A Short History Of Vintage Photo Booths
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As a profitable device, the photo booth has a long history. Long before ours was considered a 'vintage photobooth', the first successful operators and/or owners of photo booths were at the forefront of photographic technology and became rich because of it. The first automatic photograph machine with a positive and negative process was invented in Germany in 1896 and the first photo booth enclosed with a curtain was built and patented in New York City in 1925 by a Russian immigrant, Anatol Josephewitz. This automated photo machine called a "Photomaton" operated in Harlem at a cost 25c for eight pictures printed on a strip that took just eight minutes to develop. He opened a photo studio in Times Square where his Photomaton took over 7,000 pictures a day from 4 am until late with lines stretching out the door and down the road. He sold the patent rights to one of the founders of the American Red Cross for $1 million, the equivalent of almost $14 million today. It took 36 years from 1826 when photography was first successfully executed to 1925 for the first automatic photo system to emerge.
The new owners had the design mass produced in a factory in Queens and eventually took the idea worldwide. This is the same design that has been used for vintage photo booths for almost 90 years. Although the Photomaton design was challenged by many competitors, the first to be a game-changer was William Rabkin with his Photomatic which printed four pictures on a 2" x 6" strip, and has remained the same to this day. Eventually, Photomatic was outdone by Auto-Photo whose owners rented the booths to malls and department store instead of selling them.
The photo booth was most popular during the 1950's with famous people like JFK and Jackie Kennedy who had photos taken on their honeymoon, Elvis as a young man, and Audrey Hepburn and her co-stars. The success of the photo booth industry was slowed by the invention of the Polaroid camera in 1970. The ability of the Polaroid to take larger pictures with different backgrounds and print them almost instantly was a revolutionary discovery that put the photo booth on the decline for a time with photo booths more thought of as tools to take passport photos.
A revolution was brought to photo booths with digital technology. Computers allowed a Japanese company to create sticker booths called "puri Kura" that proved to be very popular with young people and a revival of the photo booth as rentals for parties. Rapid advancement in technology transformed photo booths into large portable enclosures which became the rage especially at weddings during the 2000's. These huge enclosures were transported from site to site on trailers and set up at venues to amuse guests. With the help of computers, digital photos were taken and quickly printed on site.
As technology progressed it resulted in the innovative creation of open booths by Photobooth Supply Company for use by the masses which no longer required the use of a heavy curtain or a large setup. It readily responded to the new social media world where patrons could instantly share images through Instagram or Facebook instead of a printed photo.
What started out as a small business for DIY photos has become an international brand through consistent inventiveness and the future looks bright if the company can keep pace with demanding changes from users who expect exceptionally designed templates with access to a plethora of internet-enabled features.
The new owners had the design mass produced in a factory in Queens and eventually took the idea worldwide. This is the same design that has been used for vintage photo booths for almost 90 years. Although the Photomaton design was challenged by many competitors, the first to be a game-changer was William Rabkin with his Photomatic which printed four pictures on a 2" x 6" strip, and has remained the same to this day. Eventually, Photomatic was outdone by Auto-Photo whose owners rented the booths to malls and department store instead of selling them.
The photo booth was most popular during the 1950's with famous people like JFK and Jackie Kennedy who had photos taken on their honeymoon, Elvis as a young man, and Audrey Hepburn and her co-stars. The success of the photo booth industry was slowed by the invention of the Polaroid camera in 1970. The ability of the Polaroid to take larger pictures with different backgrounds and print them almost instantly was a revolutionary discovery that put the photo booth on the decline for a time with photo booths more thought of as tools to take passport photos.
A revolution was brought to photo booths with digital technology. Computers allowed a Japanese company to create sticker booths called "puri Kura" that proved to be very popular with young people and a revival of the photo booth as rentals for parties. Rapid advancement in technology transformed photo booths into large portable enclosures which became the rage especially at weddings during the 2000's. These huge enclosures were transported from site to site on trailers and set up at venues to amuse guests. With the help of computers, digital photos were taken and quickly printed on site.
As technology progressed it resulted in the innovative creation of open booths by Photobooth Supply Company for use by the masses which no longer required the use of a heavy curtain or a large setup. It readily responded to the new social media world where patrons could instantly share images through Instagram or Facebook instead of a printed photo.
What started out as a small business for DIY photos has become an international brand through consistent inventiveness and the future looks bright if the company can keep pace with demanding changes from users who expect exceptionally designed templates with access to a plethora of internet-enabled features.
