Celebrate 100 years of the iconic photobooth with a range of pop-up events around the UK organized by Autofoto

A range of major shows celebrating the 100th anniversary of analogue photobooths is coming to the UK, including an exhibit at The Photographer’s Gallery, London.

The celebrations are hosted by Autofoto, a group of analogue photobooth experts based in London and Barcelona, who have been rescuing and restoring original auto-photography machines for over a decade.

The restored machines are in various locations around the two cities where people can experience the fun of the original photobooth, including hotel receptions, food courts, and contemporary art museums.

Founded by Rafael Hortala Vallve in 2009, Autofoto has also recently helped to establish Scotland’s only analogue photobooth stationed at Stills Center for Photography in Edinburgh. Its mission to find contemporary spaces for the analogue booths has helped see a resurgence of photobooths in public spaces and in public art.

The events kicked off this month at London’s Spitalfields Market, with the Real Life Project celebrating selfies and self-portraits incorporating the market traders, and continue throughout the year.

In the fall, The Photographer’s Gallery in London will celebrate the anniversary with an exhibition highlighting the history of the photobooth and some of its photographer fans through the decades. There will also be a booth on-site at the gallery for everyone to create their own selfie souvenir to take home.

Speaking to Hortala Vallve, she told me, “The intimacy of the studio space where you can just about fit one person makes the moment where pictures are taken very intimate. The beauty of the booths is also the idea of photographer-less photography where it is a machine that flashes every six seconds without the chance of re-shooting or waiting extra time.

“Unlike with current digital photography and smartphones, this very regimented structure frees up the subjects as there is not too much thinking and infinite retaking of pictures.”

Restoring the photobooths is a long labor of love, “and I usually feel quite attached to the booth and keep it under our care,” says Hortala Vallve.

“First, we gut the machine by removing all parts leaving a bare wood cabinet. This allows us to repair the wood which can be quite damaged due to the corrosivity of the chemicals and more generally the damp conditions inside the booth (and outside damp when the booths have been in outdoor locations).

“All metal parts are sandblasted and repainted. Currently we are also installing new wiring (called the harness) which we have redesigned and is produced by a company that makes electrical harnesses for off-road motorbikes. We then proceed to install newly restored parts: trigger unit, delivery unit, feed down, camera and the strobe which controls the flashes. All in all, this process takes a few months.”

The cameras in the booths are specific to Autofoto, and fairly simple to understand.

“A motor makes the shutter open four times and each time it opens it activates a microswitch that fires the flashes, “ says Hortala Vallve. “In between each shutter opening, two rollers push the photo strip down so that each exposure is on top of each other.

“After the four pictures have been taken and the carrier is ready to 'dip and dunk' the strip into the chemicals, the strip is cut with a guillotine activated by an electromagnet. Inside the camera there is a prism that projects the image into the side of the camera and an approximate 100mm lens just before the frame where the emulsion side of photographic paper slides.

“In order to focus this lens, one needs to unscrew a bolt that holds the lens and move it back and forth. Focussing the lens is a matter of trial and error (we move the lens, then close the camera, shoot a test strip and check the focus) this is normally only done when installing a new serviced camera in the booth.”

You can find out more, including the locations of photo booths in London and Barcelona, at the Autofoto website.

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