With a day to spare in Amsterdam on a work trip, I got in touch with Stefan and Madri at Photoautomat Amsterdam to see if I could meet them and check out their booths around the city.
With Stefan out of town, my thanks to Madri for letting me tag along on her route as she serviced the booths at the Hutspot, the Student Hotel, and the Hoxton Hotel, all located around the center of Amsterdam. I rented a cycle and followed along as well as I could, not being a practiced Amsterdam cyclist, which is an entirely different kind of cycling…
First stop was the Hutspot, where the booth is located just inside the door of this very cool restaurant/shop/barbershop. We hadn’t had a sample photo in our entry for this booth for some reason, so that’s now been fixed. I enjoyed using their custom-made token for the booth, and had to ask for one to take home with me…
From there, I eventually managed to unlock my bike and followed Madri over to the Student Hotel, a massive residence for exchange students and other travelers, where the booth fits nicely in among the pool and table tennis tables. The machine is a Model 17P, and turned out a nice bright strip of photos.
Finally, we headed to the Hoxton Hotel, for one of the most impressive booth locations I’ve ever seen. The photobooth is tucked inside a perfectly-sized alcove at the top of a long set of stairs, which lead only to the booth, so you feel as though you’re approaching a throne or altar as you prepare to take your photos. It was a fitting end to a great tour, and I look forward to seeing where they place their next booth.
Thanks again to Madri for showing me around, and congratulations to Stefan and Madri for running a great photobooth operation that is keeping the photochemical tradition alive in Amsterdam.
