photobooth friday

photobooth friday eye candy for all, I say! I aim to start the year off right with a few of my photobooth favorites from around that there place I'm so crazy about. you know, flickr.

am too wrapped up in the glory of friday and the promise of the weekend to post additional photobooth friday linkage. this time next week, you will see a frame or strip of my own here and maybe a special assignment. and yes, more links than you can shake a stick at.

behold the credits:

1. Untitled, 2. Vintage Photobooth Photo, two figures in booth, 3. hi my name is janet, 4. Untitled, 5. Photobooth Friday, 6. Photobooth Friday, 7. like kissing someone through a pane of glass, 8. uncle, 9. Untitled, 10. photobooth friday - me in 1983, 11. photobooth friday, 12. Let's get serious., 13. What's In The Bag?, 14. photobooth friday: late, 15. photobooth friday, 16. Photo booth Friday, 17. You, 18. Untitled, 19. london : 7 weeks., 20. Puffy Shoulders, 21. Photobooth Friday, 22. Untitled, 23. 5-5-07, 24. Untitled, 25. jen and TT gang + tony DETAIL

photobooth friday

(from the new york strips, november 2006)

ah, such big plans for the photobooth this month. plans for headstands in the booth (a la matt) and complicated, contorted body poses plus maybe holding ezra upside down. which he would have totally been game for (no extra coercing necessary). 'twas not to be, my friends. just didn't make it down to the booth. hey, but some people did:



some are from this month's challenge, others are long-time favorites who initially inspired the faceless theme. really I just love seeing those displaced limbs all over the place.

1. photobooth friday, 2. photobooth friday, 3. Untitled, 4. Untitled, 5. PBF Assignment #2-FACELESS, 6. faceless experiment nº2: cara de huevo, 7. Untitled, 8. soon, 9. Photobooth Friday, 10. faceless experiment nº1 (tango shoes): failed, 11. photobooth friday, 12. Untitled, 13. Untitled, 14. Untitled, 15. photobooth friday: BALLOONS!, 16. Untitled

particularly loving wendy's belly. and from the marvelous scrumdillydilly: maryjanes, balloons and pink slinkies. a splendid little hip tattoo from acumamakiki. so much more here. stay tuned for the new challenge. april is for fools. I'm just sayin.

happy friday, world.

photobooth friday

one from the archives because it's friday, peeps. photobooth friday. I guess I sort of forgot about you, photobooth friday. and I'm sorry about that. I really really am. but things are looking up for you. I promise.

making me happy in a very photobooth friday sort of way today:

1. these super sweet photobooth frames from claire and elizabeth taylor

2. this clever parisienne photobooth frame from sproutgirl's mister

3. these animated photobooth frames from square america

4. this homemade photobooth from inchmark

5. this very cute photobooth tee from photobooth.net

6. this very cool photobooth book from musee mecanique

7. these amaaaazing photobooth portraits from square america and the henry ford collection

p.s. hello, santa? numbers 5 and 6 were specifically for you.

p.p.s. photobooth friday, I do believe I have missed you.

photobooth friday

one year later and I still love photobooths. and yes, I still love me some fridays. I think the two have gotten along quite nicely together. sure, they aren't exactly the hot new couple on campus anymore or anything, but they're still cute together. more in the vein of classic-- a la peanut butter and chocolate.

thanks to all y'all for participating, for showing photobooth friday love. when I first started this gig, I thought I'd be sailing alone. I had absolutely no idea anyone else would be interested. and then you all came along with your fantastic photobooth strips and your lovely words and stories and your fridays. if it were possible, I would rent a photobooth and throw a big slumber party in your honor. we would watch scary movies and eat yummy stuff and jump into the booth whenever we felt like it. also, I would make my brother work the turntables so we could dance until we pass out. he owes me one. and don't think for one minute that I am not the kind of girl that wouldn't put aquafresh toothepaste in your hair and paint the words 'photobooth freak' in bright red lipstick all over your face while you are sleeping BECAUSE I WOULD. and then I'd wake you up and make you get inside the photobooth so we would always remember.

keep on keepin on, photobooth friday revolutionaries. if this joint is still cooking 52 weeks from now, well then we had better get our slumber party on. got to start saving my money now, yo. until then, get thee on over to flickr to join the new photobooth friday group. why it's taken me so long to start one up, I'll never know.

and take a lookie at who showed up today:

scrumdillydilly
brina head
the whole self
acumamakiki
a.stray
leSophie

photobooth friday

oh photobooth friday, I have missed you. I just needed a little break from you, that's all. nothing personal. but look at what I have to offer today! steeped in the good and bound to make up for my less-than-stellar weekly participation: a mother-in-law that defies all laws of mother-in-lawness. what I mean is, she's the coolest. and I promise I'm not just saying this because she is reading or because I'm trying to score brownie points. it's just truth and when something is true you say it, you put it out there because you want people to know. so there it is: my mother-in-law is the coolest. and one of my biggest cheerleaders, one of my closest friends plus so loving that you can't help but want to be around her. I sort of hit the jackpot with her and I know it (I've always known it) and now's the time to tell the world. carlene, you're the coolest.



and cuter than cute, cuter than a hundred fluffy bunnies wearing kicky little berets: she was nervous getting into the photobooth. it was one of the first things we all did together back when she visited in august and she was genuinely excited about the whole thing, she was. but she was nervous-- partly because she's only seen the inside of a photobooth maybe once or twice in her life but also because she's been following photobooth friday since the very beginning. she was afraid she wouldn't do it right, that she wouldn't make the right faces or maybe somehow mess the whole strip up. something about this just makes me want to hug her tight and throw a little love party in her honor. but checkit, she's a natural. plus, she's as fun in real life as she looks here. and take a look at this-- ward and carlene were so cute in the booth together, I wanted to cry.



