Remember that time you took a goofy photo in a photobooth with your best friend, main squeeze, or maybe your brother or sister? Maybe you were at the state fair, an amusement park, or an arcade. With the curtain pulled shut, you twisted your bodies into crazy, regretful poses, hamming it up for the camera behind the mirror. After inspecting the strip of photos, you’d do it all over again, but this time bigger and crazier than the time before. This time your tongue touched the bottom of your chin, or you were just about able to make your nose meet your eyebrows with the help of your thumbs. Fun stuff. But where are those photobooths now?
Well, there’s a bevy of them right down the street at 312photobooth, 128 W. Harrison St. A division of A&A studios, which offers a variety of photography services and equipment, 312photobooth opened at this location in the fall. Conveniently, owners Anthony and Andrea Vizzari live just a few blocks away, making the Oak Park Arts District a logical location for their creative company.
The Vizzaris started their dream three years ago when they bought a booth and hoped just to break even on their investment. But in that first year the concept caught on. Anthony made connections in the photobooth world and began buying vintage booths whenever he could. The trouble was the machines were incredibly heavy (up to 1,000 pounds) and high maintenance. Not an ideal combination for one-day rentals.
They decided the sensible thing to do was to place the half-ton models in local bars and clubs, and to sell them to individuals all over the United States and Europe. Meanwhile, Anthony had an idea for making his machines mobile. A photographer since his high school days and a trained architect, he began building 1960s replica photobooths with digital components, which are lighter, break down into smaller pieces, and are far easier to operate than the old-fashioned chemical booths. It was the best of both quasi-Kodachrome worlds. As their company website exclaims: “This is not a cheesy tent! 312photobooth offers the true photobooth experience with all the advantages of digital technology. These are REAL photobooths!”
So real, in fact, that they have histories. “Betty” is an original 1960s refurbished Model 20 who used to live on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Md. Now she stays at 2076 N. Hoyne, at the Charleston. “Paula” (I think I might have met her in my childhood) comes from the Texas State Fair, but now you can find her hanging out at the Rocking Horse, at 2535 N. Milwaukee. And then there’s the teal-and-red beauty, “Catalyst,” which is a refurbished 1970s Model 20 custom designed by 312photobooth to fit the unique style of Catalyst Ranch, at 656 West Randolph.
Anthony and Andrea started buying photobooths in 2007. They were planning their wedding when they heard about another couple who had rented a vintage photobooth for their own nuptials. The Vizzaris did some research and quickly became obsessed. Anthony taught himself how to maintain and work the booths, a fairly complicated task since the machines aren’t as simple as their unassuming looks might imply. In fact, an onsite attendant with rentals is part of the value of renting from 312photobooth. If something happens to go wrong with the machinery, it’s not a death knell for a feature attraction of your event.
Ever since Anatol Josepho arrived on Broadway with the first photobooth in 1925—charging 25 cents for eight photos—the kiosk with a curtain has been an outrageous hit. Just three years after inventing it in a dingy ping-pong shop in China, this socialist from Siberia was paid $1 million by American business leaders for the idea. Clearly, the photobooth is a machine that has captivated our hearts from the beginning.
Some say the allure is the sense of privacy behind the curtain. Maybe it’s the special occasion, unusual location. Maybe it’s the heightened awareness that you’re capturing a moment in time. Or maybe it’s the fact that there’s not a person behind the lens making you nervous and self-conscious. Whatever it is, the appeal is universal. As Andrea said, “Everyone loves a photobooth! If you don’t like photobooths, there’s probably something wrong with you!”
So far, the popularity of these mini photo factories has paid off. The company now owns about 30 booths, many of which are placed in Chicago venues. The remainder are for sale or for future placement, and they have three digital photobooths reserved for private rentals. In the past year they’ve had nearly a hundred rentals for weddings, conventions, store openings, and parties. Continuing on that upward trend, they will place more booths and build more custom models.
They’ll also expand their retail storefront to include analog and vintage photography items, including Polaroid-style and lomography cameras, as well as retouching services for old photos. To top things off, they will host monthly exhibits of photography-related art. For the Vizzaris, the real passion is in creating something new while preserving what otherwise might be lost. For photobooth fans, that’s a picture-perfect plan for the New Year.
If you would like to learn more about 312photobooth, visit 312photobooth.com or call 877-587-2508. Stop in weekdays between 11–6 and take a photobooth photo for three bucks!
This article originally appeared in the Buzz Café’s newsletter and is reprinted here with permission.
