A FAVORITE PHOTOBOOTH PHOTO

What is important about the photobooth is the melding of technology with personal aesthetic.  The paid professional photographer has been eliminated and in his place is this cramped curtained booth with a camera at eye level which allows the subject to take on the role of both observer and subject.  Being both behind the camera and in front of it, so to speak, blurs into one role which allows for the subject (or subjects) within the booth to at times create another persona-to control the visual message about who they are and how they wish to be depicted.  But the subject’s eye is often revealed as a studied knowing eye which in fact winks at the potential viewer of the photo as if to say what is revealed is all a joke- thereby functioning as a hall of mirrors which can deflect the true soul of the subject or subjects captured on film.  Thus the camera is used as a device to not only record identity but to create and manipulate it.  

But then another layer “outside the booth” is placed onto the original photo--that of the collector who now owns the photo.  Below are a few collectors'  favorite photobooths which inhabit a digital world years away from that photobooth strip (and they nearly always were created  in a four photo per strip format) which was eagerly clutched in someone’s hand, passed around to gales of laughter, or cut up and put in a wallet as a remembrance of a happy time, a fun vacation or perhaps an emerging crush with the person sharing the booth.

Robert E. Jackson

In no particular order:

One of my favorites.

Nicholas Osborn
For more on Nick, click here. 

A black cat named Lucky in a photobooth.  Need I say more? I love the allure and mystery behind the black cat. I also love that it was  perfectly hand colored back in the day.  I just got this photobooth and it's easily become my favorite.

Albert Tanquero
For more on Albert, click here. 

This photo is one of seven in this larger size. I also have 40 more regular-sized photobooth images of the woman and her family. There is a photomatic of her as well.  I love their eyes in this shot, not to mention the wonderful painted background.

Erin Waters
For more on Erin, click here. 

Double-exposure photobooth photos I think are really rare.  This photo is magical to me and is one of my top favorites.

Robert E. Jackson
For more on Robert, click here. 

This one just reads well.  It has that bright enthusiasm one gets when even just thinking of going into a photobooth. 



Take this simple exercise with me:

1)Close your eyes right now just for a moment and imagine your going into a one. (No, really just do it).

2) Pull the curtain back and look inside, empty right? Take a look at the seat, and now turn around and look at the mirror ( You're smiling right now aren't you?).

3) Sit down, take a seat and look at yourself.  (Are you getting that tickling stomach yet? You feel it?)

4) Okay, drop your coins in and look at yourself again. (No, that's a stupid smile try something else)
.

5) Now hit the button....................................wait, wait.... (Come on, when is this thing going to...)--

6) FLASH! (Don't worry you have a few more to get it right)

.

We still have photobooths today even when  so many cameras can also make phone calls and I believe it is not the nostalgic factor at all, it’s just a magical state of mind-- even one which is childlike, where anything can happen. One is empowered just to forget who they are and to be anyone they want to be for a few minutes.  

Think about it.  Our love for these booths has not diminished at all.



Randall de Rijk
For more on Randall, click here

This one is nothing flashy, but I have always loved it.  I love her expression, which is almost a glare and I love the pin holding her shirt closed.  My favorite photobooth.  Hope you like it.

Clare Goldsmith
For more on Clare, click here. 

This Popeye is a combination of two genres--the carnival image and the photobooth. I am always surprised to look through my collection and realize I have more of a particular type of image than I think I do. That's why I love it when asked to select a photo according to a theme,  as it makes me think anew about that theme as it relates to the images in my collection.

Sabine Ocker
For more on Sabine, click here. 

In a photobooth there was no one behind the camera. The occupant inside was in control of the outcome of the photograph. Sort of. Accidents in photobooths were common, as common as the magical mishaps that happened when there was someone behind the camera.

People, in a small private space where they can be themselves, in front of a camera, with no one behind the camera. An automated mechanical process. The film is exposed and a narrative is created.

Was the man in the process of sitting next to the woman? Was he whispering? Trying to make her laugh? Or smile?

We'll never know. We don't need to.

Billy Parrott
For more on Billy, click here.

This triple image strip is from a business that has a photobooth for photo ID’s.  I like it because it is uncut and also because of the moody shadows.

Richie Hart
For more on Richie, click here.

Obviously, the star of this photobooth image is the lack of detail in the face. Since the photobooth was designed to take your portrait, this was a photobooth failure. Photographic failures can be wonderfully poetic.

John Foster
For more on John, click here.

