Our friend and longtime photobooth.net contributor, Meags Fitzgerald, just released her graphic novel entitled Photobooth: A Biography which she describes as an “illustrated history meets travel journal.” We would describe it as beautiful and ambitious. Several years in the making, the 280-page book is now available at North American comic shops and bookstores but you can get an author-inscribed copy here. Or better yet, come meet Meags and pick one up in person at the upcoming Photobooth Convention in Chicago.

Congratulations, Meags.

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!

Lou Southgate sent us an update on a project she’s been working on lately, a public photobooth project inspired by the work of photobooth pioneer Franco Vaccari.

After Franco Vaccari, 2013 was produced live at my graduation show last month as a homage to the great Franco Vaccari. With my work responding to amateur practices in photography, the work has always been an interest of mine and it was an amazing experience to make! My audience were invited to place their strip on the gallery wall and this took place across 4 days. The work wouldn’t have been possible without the loan and sponsor of an analogue photobooth by Stuart at Retro-me. Stuart and his team were absolutely amazing throughout the install and take down of the exhibition.

All the strips from the exhibition are currently being scanned and will be put on my website over the next few weeks. Further to this, I have started to curate sets from the strips for a future exhibition on Warren Street, London which opens on the 17th of July 2013.

Thanks to Lou for keeping us updated on her work. 

We have a brief note today about two exhibitions in Europe that feature the photobooth in one way or another. Thanks to Ole and Les Matons for letting us know about the shows. 

First, at the Vögele Kultur Zentrum in Pfäffikon, Switzerland, is a show entitled “Verantwortung: Zum Temperament einer Haltung,” on now through September 22. The J’adore aglisia photobooth project is part of the show. The project, which we covered back in 2009, is a collaboration between RAFAA and Ole Krestchmann.

Not so far away in Vichy, France, Instantanés ordinaries have put on an exhibition of photobooth portraits, on view now through September 1. We’d love to hear from readers who’ve made it to either show to hear more about what they were like. Thanks again to everyone who let us know about these events.

Apologies all around for the recent dormant spell here on the blog. My photobooth focus lately has been on figuring out how to get my own Model 14 photobooth out of the shed and across the country, rather than the larger photobooth world. During the last month, I’ve finished working at my job in Los Angeles and will be heading to Connecticut to start a new job. Photobooth.net West will become Photobooth.net East again, just as I was when this site started almost ten years ago. 

I have a few little additions that have arrived in the last few months to present today, but I haven’t sought out much news, and will continue to be occupied with other things over the next month or so. Needless to say, after a perhaps slightly fallow year for the site in 2013, it looks like 2014 is going to be another busy one here at Photobooth.net. Stay tuned, and we’ll keep you posted.

First, our friend Scot at the Massilon Museum in Ohio sent us a short promo video for their upcoming Warhol exhibition, complete with their lovely black and white photobooth for museum goers to take photos in. 

Next, thanks to Tony for sending us an account of his Portland Photobooth Hunt. It was great to read about his travels around Portland, searching for and using photobooths, using our site as a guide. It reminded me of my Chicago Photobooth Marathon a few years back, though his was a good deal more successful than mine. 

Thanks to Marco for sending in photos from a new photobooth location, the Hoxton Hotel in London. The booth, an Auto-Photo Canada machine, looks right at home. We appreciate the excellent sample photo Marco sent, as well. Slowly but surely, London is returning to the map in terms of photochemical machines, which we’re very happy to see. And speaking of London booths, Time Out London published a guide to black and white photobooths in London. Thanks to Sophie for the tip.

We also heard from our friend Jan Wenzel recently, who let us know about his new solo show at the Klaus Kleinschmidt Gallery in Wiesbaden, Germany. These new pieces were created in a black and white booth, which is a bit of a departure for Jan.

Jan’s show is currently open, and will run through September 20. If anyone goes to see it, we’d love to hear what you think.

Tynjanow | Zwölf Porträts (2012) 8 Automatenstreifen
Diptychon als Unikat (Schwarzweiß)
je 42,0 x 62,0 cm (Rahmen)
Verso Signet + Stempel

As we mentioned last week, Berlin and Los Angeles-based artist Fette Sans held an event this past weekend, Fette’s Photo Booth Party, at the Cha Cha Lounge, home to L.A.‘s best color photobooth

Over the course of the hour or so I was there, more than a dozen people worked with Fette to take strips in the booth that incorporated Fette’s photos, photos those of us brought, and both artist and enthusiast alike. 

