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The photo booth endures...

In the not too distant past, it was a familiar attraction at boardwalks, fairs, and train stations. The red curtains, the swivel stools, the grime and spit on the floors all adding to that delightfully tacky and wonderfully popular experience of having your very own miniature portrait taken by a robot in a box. In went you and your date in all your awkward teenage glory, away went your money, and after a brief moment of obscure alchemy, out came proof that you and Suzy really did snog at the county fair. What a beautiful reminder of those fleeting moments of human interaction! It didn't matter how it happened, how that little strip of black and white pictures came to be; the process was secondary to the product. Regardless, we returned time and again to make sure that it wasn't a fluke, to make sure that we had something--anything--to remember how we looked and felt at that exact moment in time. We stuck these little strips in albums, hung them on the fridge, mailed them to loved ones, scribbled sweet nothings on them, and, when they ran their course, ripped them up in disgust. They were the original profile picture. That toss-away strip of images was worth more than the paper it was printed on solely because it had the power to evoke such emotions. And that is exactly why the photo booth has endured. It holds behind its front a mysterious allure, a sort of curiosity that beckons the sitter to pose and reveal small glimpses of the collective human condition. That solitary act of pulling the curtain closed and sharing flashes with a mechanical photographer has a certain draw, an almost confessional appeal, as if we are more apt to show our true name when we are sure no one is looking. The photo booth portrait is more than just a picture. And yet, where have all the photo booths gone?

To be frank, the photo booth has never really gone away. We can still find them tucked in a seldom visited corner of the mall or at the entrance to roller coasters. They remain the tacky and delightful digression from the task at hand and still produce a take-away account of a small moment of life. But something has been forever lost. The magic has been stripped away. The alchemy is gone; the product becomes dictated by the process. The photo booths have been pared down to reflect this transition to a more streamlined technology, and in the process lost the allure. The history is absent, and in its place stands a pipe-and-drape imitation of the past.

But ever so quietly a few of the old booths, the masters of the art, have been slowly awakening from an obscure slumber. No longer timely and efficient, these booths speak of the history and culture they have helped create. They embody the lessons learned from years of trial and error. They hold a post in the records of photographic history. And for these reasons they remain popular today with a small, but growing, number of people who appreciate everything they have to say. They have also inspired the creation of digital reincarnations, booths that recreate the history and magic of the old, down to vintage curtains and stools, but with modern printing technology.

And so, we are proud to present the launch of a company dedicated to preserving the history of the photo booth. Obscura Photobooths exists to continue the appreciation for vintage chemical booths as well as recapture the puzzling magic of vintage photo booths with digital incarnations.