105/365

photobooths visited, from earliest personal memory to present:

six flags (st. louis, mo) (1970-something)
woolworths (somewhere in illinois) (1979)
mall drug store (bloomington, il) (multiple visits,1982-1988) 
shopping mall (st. louis, mo) (1984)
k-mart (milford, oh) (multiple visits, 1988-1989)
department store (tokyo, japan) (1989)
ed debevics (chicago, il) (1990)
hickory point mall (decatur, il) (multiple visits, 1989-1991)
forest fair mall (cincinnati, oh) (1991)
pharmor drugs (atlanta, ga) (1992)
six flags (atlanta, ga) (1992)
six flags (st. louis, mo) (1997)
soho gift shop (new york, ny) (multiple visits,1996-1999)
diner (houston, tx) (2001)
star bar (atlanta, ga) (multiple visits, 2003-2006)
city museum (st. louis, mo) (multiple visits, 2003-2007)
company christmas party (atlanta, ga) (2005)
outdoor mall (myrtle beach, sc) (2006)
unknown bar (new york, ny) (2006)
midtown shopping center (new york, ny) (2006) 
mall of georgia (suwanee, ga) (2006)
ace hotel (portland, or) (multiple, I mean muuuuultiple visits, 2007-2014)
little finnegan's (portland, or) (multiple visits, 2007-2012)
rose festival city fair (portland, or) (multiple visits, 2008-2011)
the florida room (portland, or) (multiple visits, 2008-2012)
musee mecanique (san francisco, ca) (2008)
haight street vintage shop (san francisco, ca) (2008)
house of vintage (portland, or) (multiple visits, 2009-2013)
voodoo doughnuts (portland, or) (multiple visits, 2010-2012)
archie mcphee's (seattle, wa) (multiple visits, 2011-2014)
ace hotel (palm springs, ca) (multiple visits, 2012-2014)
rayko photo center (san francisco, ca) (multiple visits, 2012-2015)
west egg cafe (atlanta, ga) (2011)
bon-ton (paris, france) (2013)
novelty shop (port townsend, wa) (2013)
gift shop (savannah, ga) (multiple visits, 2015-2016)
criminal records (atlanta, ga) (multiple visits, 2015-2018)
ace hotel (portland, or) (multiple visits, 2015-2018)
ace hotel (new york, ny) (2015)
the smith (new york, ny) (2016)
cargo (portland, or) (2018)
quimby's book store (chicago, il) (2018)
ace hotel (new orleans, la) (2018)

photobooth friday

photobooth friday! it's been a minute. 

struck photobooth gold in the city of new orleans, folks. first family photobooth strip in four years, first solo photobooth strip of ezra in four years and the last photobooth strip of ward in his forties. gold, gold, all of them, gold.

photobooth friday

in a photobooth (or not in a photobooth, depending on how you look at it), ace hotel, portland, oregon, one month ago. I'll tell you, it was nice to be in a city with real photobooths again. atlanta, where are your photobooths? your old-school dip-and-dunk style chemical photobooths? where? and don't tell me west egg cafe because that thing never works. also, I don't think those people there even care.

anyway.

in other news, it's friday. 

you guys. 

IT'S FRIDAY.

photobooth friday

behold: the last photobooth strips taken in that late, great city of ours. on our last day, our very last hour in portland, oregon. when I saw that the booth at the ace was working that day, I almost fell to my knees with gratitude.

but here's the thing. I've lost them. somewhere along the way, they vanished. in the midst of all the traveling, the packing and unpacking, the getting in and out of the car (and in and out and then in and out again), and then in and out of motel room after motel room and then all the unpacking of the suitcases once we arrived here in atlanta, and the unpacking of all the boxes, and the shifting around of a hundred million things, is it really any wonder?

still, I'm heartbroken. I never lose things like this. I've turned the house upside down but, nothing. nothing but this measly little iphone image. I can't help but wonder, will someone eventually find them? somewhere down the road? and wonder who we are? wonder what our story is? will we turn up at the fleamarket fifty years from now? will we be someone's fleamarket find? one can only hope. you know, a girl can dream.

photobooth friday

(san francisco, musee mecanique, june 2008)


(san francisco, rayko photo center, june 2013)

five years, just like that. there are differences, yes, but the big one: I did not have to pay a nine year-old ezra to sit still in the booth. I did not have to ply him with money. progress, people.

photobooth friday

parisian edition, in which we are very wiggy, very duck lippy. and shrouded in photobooth chemicals gone slightly awry. but that's sort of what I live for, photobooth chemicals gone slightly awry. parisian photobooth chemicals gone slightly awry? even better. ava's face in that bottom right frame? best.

p.s. I would officially like to thank irene nam for making sure we did not leave the city of paris without a trip to bonton's photobooth and whose own photobooth hijinks from said day shall soon be featured here for all the world to see.