I talked to a number of people as we watched, waited, and participated, each of whom was enthusiastic and interested in the workings of the photobooth, and we were all excited by the wonderful quality of the Cha Cha’s pictures. 

Each of us took home our own photostrips from the evening, but I hope at some point we can see scans of the collective work of Fette and her collaborators from this evening. 

Thanks again to Joe for letting us know about the event, and to Fette for letting me sit in and take part. It’s always fun to chat with an articulate and enthusiastic photobooth artist. It was a great evening, and I hope her efforts inspire more photobooth interest and work in the future.

We’ve received a copy of Lou Southgate’s new book How to photograph absolutely everything in a Photobooth, which she recently completed and has made available for purchase on Blurb. The book, subtitled “Volume #1: Elements of the Photobooth,” is an earnest and comprehensive guide to taking pictures in the photobooth, taking into account topics such as framing, focus, cropping, and exposure. 

The book primarily uses digital photobooths as its examples, but features a few photochemical strips to demonstrate different possibilities. As Southgate put it in a statement, 

The work I make responds to and is influenced by amateur photographic practices — which is to say a practice that survives through a social or seasonal desire (holidays, weddings, christmas). I discovered my obsession for Photobooths when I was looking for a cheaper alternative way into photography and I began this research by testing the Photobooths ability — both analogue and digital — to perform as an everyday camera. This developed across a period of 4–5 months and I was inspired at this point to create a book of my findings.

Southgate also has a Twitter account for the book, talking about the book, historical examples of photobooth art, and other photobooth-related topics. 

We look forward to further editions of Southgate’s work. As she says, “Elements of the Photobooth is the first in the series. The following volumes will include people, animals, gardens and landscape.”

Thanks to Joe for pointing our attention to an event happening in Los Angeles this weekend, Fette’s Photo Booth Party, organized by the Berlin and L.A.-based artist Fette Sans. Using the lovely photobooth at the Cha Cha Lounge, Fette will be photographing participants and their photos in various combinations. In her words,

I have been using photo-booth as a way to blur out intentions and ownership. I print my photographs large enough so they cover the whole range of the photo-booth lens and let them be re-photographed. The result offer this odd quality, something similar to those of found photographs.

With this event, I want to play with the real/fictional by combining people and photographs within the frame, blurring out people and people in photographs… By asking people to bring their own photographs, I also want to remix personal stories by switching photos and people, creating little scenography. 

I plan on being there, and I hope other Los Angeles-area photobooth fans will stop by and participate in the project.

Next weekend, Anthony Vizzari of A&A Studios and visiting artist Meags Fitzgerald will give the first of three photobooth workshops at A&A in Chicago. Check out the description of each workshop and sign up if you haven’t already. We can’t wait to see some of the work that results from these sessions.

Workshop One: In Front of the Camera : 10/27/2012

This workshop will give you an introductory knowledge of photobooth mechanics and chemistry. A lecture on photobooth art will show you the possible effects you can achieve.We’ll focus on effects you apply before the photos are taken; experimenting with exposures, filters, gels, mirrors, magnification and external light sources.

Workshop Two: Going Beyond : 11/3/2012

We’ll re-contextualize what photostrips can be with a customized backless analog photobooth being built just for this workshop series. (Think…full body photos!) With it we’ll experiment with focus, wide angle lenses and taking photos at a distance. There will be a short lecture on the workshop’s theme so you can start thinking of larger scale pieces.

Workshop Four: Advanced Techniques & Open Lab : 11/10/2012

This open session allows you to plan and produce your own photos, applying all the skills and techniques from the previous workshops. The instructors will be on hand to help you plan and execute your concept. 

The wonderful exhibition of photobooth art and history known as “Derriere le rideau” opens in its third and final location this week, at the Kunst Haus Wien in Vienna, Austria.

The exhibition has been installed, the booth is set up, and the opening reception is tomorrow, October 9. The exhibition will run until January 2013, and we encourage anyone with an interest who hasn’t had a chance to see it in Lausanne or Brussels to take the opportunity now. The photographs and other works collected in the show will never be assembled in such a way again, and it’s a real sight to see for the photobooth enthusiast.

We look forward to hearing updates from those who attend, and we’d love to post photos and reports from the lucky visitors.