Thanks to all of our readers and friends who pointed us to John Strausbaugh’s article in yesterday’s New York Times. The piece, titled “Coin. Smile. Click!”, focuses on the history of photobooths in Manhattan, mostly through the lens of Nakki Goranin and her new book American Photobooth (which we’ll have a full review of when we get our hands on a copy). Mr. Strausbaugh contacted us prior to the publication of the article, and was kind enough to list Photobooth.net as one of the links in a sidebar to the main piece. 

Read the article online (and be sure to watch the accompanying video). We’ve also archived it here in case it disappears in the future.

Previously, the Times has covered photobooth artists in 2003 and the photobooth scene in Los Angeles in 2005, but I think this is the first time that a photobooth story made the front page of the Times website. 

We’re always happy to help out folks working on photobooth projects, and we’ve received a few (very different) calls lately for photobooth photos. Perhaps some of our readers can help out.

First, Cameron Woo, publisher of Bark magazine, a publication about the “history, art and culture of canines,” is looking for your photobooth photos of dogs. Readers may remember a previous issue of Bark from 2005 that featured dogs in photobooths. This time, Bark is interested in “vintage or, at least, pre-1980” photobooth images of dogs in booths, and readers who would like to submit images from their collection can contact Cameron at cameron [at] thebark [dot] com.

Second, D’arcy French-Myerson, a photobooth artist in San Francisco, is looking for complete photostrips with the following specifications:

“Use a non-digital photobooth (the old-fashioned one with 4 vertical frames). Preferably, use a color booth with a sold background. If in b/w, leave the background white. During each shot, please shake your head as loosely and vigorously as possible without injury. Simultaneously, open your mouth and sigh. Wait for the strip to develop. Please allow it to dry and send me the original:

D’arcy French-Myerson, 1230 Market St. #728, San Francisco CA 94112

You may remain anonymous, or for credit, please write your name on the the back of the strip.”

From Switzerland, where traditional photobooths have recently died off, we received a call for photobooth photos of kids age 12–16 for an English textbook. The pictured student and parents would have to approve the use of the photo, so if you’re interested in getting in touch with the publisher, email us and we’ll pass on the info.

And finally, a project of a different sort, happening this week in San Diego. Jess Jollet writes:

On Thursday March 13th, myself and three other writers here in San Diego will team up with local 60s djs, the Deadbirds, and PhotoBooth rental company PhotoBoof! to host a creative and interactive night at the local bar Whistle Stop. 

We came up with the idea to host an artistic collaborative night surrounding photobooth strips a few months ago. Since then we have been collecting photobooth strips through friends and family, and also bars where people have left their pictures behind. 

Throughout the night the writers will be reading original stories in response to photobooth pictures. The Deadbirds have created a visual that will be a moving collage of the photobooth strips we have collected. Also Gavin from PhotoBoof has generously donated his time and will be bringing his own photo booth to the bar. Everyone will be able to take free pictures. 

The five of us who have been planning the event have had so many interesting conversations and revelations about the magic of a photobooth. The mystery of what happens behind that velvet curtain and the amazing stories in each strip. 

In what could be called a trend, or just a coincidence, or simply overkill, two recent window displays in Southern California Gap stores (and, presumably, Gap stores around the country) have centered on a photobooth theme. The first, seen in February on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, announced the winners of the “Gap Casting Call,” and featured kids photographed in three poses arranged vertically with a white border — a fake photostrip, but, as I thought at the time, pretty prominent placement of the photobooth idea in an ad campaign. I should have waited a month…



Spotted last week and photographed last night at the Gap store on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica, two window displays featuring Andy Warhol’s photobooth portraits. First, a single shot of Warhol, flanked by some striped polo shirts. And second, four shots of Judith Green (last seen at The Warhol Museum) complemented by a cute red jacket and some peach flared pants. Or whatever they’re called. This particular Gap store featured three sets of these windows, alternating down the length of the storefront, which made an eye-catching display. The photobooth as marketing tool lives on.

Some recent additions to the site, as well as photobooth news:

• Photobooth auteur Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the man behind Amélie, directed a video for ’80s French pop sensation Etienne Daho featuring animated photobooth photos, years before he and Audrey Tautou made photobooths hip again

• One of our favorite photobooth locations, Faces in Northampton, Mass., has replaced their color booth with a black and white machine.

• Grammy winner and tabloid idol Amy Winehouse was snapped carrying a framed set of photobooth photos out of her London abode as she prepared to move to the country; apparently this is big news, and you can find photos of the photostrips on this blog, and this one, and on the Daily Mail’s site.

• And finally, this bit is a little old, and we’ll have to do some more research to see what came of it, but Women’s Wear Daily reports on a vintage booth accompanying promotion for designer Stella McCartney’s products at Selfridge’s department store:

McCartney’s brand blitz at Selfridges isn’t just about commerce, however. Caricature artists will be on hand to draw customers’ portraits throughout the two weeks, and a one-man band commissioned by McCartney will play. The designer will also install a vintage photo-booth on Selfridges’ second floor, in which customers can take a shot of themselves for 1 pound, or about $2, which will be donated to the Red Cross. McCartney will make a personal appearance during London Fashion Week on Feb. 13.