photobooth friday

this past summer: he turned nine, she turned thirteen. and, per our yearly tradition, we marked each birthday with a photobooth strip. I see them both so clearly here, so much of who they are. I look forward to the day we can lay out each strip, year by year. look at who they were at different ages, how they've changed. or haven't. I really look forward to that day.

but I'm in no hurry, no hurry at all.

photobooth friday

19th wedding anniversary, properly celebrated. with pretty drinks and fancy food and a trip to the photobooth. nineteen years. nineteen years. sometimes it feels like we are light years from who we were when we stood together in that church on september 3rd, 1994. and we are. but then sometimes it feels like no time has passed at all.

this time next year? twenty. and we've got big plans. big plans, friends. here's hoping we can pull it off.

photobooth friday (birthday edition)

years one, two and three.

years four, five, six and seven.

and now, year eight.

see? see how long his hair is now? he claims to have a hair hero of sorts at school. a hair mentor, if you will. a boy in sixth grade with sandy brown (stick straight) hair past his shoulders. we think this is hilarious but of course, we never laugh. we speak of the hair mentor with great respect.

year nine, year nine. what will your photobooth strip look like?

photobooth friday

cousins, cupcakes and photobooth strips on the last day of the year. which there was talk of earlier but now there's proof. proof that these are things that go together. that this is, indeed, a spectacular way to end a year.

walked away with: a total of five strips (every combination in the booth possible, trust me) and a strange new affinity for coca cola-flavored cupcakes. 

p.s. should you find yourself in atlanta anytime soon, a trip to west egg cafe may be in order.

p.p.s. ava and ezra belong to us (duh) but those other cuties belong to my brother and my sister-in-law. man, we miss those guys. we miss those guys so much.

six years!

of photobooth friday! how is this possible? wait, don't answer that. this I do solemnly swear: as long as there are photobooths, I will be jumping into them. and as long as I am here on the internets, I will be sharing.


p.s. that is ezra up there, top row, second frame. THAT IS EZRA.

photobooth friday

on a sunday, because that's how I'm rolling these days. this was my favorite birthday present, by the way. my absolute favorite.

photobooth friday

I've been thinking about my mom and dad a lot today. missing them in ways that are hard to articulate. looking at ways to get home. hatching a plan.

photobooth friday

this weekend, I'll load up the canon FTb. I'll finish that thing I need to finish. I'll intentionally mismatch my socks. I'll ask my mother-in-law to teach me how to crochet. I'll get on my bike and I'll ride. I'll not steal halloween candy from you know who. I'll not complain about the rain.

you?

photobooth friday

sometimes photobooth frames capture exactly who we are in a particular moment. not always, but sometimes. I'll admit, when the booth first spit this strip out, I was a little disappointed. ezra did exactly what I told him not to do-- that is, move in close and make the crazy face. four whole frames of variations on the crazy face. but the more I look at this, the more I love it. because it's exactly who we are right now. ezra, all goofiness and loose teeth and straw-like bangs. ava, all smiling eyes and soft preteen edges and the kitty cat hat she won't take off. and me in the background-- loving them both so much I can hardly stand it, trying so hard to hold onto them like this but failing miserably. because you can't hold on, it doesn't work like that. so you grab them and put them in a photobooth every once in a while and when the strip comes sliding out, you silently celebrate your triumphant (albeit small) attempt to stop time.

happy mother's day, y'all.

4-0

a photobooth strip taken on the last day of my thirties called for a photobooth strip to be taken on the first day of my forties. but of course.

p.s. thanks for all the birthday wishes. you people are awesome.

photobooth friday

and the very last day of my thirties.

photobooth friday

so last december, I took a little trip to san francisco to see what I could see and visit the people I love. one of the things that happened while I was there is that leslie and I finally got our photobooth strip. after two years and several failed attempts, we finally got our photobooth strip. at a vintage shop on haight street (no less) and not before we tripped the power circuit two, maybe three times and shut down the power on our side of the store. I'd like to think it happened because we were just so stunning and electric that the photobooth freaked out and shut down. though I'm pretty sure it was because said photobooth was old and the wiring in the store was wack. but whatever, I'm going with option A. a little fantasy never hurt anyone.

anyway, I'm excited for next week-- for the show, the workshop, for san francisco. and I'm excited to see the people I love. the countdown is so on.

photobooth friday

photobooth friday on a saturday because I'm on the road and have lost all track of time. checkit, my covet column in the latest issue of uppercase is all about photobooths. also on the pages: vintage trailers, espo's love letters to philly, nina invorm's crazy colorful studio, delancey and vintage luggage labels. oh the love I have for this issue. THE LOVE.

in other photobooth-related news:

my pal brandon's awesome new photomaton and photomaton lite apps. people, I think I'm finally going to have to break down and get an iphone.

a really rad photobooth contest by the folks over at the art of waiting that I am totally going to miss if I don't get my act together.

photobooth friday

I'm writing a little song and it is called I LOVE YOU SUMMER.