I love this young woman, sight seen.  I love her youthful exuberance, her girlishness on the cusp of womanhood, her innocence, her joie de vivre.  It always seems so common, so ordinary, so much the expected, to wish for another person - someone long gone, someone forever unknown, some anonymous being - the happiness and fulfillment that, at bottom, one wishes above all for one's self.  Still, when I look at her, trying on versions of herself, I can't help hoping that she had a Long and Happy Life, and many returns to the photobooth, trying on new faces for the next exciting chapter in her never-ending saga.

John Van Noate

For more on John, click here.

See how young they are? See the way their faces touch, their bemused smiles sublimely curled. They are at an amusement park by a lake and it’s night and the colored lights on the Ferris Wheel just flickered on and off and on again as they walk toward the arcade. Outside the air is growing cooler and, though it’s late September, winter feels imminent. Looming. She is nervous and excited and despite the chilling air, her hand sweats slightly holding his in the photobooth. And she has a secret; a tiny secret like the distant scent of something cooking in another room. She wants to tell him but thinks it best to wait. They are so young and there is yet so much time.

Guy Capecelatro III

Some Women - A photobooth book

For more on Guy, click here. 

A VALENTINE'S DAY or KISS PHOTO

For Valentine's Day, I decided to ask a few collectors to submit a Valentine's Day theme or kiss photo.  I generally hide under the covers all day on February 14th, but the photos below give me hope that romance will come visit me again soon.   Interestingly, amongst the ten photos below, four are same sex couples.   Times indeed are a changing.    Next month, a favorite photobooth photo.  Got one?  Send me a scan and tell me why you love it. 

Stacy Waldman

I decided to submit this color photo since it relates to the theme of kissing, but the photo is not exclusively, in my mind, just a pure kissing photo. I like this image because it could be associated with many different snapshot subjects. However for me, the photo is part of my “red” series of one red object in the photo and it is also included in my photos of “just married” pictures.  At the moment, it is to be physically found among “just married” photos.  Yet it could be in someone's collection of car photos. Or in one's collection of square color photos.  And finally, it also works in either a collection of kissing photos or one of people smoking. When viewed within one photo category, it can look different than when viewed as part of a completely different category.  In one, it might be the best photo of its kind; in another grouping, just an average photo.  That is part of the malleable nature of the snapshot and what I love about the medium. And isn’t love the whole theme of this blog entry?

Robert Jackson

For more on Robert, click here. 

What's not to like?  The wallpaper and the table cloth provide a delicately intricate backdrop to an image with movement and passion. The visual vectors of the pallid arms of the protagonists create dynamism and relate, subtly, to the table legs.  I like that the woman is on top of this particular clinch, though on closer inspection, I'm beginning to wonder if the clinched is not, in fact, also a woman.  That would add a great twist to this act of spontaneous, extroverted amour that took place in a solidly American kitchen fifty-four years ago, on a dark February evening. Possibly on Valentine's Day.

Nigel Maister

www.foundphotographs.com

For more on Nigel, click here. 

Blurry, much faded, scratched, a corner nicked (all of which adds to its allure, its mystery),  this photograph is so intensely private, the women so cocooned in their romantic involvement, that we, the viewers, feel inevitably like interlopers, voyeurs, spies. They need not shed their clothing for us to see it all --- they've shown us everything. And, of course, they've shown us nothing. We are forever on the outside, looking in through the fogged-up window, guessing, wondering, imagining, but never really knowing.
There is in the best of love that crazy wild spinning, like the Dervish, the mind(s) cut loose from the rational, the earthly, the terrestrial. "Fly me to the moon," we say. We're giddy, light-headed, in a trance, hypnotized. 
Of course we're off in our own little world.  Love is a drug, like the song says. Really. The brain chemistry is the same as that for cocaine. No wonder we want it so much. No wonder people kill for love. No wonder, when they can't have it, they wither and die.
But never mind all that. Happy Valentine's Day, kiddies. Hope your ship comes in real soon, or, if it's already there, that it stays tethered at the dock whilst you off-load some Love Cargo. Just remember this, a kiss is still a kiss. A sigh is just a sigh. The fundamental things apply.
And if you don't mind, set your camera up with a self-timer, grab your significant other, and then just forget about it and let yourself go.  If the shot turns out, send me a copy, will ya?  Gracias.

John Van Noate

For more on John, click here. 

Here's my lovey-dovey contribution. Valentiney enough?
I like this one for the composition, the relationship it shows, and the title and detailed information on the back.
Here's what it says:

"Hooked Up"

Seneca No. 8.
3 Foci Lens
Central Plate
Stop 16
Exposure 1/5
Kruxo P.C.

I have gone back to using Kruxo.
They are the best made especially for outdoor work, I think.
The trussel [sic] in the background is nearly 3/4 mi long.