Ever since reading about San Francisco’s photobooths in a 2002 San Francisco Chronicle article as I was beginning my photobooth hunt, I’ve thought of the city as a photobooth haven. Never mind the fact that one of the locations in the article had a Polaroid booth and another location had gone digital by the time I was able to check it out, or that the author mysteriously recommends photobooth enthusiasts watch La Dolce Vita (great movie, nothing to do with photobooths) along with Amélie… On a quick weekend trip to San Francisco, we were able to add five booths to the list, check in on some old stand-bys, and confirm some cases where digital booths had taken over.

First, I’ll list a few notes on research done before the trip, based on a few years of mentions, rumors, tips, phone calls, and Flickr evidence (and please feel free to correct if you know otherwise).

• The photobooth at the Elbo Room is digital.
• The photobooth at Seventh Heart was photochemical, but has been gone since February, 2007.
• Treat Street is now Dirty Thieves, and seems to still have a photobooth, but people describe it as “Polaroidesque,” so who knows…
• Jungle Fun & Adventure doesn’t exist in San Francisco anymore.
• My Trick Pony’s booth was photochemical, and “died” in April, 2007.
• Studio Z seems dead; Fat City seems to have taken over, but do they have a photobooth?
• The booth at the 500 Club is a Polaroid booth (as of June, 2007).
• The Cellar doesn’t have a photobooth, and claims not to have had one.
• Studio Z is closed, so that one’s out, too.

Now, for the the run-down: my first stop was at Notte, on Union Street in Cow Hollow. The booth was there all right, but it wasn’t working that night, so I snapped a photo of it, to the annoyance of those in the roped-off section in the back where the booth lived, and moved on. I headed over to The Comet Club, where I’d heard there was a booth, but it was a digital one, so I headed back to the hotel.

The next morning, we headed down to the Embarcadero, and along to the Musee Mecanique at Pier 45. Both black and white booths are still there, and I had a nice chat with the man behind it all, Dan Zelinsky, who helped us out with a finicky bill acceptor and told us about his massive collection of abandoned photostrips. We took a few sets of photos, happy see that these great booths are still in action.

Later on that afternoon, I headed west to the Haight to check out a photobooth at Wasteland, a clothing store on Haight Street.The photobooth is located in the rear of the store, and is apparently used as a dressing room on occasion, as a sign inside the booth testifies. The booth provided very crisp black and white images with a clean white border, and in was good running order.

From Wasteland it was a little over a mile to the Buckshot Bar and Gameroom (which unfortunately comes up as “Buckshop” on Google Maps and has no website), where I stopped in just as they opened to test out their black and white booth. The booth had all of the right elements: photos of dogs, photos of bar-goers in various stages of undress, a half-dressed mannequin and a goose on top of the booth, and a Farrah Fawcett poster on the side. I tried to complete the scene by downing a beer in between the four flashes, and did pretty well, but the camera seemed a little cock-eyed in the booth, and didn’t capture my nearly-empty glass as I held it up. When the photos came out, not only were the sepia and nearly overrun with white border, but image they captured included the light from outside and not much of the entire right half of the seating area. Strange indeed.

After dinner on Valencia Street, we checked out the San Francisco location of The Beauty Bar, an unassuming little place with a few hair salon-style dryers above the seats and some related paraphernalia on the walls. The photobooth took some solid, if a little dark, black and white photos, but the mechanism could use a little adjustment, it seems: our photostrip received a half-inch gash in the top frame on its way out.



On Sunday morning, before heading to the airport, I made one more stop: the RayKo Photo Center, not far from SFMOMA and the Moscone Center on Third Street. Michael Shindler’s beautiful 1947 Model 9 booth sits at the far side of the front area of the building, all gleaming metal and curved walls. The booth wasn’t working that day, but I had a nice chat with Michael about it, and Ann showed me some of the many photostrips the booth has produced, plastered on the walls. I poked around inside the booth and took a bunch of photos. I look forward to a return trip where I can see the booth in action.

Almost all of the photobooth locations I didn’t have a chance to check out this time around are in a pretty small area, which would make a good night’s work for a Photobooth.net reader. These aren’t all confirmed locations, but are places I was going to check out out if I had time: Annie’s Social Club, The Transfer, The Endup, Cassidy’s Bar, Club Six, and Thee Parkside Cafe. Let us know what you find…

More European photobooth news this week, as we’ve belatedly posted a little information about a recent project undertaken by Sleep Club, a.k.a. artists Dell Stewart and Adam Cruickshank, at Takt Gallery in Berlin. Simply put, they

…made some flocked Schlaf Klub tshirts and wore them while we slept in six different Photoautomats in Berlin. We took a lot of pictures and made this little installation as a result.

Check out more pictures of the beautiful and gigantic blown-up photostrips on their website. Thanks to Adam for letting us know about the project.

We’re continually struggling against the tide of New Yorkers here at Photobooth.net West, never quite reaching that magic place where we’re ready for the newest issue when it comes, so it took until this week to make it to the December 24 & 31, 2007, issue. The Books article, titled “Visual Trophies,” by John Updike, focuses on the history of snapshots in America, which he describes through a review of the book The Art of the American Snapshot 1888–1978, the catalog for an exhibition of the same name at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.



