Over the course of 2020, my pandemic projects slowly went from April’s somewhat lofty “finally work on that idea for a book I’ve had in the back of my mind” to June’s rather lazier “watch 300 comedies and action films from the ’80s.” It didn’t start out that expansive, to be honest, but quickly snowballed out of control, finally coming to an end as the year closed, at which point I had unwittingly watched more body-switch comedies than I knew existed.

All the while, of course, I kept my eyes out for photobooths and photostrips, and though I was somewhat disappointed in the slim number of examples I came across, there were still a few surprises and memorable appearances. In chronological order, then, (some of) the photobooths and photostrips of 1980s cinema:

A brief glimpse of a booth at Union Station in Chicago in Continental Divide (1981)



An upgraded frame grab from a Blu-ray that confirms that the film uses a real photostrip of Jennifer Jason Leigh in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)



Two color strips of Nicolas Cage in Valley Girl (1983)



Proper aspect-ratioed frame grabs of the stills we already had on the site, plus a few I’d missed before, from The Karate Kid (1984)



Tracey Ullman looks at a strip of her missing boyfriend in Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984)



Canadian teens pass by a photobooth in use in Breaking All the Rules (1985)



One of the German rockers offering a ride out of West Berlin presents his passport, complete with color photobooth photo, in Gotcha! (1985)



Helen Hunt trims a photobooth photo of herself to glue onto a picture of Eddie Van Halen in Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985)



Helen Slater shows off a number of photostrips tucked in a mirror in Ruthless People (1986)



Upgraded stills of the photobooth murder sequence in Best Seller (1987)



Sylvester Stallone’s character has a photostrip of his kid tucked in the row of his semi cab in Over the Top (1987)



A photostrip appears in a TV ad seen in The Couch Trip (1988)



Bounty hunter Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro) trims a photobooth photo to modify the FBI ID badge he’s just stolen in Midnight Run (1988)



A single photobooth photo can be seen in one scene in Tapeheads (1988)



Two photobooths in Chicago’s Union Station: one in Vice Versa (1988)…



and another in the background of this shot from The Package (1989)



A strip featuring Kevin Kline and Susan Sarandon is one of the more amusing moments in The January Man (1989)



Martin Short offers a (faked) photostrip to be used in procuring a fake passport in Three Fugitives (1989)



A photostrip of Veronica and Heather in a locker in Heathers (1989)



Sally Kirkland uses an airline first aid kit to trim and re-connect a photostrip in Cold Feet (1989)



It’s safe to say a similar trip through the 1970s would yield an even stronger crop of photobooths and photostrips, but for the time being, we’ll be taking them one at a time. As always, your tips and submissions are welcome. 

With the extra time on our hands lately, we’ve had the chance to catch up on some backlogged to-do items, from back-end fixes to new content. Hopefully our readers won’t notice much of the behind-the-scenes work, but we can say that the blog archives, more than 450 entries stretching back 15 years, are now fully browsable again, by year, month, and category, to give a few ways of digging in.

Next up, new locations, from around the world:

We start with two new booths in public, outdoor locations in Prague. We’ve always felt like Prague could be a good photobooth town, and we’re happy to see two more booths, at the National Theater and at the National Gallery, added to the tally there. Thanks, Petr!

Next, a new home for an existing booth in Zürich, Switzerland.

When I visited Patrick in April, 2019, he was already planning the move, and awaiting the official go-ahead, which finally came and allowed him to move the booth where he and I took a strip outside Kosmos to another, more prime location outside Kanzlei Club.

Thanks to Michelle for contributing the photos for this new location.

I don’t know if I noted it between my visits to Lausanne in April and Berlin in August, but we learned that the booth on Goldbrunnenstraße in Zürich, operated by the machine’s inventor, Martin Balke—which for my money made the best photobooth photos I’ve ever taken—was taken out of service when Martin moved out of his apartment this summer. While we’re very glad to know about Patrick’s two booths in Zürich, we can’t help but mourn the loss the last remaining horizontal strip Swiss machine in Switzerland. The machines live on in Berlin, so visit them while you can!

Now, on to the pictures… We’re always coming across new films, with the grand total on our site now up to 226 different films spanning nearly a hundred years of cinema. This time, a few more recent additions.

First, thanks to our long-time contributor Charles, we have the first Chuck Norris film added to the list, a real cause for celebration. Code of Silence features a brief shot of a booth in Chicago’s Union Station. A few years later, the film’s director, Andrew Davis, would employ a photobooth in a much more integral way in The Fugitive.

Also thanks to Charles, we’ve added the 1975 exploitation film Just the Two of Us (originally released in 1970 as The Dark Side of the Mirror), which features a lovely booth in the final shot of the film.

We also got around to posting a single photobooth frame in the credits of the delightful Paddington 2, highly recommended for the whole family if anyone’s looking for brilliant, escapist fun on many levels.