P. Fetcher

Pat Street

For more on Pat, click here. 

Here's a valentine photo I like.  I like to let the photos speak for themselves.

Clare Goldsmith

For more on Clare, click here. 

We see two lovers at the edge of a cliff. I would guess this is a beautiful day in Big Sur, California. I'd like to think the moment and location was so beautiful they pulled off from the winding Pacific Coast Highway and were swept up by the moment-- the soft sun, the sound of distant waves and the kiss of ocean breezes. There's a feeling of infinity and timelessness when you are high above the coast. His arms gently hold hers, and she reaches for his hair. They are becoming one. This scene has taken some time to develop. Literally and figuratively they are "close to the edge" and taking the leap into love. Even someone as cynical as this author has to be envious. One small question I always wonder about with this photo--who took the photo? Were there two couples? Or could this have been a bored or jealous third wheel? Whatever the case, this is a passionate, romantic moment, and I doubt they had any awareness of the camera.

Kim K. Bacon

A new collector

Two men at the beach, Atlantic City, NJ, 1941. One of the first snapshots I ever purchased and still one of my favorites.

Bob Young

For more on Bob, click here. 

Awkward Moment! Vintage photograph, c.1950, Collection of Barbara Levine

BARBARA LEVINE is a collector, artist and dealer specializing in vernacular photography and unusual collections. She is the author of Finding Frida Kahlo, Around The World: The Grand Tour in Photo Albums and Snapshot Chronicles: Inventing the American Photo Album (all Princeton Architectural Press). Her website is www.projectb.com

Gather ye rosebuds, y'all.

Joel Rotenberg

For more on Joel, click here. 

I am intrigued about photobooth shots as they are a "pure" photograph. No shooter was involved in making a decision on how and when to snap the photo. People in a photo booth have 100% say in what ends up in the photo. Ironically, this photo is probably anything but  a deeply romantic, spontaneous moment. On the surface, we see a good smooch with eyes gently closed, giving a sense they are "lost in love." This attractive couple seems to have been kissing quite a long time. However, we know with the photo booth that this must have been quickly posed. Upon closer inspection, the kiss appears to be forced. This almost has a contrived, perfect Hollywood movie feel. His handsome tan goes perfectly with her soft, smooth skin. Her hair looks like it wants to come down in a sexy toss. His perfectly cropped hair and v-neck shirt matches her sleek eyebrow. But, alas, this is a Happy Valentine's Day blog and no sense trying to dissect the projected romance. I'm sure women viewing this photo would enjoy being there kissing him while stroking his chest, and male viewers envision unbuttoning her crisp, white shirt.

David Rheingold

For more on David, click here

Most of us forget all the fondling, knee burns and the lack of sleep one goes through while courting your lover.  This is just a reminder.  Also, a nice touch is the thumb print of the person who printed this.

 Randall di Rijk
For more on Randall, click here.

ANNOUNCING the FOUND PHOTO ROOM on FACEBOOK

Dear friends,

We are pleased to announce our new Facebook page, "Found Photo Room!"

Found Photo Room, created by a small group of dealers/collectors, will be of interest to anyone who loves vintage photography.

Along with sharing some of our favorite images in galleries, we will be offering photographs that are available for purchase. We want our page to be an informative resource and will also be posting links to events, shows, related blog entries, and suggested reading.  Check back often for newly available photos as we'll be adding more on a rotation. You may contact each seller personally for purchase information.

Please take a look and follow us:

FOUND PHOTO ROOM

All the best and happy looking!

Steve Bannos
Joel Rotenberg
Ron Slattery
Mark Sullo
Stacy Waldman
Erin Waters

A CONTEMPORARY PLATFORM FOR FOUND PHOTOGRAPHY by Jason Brinkerhoff

Here is a project I have been working on for a couple of years with a good friend of mine who owns a gallery in New York City.  Working loosely from the shows title, 'OTHER BODIES', we've assembled 65 photographs that present alternative views of the human form as found in vernacular snapshots.  My goal with this show was to reconsider the context and strategies in which Found Photography is curated and distributed.  The show works as a cohesive vision from the point of view of a collector/curator setting aside survey and categorical strategies.  Each photograph is framed and presented for sale in New York's Chelsea art district.

The press release and additional images are available here:  www.ziehersmith.com

A FAVORITE WINTER OR HOLIDAY PHOTO

This month I asked a few collectors to share a favorite winter or holiday photo.  Below are some terrific selections.   Enjoy!