It’s an interesting piece, and the exhibition and catalog sound intriguing for anyone with an interest in the history of photography as told through amateur, vernacular, anonymous photos. Somewhat strangely, though wonderfully, the article is illustrated with a half-page photo of a beautiful old photobooth, photographed by Harvey Stein, with a woman’s bare legs visible where the curtain should be. Below the large photo are five smaller portraits: four photobooth photos and one photo which might typically be called a snapshot. While we were excited to see photobooths so prominently featured, the article has precious little to do with photobooths at all, and we were left wanting a little more. 

Updike follows the history of the snapshot as it is laid out in the book, and when dealing with writer Sarah Kennel’s section on 1920–1939 (titled “Quick, Casual, Modern”), he describes the way the easy-to-use cameras that were becoming commonplace at this time made all sorts of photos possible:

A number of somewhat racy exposures hint at the camera’s significant role as a de-inhibitor, an enabler of what Kennel calls “home-grown pornography.” Nudes in provocative poses were among the earliest fruits of big-box, slow-tech photography in the mid-nineteenth century; something about the camera’s impassive appropriation of whatever is set before it invites, like a psychoanalyst’s silence, self-exposure.

He then quotes from Nakki Goranin’s upcoming book American Photobooth, in which she describes the way photobooth users were “stripping off their clothes for the private photobooth camera.” This is, obviously, an important observation and an interesting indicator of the power of the photobooth and the sense of privacy it gave to those who used it, but by bringing up this passage as evidence of the way the simple new cameras liberated amateur photographers, Updike glosses over the fundamental differences between a photobooth and a camera used by a typical consumer at the time. A photobooth creates no negatives, and those women taking off their clothes and couples getting adventuresome in the booth were safe so long as the curtain stayed closed. Once their photos came out of the booth, they had all of the evidence, but for amateur shutterbugs who wanted to get a little racy, there was still the shame of sending the photos away to be processed by Kodak or dealing with the knowing glances of a drugstore photo counter employee. For an entire article about amateur photography, it seems odd to base a point around the way photobooth photography works, as well as to illustrate the piece with photobooth photos. Photobooth photography sits somewhere between amateur photography, studio photography, and automation, and it seems that the distinction between snapshots and photobooth photos still needs to be made a little more clearly. 

Photos: Top © Harvey Stein. Bottom 1, 4, and 5: Nakki Goranin; 2 J.F.K. Library; 3 Collection of Robert E. Jackson.

The eighty-year history of the photobooth is filled with little detours and fascinating stories; one of those that has just come to our attention recently is the history of the Phototeria.

Thanks to photography historian George Dunbar, we can now learn about the story of David McCowan and his Phototeria, a late 1920s photobooth that placed a single photograph onto a photosensitive metallic disk. Dunbar tells the story in his article “The Phototeria — A Canadian Invention” in the most recent issue of Photographic Canadiana, the journal of The Photographic Historical Society of Canada.

Thanks to George for letting us know about his article, and for his permission to post the PDF on Photobooth.net and let our readers learn about it.

Phototeria photo by George Dunbar

That’s certainly not a word, but I’m sick of using the term “roundup” to describe one of these omnibus photobooth news entries. Maybe I should have just used “omnibus,” actually. Anyway, we’ve found a few brief items of note to relay here, and in the new year, we’ll have more news on the photobooth art front from Spain and Italy. 

• One item that has been circulating the art news blogs recently tells of the work of Joe Heidecker, who used a photobooth to help him cover chairs in photos of design fair goers in Miami. Read all about it on the Dwell blog, and be sure to check out the “Design Miami 2007” video on the New York Times website.

• Max Kozloff’s new history of portrait photography features some photobooth photos, according to a Guardian review:

Kozloff favours anonymous faces and everyday locations: he makes room for discarded strips of photo booth portraits, but not for the celebrated sitters of Karsh, Bailey, Leibovitz or Testino.

• According to a recent LAist post, musician and artist (and photobooth photo collector) Mark Mothersbaugh’s “Rugs During Wartime and Peacetime” exhibition and sale at a gallery in Culver City, California, featured a booth:

They had the requisite trendy photo booth, which we avoided. Everyone’s butt looks fat standing in a photo booth. 

• Photobooth.net reader DaveX’s giant gallery of photostrips shows the wide variety of lighting, contrast, and chemical variables that can have an effect on the final strip. And if you’re into seeing the owner of that same photobooth mugging for the camera, take a look at the gallery of 357 photostrips of the owner, also impressive and fascinating.

More bad financial news for Photo-Me is not necessarily noteworthy, but the field day the UK press are having with headlines is somewhat amusing. 

While the Independent goes with the mundane “Photo-Me stock dives 8 per cent after warning it will go into the red,” In the News and the BBC match “picture” puns with “Sorry picture for Photo-Me” and “Bleak picture for Photo-Me sales.”

My favorite, however technologically inaccurate, is from This is Money, who declare that “Photo-Me investors get the negatives.” Nice.