American Photobooth - Nakki Goranin

How did all of these orphaned photos come into my life? For twenty-five years, I have been collecting all types of historical photos, which have influenced my time and vision in the darkroom. The past ten years or so I have focused on searching for photobooth pictures. These tiny time fragments can be found in garage sales and auctions and on the Internet. Like the forgotten images they are, it has been impossible to track down the original owners or their families. Traded, packed in old scrapbooks, outliving the smiling faces, all these photographs have finally found a home in this book.

I never thought about collecting photobooth pictures, but after reading this book, I am tempted. The collection of photo strips in this book take you back in time and into candid moments in people's lives. It seems everyone is having a good time in a photobooth and the photos are fun to view. Now, the photobooth with the advent of digital cameras and phones with cameras, is going the way of pinball machines. I loved looking at the photos in this book with such an innocence portrayed in the privacy of the booth. I also smiled at the silliness that the booth and camera can bring out in people.

The first part of this book is a history of the photobooth. It documents the original idea of a camera, studio, and photolab all in one compact unit. It is a story of inventiveness and entrepreneurship. Photobooths produced nice incomes for many people throughout much of the twentieth century. From Woolworth department stores to County Fairs and Boardwalks, the photobooth produced inexpensive memories for the average person.