c1940 portrait from a Photomatic booth courtesy Sean Nolan
Toronto. You can pick these little portraits up at one of our events. Nowadays, photo booths give us a few portraits in a short strip of prints.
Sean Nolan has taken the time to date the Photomatic portraits using the frame design. His current release is available here in pdf format. The guide includes this link for other books and updates to the guide. Sean’s work also appears on page 3 in our May 2018 newsletter, 18-01.
In the May, 2008 issue of Photographic Canadiana, George Dunbar wrote a review of the book, “American Photobooth” by Nakki Goranin. George also found a 1927 article in the magazine “Science and Industry” that illustrates how the booth works. And he managed to locate a booth up here which was written up in our Journal (vol 33-1 for May, 2007).
Sean’s guide begins, “The photo booth was a private place where, hidden behind a curtain, you could take your own portrait. These pictures, taken without professional supervision, are wonderfully informal and often reveal a spontaneity and sense of character not found in more formal portraits of the period. The photographs range from staid passport photos to wacky strips where you could act out a scene in four poses.
“The photo booth was also a place where society’s censors could not enter. Gay, lesbian, or interracial couples could embrace in privacy. Risque self-portraits were possible long before the advent of the Polaroid camera or digital photography.”
