to be more restrained and demure than in most American images of the same period. The clothing is more conservative and the expressions of these two are more tentative and shy than the average North American sitter. It could be that these two are not typical of the British Isles. They are just two quiet people enjoying a day out. However to me it has a particularly British feel to it; friendly, homey and comfortably welcoming.

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.