What I love about this image is twofold.  First I find the picture both terribly funny, but also eerily disquieting. It's not quite in focus, and there's a lovely blurred area right of center.  Tonally, the right hand side of the image and the figure of the little girl and the infant are more bleached out than the figures on the image's left hand side. The girl's face looms just a little too large, too close to the camera for comfort. 

It's essentially a domestic scene, but one that is suffused with violence.  Again, particularly unnerving is the pallid little girl with the crying (or yawning) baby.  Her face is a still, blank slate in an image that is otherwise filled with movement and tension.  Of course, the boys threatening the viewer and the dog with their toy guns are both funny but also (more than) a little sociopathic, especially the kid who holds the gun to the dog's muzzle.  One wants to ask: what kind of family is this?  And what kind of mayhem preceded the snapping of this image? 

I think this leads to the second thing that appeals to me about the image: it somehow perfectly sums up my ambivalent feelings towards the holiday season: I find myself looking forward to it and its early evening darkness, warm fires, friendship and companionship, but also terrorized in some sense by the frenzied tyranny of family, forced gaiety, and overwrought gift giving.  Underneath all the bonhomie, the forces of misrule, dysfunction and chaos are lurking, just waiting to emerge into the kind of weird anarchism evident in the image. The picture perfectly sums all that up, and also encapsulates my feelings about the "holiday season" in general--feelings which I realize, now, in writing this, to be more than a little misanthropic!

I saw the image originally on Ebay, bid on it, and lost.  Sometime later, either a dupe or the same image was offered again.   I snapped it up.  It's still a favorite.

Nigel Maister

www.foundphotographs.com

For more info on Nigel, click here.

I love the expressions of excitement, happiness and joy on their faces. The emotions capture the feeling of Christmas day that I felt with my siblings. Their tiger costumes are a whimsical touch that reinforces the family bond. As there are no opened presents in the photo, I assume the costumes were the first gifts opened. As viewers of this photo, we can share in the expectant delights of a very special day which is just starting to unfold.

David Rheingold

For more info on David, click here.

I hope you enjoy this photo! It's actually shot indoors, in a studio. All the snow has been carefully painted directly on the photo. I love fake snow! I once illustrated a book about fake snow, which came inside of a fake snowball -- you had to smash it to get the book.

You can see they are both with cigar...

Ian Phillips
swimminginpictures.wordpress.com

For more info on Ian, click here.

Here's a Christmas/Snow snapshot I inserted into a snow globe from Goodwill.  I shake it up and look at the snow falling in the water with the snow in the snap behind.  Neither are real.  

Photo by John Nichols of Photo by Anonymous.

For more info on John, click here.
  

If you are like me, for a fraction of a second you thought this was pornography.

Our brains are full of trash. But it seems to me media must have put a lot of it there.

Happy holidays, and bon appétit!

Joel Rotenberg

For more info on Joel, click here. 

My selection is a circa 1920 real photo postcard that I purchased a couple of years ago. The card was not mailed and there is no documentation on the back, so the identity of the trio is a mystery. However, I'm not sure if we need to know more, the image is evocative and touching all by itself.

Robert Young

For more info on Robert, click here.

Polaroid, c. 1970.  A color photograph about Christmas that is extraordinarily banal and cheerless.   

Barbara Levine

www.projectb.com

For more info on Barbara, click here. 

This photo is my all time favorite holiday related image, I love the subtlety of it. A million years ago, I thought of making my own line of Christmas photo greeting cards…

Sabine Ocker

For more info on Sabine, click here. 

This one is subtle, an ice storm, it feels like a painting to me.

John Foster

www.accidentalmysteries.com 

accidentalmysteries.blogspot.com
For more info on John, click here. 

A simpler time.

Stacy Waldman

www.houseofmirthphotos.com 

 

Me and Mrs. Claus in our younger days.

Santa Claus

North Pole

FOUND PHOTOS, FOUND MOMENTS by David Rheingold

There's a Henri Matisse saying "Il y a des fleurs partout pour qui veut bien les voir," which translates as "there are flowers everywhere for those who bother to look."  As an avid photographer and also as a collector of vernacular photographs, I'm always looking for fleeting, overlooked moments. Within these little miracles, I look for a sense of beauty or a an epiphany.

Unfortunately, the dust of everyday life blinds our sense to beautiful scenes. Matisse's soul was open to (thrived upon?)  these moments, and he had a great talent to paint these moments. Fortunately, these moments can be also be documented by amateur photographers.

Ironically, it could be argued that the amateur's snapshot may be more likely to echo Matisse's saying than an art photographer's work. The amateur's photo is a spontaneous, heartfelt snapshot while the artist has a more measured, filtered approach.