In Ron Howard’s 2019 documentary Pavarotti, about the legendary tenor Luciano Pavarotti, we see a brief shot of a few frames from a photostrip capturing Pavarotti and his first wife.

Thanks to Christian for the tip on a 1998 film, Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon, featuring Derek Jacobi as the painter Francis Bacon, which features two extended scenes shot from the perspective of the photobooth camera.



The 2017 Morrissey biopic England is Mine includes a few photobooth photos in a scene in a Manchester record store where young Stephen awaits an answer to the “musician wanted” advert he’s posted there.

And now to the very recent: the Pixar release Onward joins Up in the “photobooth in a Pixar film” club.

Moving on to photobooths in music, we have a few albums to report, and a lot of songs. First, a 2016 album by the Fruit Bats called “Absolute Loser.“



And next, a 1987 album by Tom Verlaine, with a lovely color photobooth photo as the cover, Flash Light.



This past week, we added 33 songs with photobooths in the lyrics or title of the song. Rather than just list them all, I’ve created a mega-lyric featuring a line from each of the songs, which gives an idea of the way the image is used in these (mostly contemporary) songs. Perhaps the successor to my “Photobooths in Cinema” talk will be a three minute mashup of every photobooth-related lyric I can find. 

Click the lyric to visit the page for that song.

“The Photobooth Song”

Dive into a photobooth
Snap it for Japan, yeah oh
Duct tape you in my roof
Kiss you in the photo booth
Count it down, see the camera flash
Pick up all the photos and put in more cash
When we were chillin’
Smiling in the photo booth
I held the picture in my eye
From a photo booth near by
You’re not allowed to tell the truth
And the photo booth’s a liar
In the shrine
Found a photo booth
Black and white strip
From that photo booth
Nobody is hangin’ ’round makin’ out in the photo booth
Last Friday I see you in the photo booth
Makes my teeth hurt like airplane bathrooms
Photomaton soixante-dix-sept…
And photo booths she said
What she loves is sex in parked cars and the photo booth at Cha Cha
Take photos in the photo booth
The summer of my wasted youth
Dentro al Photobooth “Tre, due, uno: cheese” (click)
You felt that need to pile us all
Our smiles on call inside a tiny photo booth
Singing karaoke, killing Backstreet
Touching in the photo booth
Their surveillance state is not just a freakin‘ photo booth
That night we had our picture made
In a photo booth in town
And hope that the memories develop in the darkness
Like photos do, I wish I had a time-machine and a photo-booth
We took some pictures in a photo booth
Was it just you and her?
Did you go in the photo booth?
Snipers hiding in the photo booths
Gettin’ stuck with you in that photo booth
Photobooth, kissing youth, midnight bulletproof
Mein Spiegelbild zieht Fratzen, so wie Paare in der photo booth
Jeder-jeder wünscht sich so ‘n Beruf
We stuck that picture in a bottle
Sleeping silently in a photo booth
On the road where I caught a cab
And you thought that I’d leave you once I learned the truth
When we got lost as hell in that old photo booth
Pull the photo booth curtain
Check if the bar is open
Silver quarters in a photo booth
It printed little pictures of you
Get some change
Photos from a booth
Rifle range
And when the lights start flashing like a photobooth
And the stars exploding
We’ll be fireproof
a photobooth snapshot fading.
there ain’t too much left.
And screaming
High above the cities
Sings a lonely photobooth
(Gone in a flash)

We begin our fifteenth (!) year of keeping track of all things photobooth with a major update of posts on photobooths in moving images. Over the last few years we’ve let discoveries and contributions in the realms of movies, TV shows, commercials, and music videos collect on our to-do list, and today, we’re glad to finally present more than a dozen instances, from the surprisingly major to the completely minor.

Thanks to all our wonderful contributors for sending in links, tips, and screen grabs over the years.



The Glass Wall, directed by Maxwell Shane (1953)



It’s Always Fair Weather, directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen (1955)



Your Three Minutes Are Up, directed by Douglas Schwartz (1973)



Falsche Bewegung, directed by Wim Wenders (1975)



Repeater, directed by Christopher Monger (1979)



Nô, directed by Robert Lepage (1998)





Same Same But Different, directed by Detlev Buck (2009)





Bande de filles, directed by Céline Sciamma (2014)



December 7th, directed by John Ford and Gregg Toland (1943)

In addition to films, we’ve also added a number of television shows, music videos, and commercials. Click the intriguing images below to see more from each of these photobooth-friendly creations.

As I prepare for the 2014 Photobooth Convention and my talk about the history of the photobooth in film, I’ve been adding some updates to our Movies & TV listings.

It’s been awhile since we made a count, and at this point, we now have more than 325 films and televisions shows listed, each one containing a photobooth or a photostrip. Of the 180 films and 146 TV shows, two-thirds of them were released in the last ten years, which is probably more of a result of our having paid attention over those years (and the films being readily available) than any kind of photobooth resurgence. I’m still on the lookout for more films and TV shows from the golden age of photobooths, in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, and I’m always excited when we get a tip about one, like we did for In God We Tru$t. Thanks, Charles!

On the somewhat less interesting side of things — but hey, we’re completists — we have a brief appearance by a photostrip in Ghost Rider, starring Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes. Thanks to Les Matons for letting us know about this one.

And finally, from a film not even released yet, we have a brief glimpse of a photostrip on a freezer door in the trailer for Joe Swanberg’s upcoming Happy Christmas.

For more on photobooths in cinema, as well as talks, workshops, and all the free photobooths you could ever want, come to the convention in Chicago next weekend! We hope to see you there.

It’s been a busy few months around here, and as we end 2013, enter 2014, and prepare for the upcoming 2014 International Photobooth Convention, it’s time to take stock of the latest additions to the site.

We start with Le Photomémo, un jeu de mémoire. This limited edition memory game uses beautiful vintage French Photomaton photos as the cards which players are challenged to remember and match. The game was created by Les instantés ordinaries; check out their site for this and other lovely photo projects. Thanks to Les Matons for sending us a copy!

Next, a few locations. First, another Ace Hotel means another black and white photobooth, this one at the Ace Hotel, Shoreditch. Angelenos, now that I’ve moved from L.A., I’m counting on one of you to visit the new Ace Hotel there and send us info about their booth.

Next, a photobooth at a mall — yes, they still exist! This one is at the Illinois Star Centre Mall in Marion. Thanks to Stephanie for sending us the photos and info.

And second, a new black and white machine at the Biltmore Cabaret in Vancouver, a project by Fotoautomaton.

Please send us your location updates, as the world of photochemical booths is constantly changing, and we can only keep up with your help.

As always, we have a few more TV shows to add to our ever-growing tally, one old and one new. Thanks to Rob and Anthony for tipping us off to a great, fleeting photobooth appearance in the pilot of the “The Fugitive,” the television show that inspired the Harrison Ford film (which also features a photobooth, strangely enough).

And second, from 2012, an episode of the U.K. children’s TV show “Shaun the Sheep,” part of the wonderful family of Aardman creations, in which Shaun has to visit a photobooth when he discovers he’s accidentally been cut out of the farmer’s family photo. Thanks to Katherine for the tip.

Two recent films have been added to our list over the last few weeks, both contributed by our French friends Les Matons. First, from the trailer of Jonathan Caouette’s Walk Away Renee, we see some of the same photobooth photos of Caouette and his mother, Renee, that he used in his first film, Tarnation.

Second, a French romantic comedy, La chance de ma vie, in which a photo-themed rom-com montage features some photobooth-style photos.

Finally, the biggest event for me in the past few months: a visit to Auto Photo Canada in Montréal. For more than ten years, I’d been hearing about the Grosterns and their photobooth business, and I’d always wanted to have an opportunity to visit. 

A trip to Montreal in November, which involved cold weather and a lot of free time, offered that chance. After a false start in which I ended up at their old warehouse, which they’d vacated months before, I spent a great afternoon with Jeff and George and their colleagues, talking booths and listening to their great stories. 

I’m very grateful to Jeff and George for their hospitality, and for taking the time to show me around the offices, warehouse, and shop. I got to hear first-hand the long and illustrious history of Auto Photo Canada, and see their machines and their process in action. Meags Fitzgerald was working on a project there that day, as well, so it was a nice chance to catch up with her, too. My visit once again proved that the photobooth business is filled with interesting, friendly people, and I was very glad to have had the chance to stop by.

We’ll be planning the Convention in Chicago over the next few months, and will have more updates as soon as they’re available. Happy new year!

We have a few updates today as we head into fall. Thanks to Brad for letting us know about his Model 14, rescued from near-death in Wisconsin and restored by Brad with help from Anthony at A&A Studios Chicago, now up and running at The Junction Diner in Forest Park.

Thanks to our Canadian correspondent Meags Fitzgerald for another update from our northern neighbors. First, two booths we haven’t had listed before in Montréal: first, at Korova Bar, a color machine with a customized cabinet.

And second, another one of the many booths in the Montréal Metro, this one at the Sherbrooke Metro station.

Secondly, we have some belated news about Meags’ stop-motion photobooth short film, LaCuna, which screened last week at the Edmonton Film Festival, and won! Congratulations to Meags for her film being named Best Animated Short film. 

I apologize for being late to the game on this momentous news; if I had my way, I’d be live-tweeting and up-to-the-minute blogging on all sorts of photobooth news, all day long, but it’s been a busy summer and fall, and it seems like keeping up with the news was the first casualty. I have to say, though, as things begin to calm down during winter, we have a lot of interesting stuff coming up, and 2014 promises to be another big year on the photobooth front.