My selected photographs champion the unknown photographer who recorded a special moment. While we don't know the photographer, perhaps the viewer can share the feelings the photographer experienced.

The "Clothesline" photograph presents us with a gently sloping clothesline which is kissed by a gentle breeze. The diaphanous garments illuminated by strong sunlight suggest a warm summer environment yet the leaf-less trees reveal a much different story. What makes this such an outstanding example of "flowers everywhere" is that this elegant laundry line represents one of the most mundane chores we all suffer through. As a final note, there's the wonderful ability of the photograph to capture the invisible force of the wind,which leads us nicely into the next photograph.

 

In "Convertible" we have some information written on the back of the photograph--"Jeanne - rather wind blown - in front seat of car - taken while riding along Sunday May 4th on way home from Washington." We really don't need this information, however, as we are immediately immersed into the feeling of a convertible on a stunning day.  With just a simple snapshot of her blowing hair, we can all relate to the the youthful freedom of a road trip. The destination or purpose is not of importance. We just want to be part of a carefree moment that would perhaps be forgotten except for this photograph. 

 

 In "Tree Climbing" the photographer points the camera upwards (an unusual angle) at gently winding, leaf-covered branches. Amidst this canopy are a pair of legs poised for greater heights. A seemingly meaningless activity is actually one infused with a sense of exploration with a touch of risk, something we all experience on many levels throughout our lives.  

"Cripple Creek Post Office" makes the eyes dance. We initially view this as dilapidated front that's a hodgepodge of shapes and colors, including a few missing marble tiles revealing domino-like dots. On closer inspection, however, we see a coherent quilt appear out of the randomness. From nature's deterioration of the panels and the door, and the human touches of the signs and posters, we have a tapestry of romantic decay.

I finish with  "Pool" which has a classic snapshot feel. People relax by the pool with a grill smoking in the far right background. The photographer surveys the scene but drops the camera ever so slightly to capture the almost spiritual sunlight shining through the feet of people and then splashing onto the water. The three dimensional people and furniture became a contemplative two dimensional, abstract reflection. This photo reminds us to always look for reflective surfaces and savor their tableau they offer.

For more on David Rheingold, click here.

A LAWSUIT, PHOTOGRAPHY, AND AN IRONIC ENDING by Jimmy Leiderman

It's 1906 in Auburn, New York.

Herbert Phayre, an Indian-born photographer, had established his studio in Auburn 6 years earlier, when he arrived from Canada and instantly became a frequent advertiser in local newspapers. Business was good.

Willard Hoagland, a well-built 5'11" and 170 pound man, originally from Union Springs, New York, was already a known figure in the running track and sporting circles after starting his athletic career in 1879. Hoagland's interest in sports went as far as umpiring major league baseball games in 1894.

Hoagland, now a 44 year old who was known as the 'Champion Heel and Toe Walker of the World,' decided to make a few extra bucks.

Image marketing by selling souvenir photographs at a track meet was not something new, as it had already paid dividends to other athletes.  So why not test the market by working out a deal with Phayre's studio, the most prominent photographer in the city?

Hoagland visited Phayre and agreed on a package of 1,100 photographs at 2 cent each.

Below is the finished product and main object of the commercial dispute that followed the photo shoot.

By April of 1906, Phayre had obtained a judgment against the athlete in the amount of $26.60 (about $665 today) after Hoagland decided to 'walk away' from paying the photographer.

It comes as no surprise that local newspapers began to cover the news. Auburn had a population of about 30,000 by that year, so a legal feud between two of it's prominent citizens had to be the talk of the town.

Hoagland declared that he offered to do the 'square thing' with the photographer and pay for all the photographs that had been sold and return the rest to Phayre, even though the original agreement (according to him) was that the photographs were not to be paid for until completely sold.

A little more than 100 years have passed since the incident and it is not known how the dispute was resolved.

Phayre kept doing business as usual until his death in 1938. His business didn't become a casualty of the Great Depression and he even survived a 1931 fire that consumed his studio and nearly took his life. He lived for 68 years.

Hoagland put away his walking paraphernalia in 1912. After his retirement from the tracks, Hoagland served as a constable of the city of Auburn and even as Deputy Sheriff. He went on to be NY State's Game Protector for more than 20 years. He died in 1936 at the age of 74.

Both Phayre and Hoagland rest in Auburn's Fort Hill Cemetery just a couple of yards away from each other.

This guest blogger ended up buying one of Hoagland's photographs for exactly 1000 times the original price agreed by both him and Phayre back in 1906.

They must be laughing right now.

For more info on Jimmy Leiderman, click here.