Thanks to Tim Mantoani, a photographer in San Diego who owns a lovely Model 9 photobooth which we visited in 2008, for letting us know about his newest venture, Snap Apparel. This photography-themed clothing shop includes a shirt featuring his booth, so if you can’t visit the machine, you can at least carry a picture of it around with you. 

Thanks also to Les Matons for another gem of a find, an extended sequence in a photobooth from a 1982 film starring one of my favorite French actors, Lino Ventura, called Espion, lève toi.

Check out more stills from this sequence in a Swiss Prontophot booth in our Movies section. Keep your contributions coming, everyone!

It’s been awhile since we’ve had a chance to post news on the blog here, but that doesn’t mean the site has been dormant. On the contrary, we’ve had additions to the site in almost every category over the last few weeks. We’ll take a look at new locations, movies, TV shows, newspaper articles, and album covers today.

First, a bit of history: 

In a February 1970 Los Angeles Times interview with singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb, the author describes Webb’s upcoming album this way:

…[A]nother current project is a new album, with Webb compositions sung entirely by Webb. Jim’s been working on the recording for about six months: he has daily sessions—morning and afternoon, often breaks for dinner and returns to work into the small hours. The LP will be called ‘Confessions in a Photo Booth,’ but he’ll introduce the new material, all of it, in his concert debut on Saturday at the Music Center.

In an August 1970 Billboard column (see it here on Google Books), the album is named as his first on Reprise. By the time it was released, “Confessions in a Photo Booth” had become “Words and Music,” so the world was robbed of what could have been a prominent photobooth-titled album.

Continuing in the world of music, Callan Furlong wrote to let us know that his EP The Fool I Was Before features photostrips on the cover.

And finally, while browsing the aisles at Amoeba Music in Hollywood, I spotted this recent CD from The Living Sisters:

We have a few new locations to mention, the first not too far from (my) home, at Dexter’s Camera in Ventura, California, where Photo-Me installed a black and white booth this week. Thanks to Matt and Raul for letting us know about the booth.

The second is slightly further afield, in Riga, Latvia, where Kate Tyler found a color machine, one of the only original booths still active in Europe. Time for a road trip to Riga! Please keep your contributions coming.

Next, we’ll move on to television, where the photobooth continues to be a mainstay of current shows: this time, reality juggernaut “The Bachelor” took a turn in the booth. During Week 7 of the most recent series, the Bachelor and one of his ladies visited the photobooth at Orange Dracula in Seattle, and took some photos.

Looking back a few decades, Les Matons clued us into a 1960s French TV show, La Caméra Invisible, that featured a photobooth in an episode:

We were excited to read a nice newspaper piece on our buddy Anthony Vizzari and his company, A & A Studios, this past weekend. The original article in the Chicago Grid is here, and we’ve got it archived here, as well. Congratulations, Anthony and all the crew at A & A.

We’ve also added a few new movies to roster. Last year’s Academy Award-winner in the Documentary Feature category, Undefeated, features a photobooth shot of a young Bill Courtney, who would grow up to be the coach at the center of this story.

Going a little further back, we have a few more passing photobooth shots in the animated short The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation, as well as in the 1984 West German film Wundkanal.

Finally, a French film about a woman obsessed with the photobooth who ends up meeting the photobooth repairman… Sound familiar? Well, it’s not Amélie. It’s Lucille et le Photomaton, a 1993 short by Sébastien Nuzzo that we’ve long been meaning to add to the site.

I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for photobooths in cinema for ten years now, and most sequences I’ve come across focus on the photobooth, or at least feature the booth prominently. Carnival of Souls is a film of a different sort, in many ways. It’s a terrifically moody, evocative, singular film (check out the excellent Criterion release on DVD), and for our interest, wins the award for most oblique, obscure photobooth appearance in a film. In one brief shot that lasts just a few seconds, one edge of the end of a photobooth can be seen behind a Williams Titan shooting game. I thought I spotted something when I saw the film screened, and confirmed my suspicions with the DVD.

From the sign on the end of the booth that reads “Take your own miniature portraits / Photos in 2 1/2 minutes,” the “N” of “OWN,” the “S” of “PORTRAITS,” and the “S” of “MINUTES” are barely visible. If you look even more closely, you can see the drying slot at the right edge of the booth.

Paul Fejos’ 1928 (mostly) silent masterpiece Lonesome is an important film in the history of American cinema, but it’s downright seminal in the story of the photobooth, as it has the earliest known example of a photobooth appearing in a film. Thanks to a new Criterion Blu-ray release, we can upgrade the images on the site. Roll over the new image to see the improvement from the old: better image quality, more detail, and the correct aspect ratio.