okay I don't even know if one hundred fluffy bunnies wearing berets is the standard for cute. I don't know. I'm pretty sure it might be creepy. but you know what I mean. with all the cuteness, that is.

just look at what I've been missing out on:

wardomatic
jesC
leSophie
matt!?
jördis
keksofant
scrumdillydilly
acumamakiki
nessie noodle
the whole self
kirsten michelle
lindsey alyce
mati rose
lovegreendog
a.stray
voz chica
revivify
pinky doll
camilla
flaneuse
story of my life
freckled nest
marcianneliese
heidiologies
choxiegirl
jennifer clare
jennifer hope
whatsername?
amateur judd
classicgrrrl79
thatbeegirl
danielle T

hey and look at hannah! wow, in the land of photobooth friday, I've missed so much. it's good to be back.

photobooth friday

checkit, we made the paper! we're all still in a bit of shock over it but there we are, plain as day. when ward slapped the tuesday edition down in front of me a week and a half ago, I felt my eyes widen and my mouth drop open. well lookie there, I said. there we are on the front page of the newspaper. how about that?

when the folks from the oregonian contacted me a couple of months ago about photobooth friday, I didn't really think much of it. I mean, yes-- I was excited and all but I wasn't sure how much material they'd be able to pull together for a story. and then, you know, sometimes things just don't pan out. so I was a little surprised when steve (sweetest guy ever) actually contacted me to set up the interview.



we met down at a coffee shop next to the ace hotel, ordered italian sodas and talked for two hours about many, many things. photobooths and blogging (naturally) but also how wonderfully strange portland is, the local modern dance scene and our oddly mutual midwestern roots. as we were leaving the hotel, he asked if I was planning on taking a photobooth strip. yes, I said. I think I probably have to now, right? he smiled and I left the interview with this strip.



then I sort of forgot about the whole thing. I think maybe I was still wondering if it would ever actually come to fruition. the photographer and I couldn't seem to coordinate a time for the shoot and anyway, what? a photo shoot? the thought of it absolutely terrified me. I'm extremely uncomfortable when others photograph me. there are but a few exceptions to this personal rule, though not many (an entirely different subject for another time, one that is as wide as it is deep and then some).

we finally did meet for the photo shoot-- again, down at the ace hotel (I'm like a one-trick pony with all this ace hotel business) but only out of sheer necessity and just a few days before the story was to be printed. bruce was just as sweet and easy going as steve but when I arrived, he was holding a giant-sized camera. so sweet and heavy, I could almost feel the weight of it in my hands. I didn't know whether to make for the front door or grab his beautiful camera and run. I decided to introduce myself instead. even though all I wanted to do was ask him if I could touch his camera. actually, I wanted to hold that big thing and look through the lens but there was no time for anything but a polite introduction and an abbreviated photo shoot. ah, the photo shoot. oh people. I am so awkward with this sort of thing, so awkward. naturally, he wanted to take a photo of me inside the photobooth-- in action and with the curtain wide open. I felt myself smile like an idiot and say yes, of course! though it came out sounding excruciatingly chirpy. I was too nice to tell him no. see, that's the thing about photobooths, it's very private. you get behind the curtain and it's just you and that camera. there's no photographer on the other end and I love that. of course I love that, but what could I do? what did I expect from a photoshoot about a story involving photobooths? I mean, really.



so there I was in that booth, all sweaty and uncomfortable. my smile just a little too bright, my cheeks a tad too shiny. bruce slid the curtain to the side and I swear I could feel the entire lobby watch me as I slipped my three crinkly dollars into the slot. they would all be privy to my silly little photobooth session and of course, there would be bruce, pointing that big fancy lens at me. then the pop and flash of the photobooth kicked in and I don't know what happened. I sort of flaked out. I did things I wouldn't normally do. all the time I was thinking, OMG THIS IS GOING TO BE IN THE NEWSPAPER WHAT AM I DOING. afterwards, when the booth finally spit the strip out, all I saw was cartoon-like cleavage and what looked to be the arms of a giant sailor. clearly, those enormous arms did not belong to me. well yes, they did but denial is a wonderful thing. and then the photo shoot was over and that was that. all I could do now was hope for the best. I was sure I'd made a total fool of myself but maybe they wouldn't show that part? perhaps I was creating unnecessary drama?



turns out I worried for nothing. I'm a worrier, this is what I do, I can't help it. thankfully, there was nothing too incriminating (thank you, bruce) and such a nice write-up (thank you, steve). plus, all over the front page of the living section! what a kick. who'd a thunk photobooth friday had legs like this? I'm both pleased and embarrassed by the attention, if that makes any sense at all. maybe because I think people are probably thinking it's enough already with the photobooth, WE GET IT, YOU LIKE PHOTOBOOTHS. I know, I know. but it's a ritual now, to write the stories down (almost) every friday. it's a creative exercise I'll be slow to part with, even if I stop blogging altogether. who knows why I feel the way I do about photobooths. steve asked me what the big appeal was and I was less than eloquent in my attempt to explain it. I said something about nostalgia, something about aesthetics... blah blah blah. I don't know, I finally said. I don't know. I've just always had a thing for photobooths. he nodded and scribbled something down in his notebook.



so there you have it. my kooky little addiction forever immortalized in the living section of the oregonian paper. you can read the article online here (though there are no photos online and the article sort of doesn't work without the photos). thanks to all who called or emailed to congratulate me, extra thanks to all who have made photobooth friday the sweet little phenomenon that it is. if you'd like a copy of the article, gimme a holler. I'll see what I can do.

and now to make up for much lost time:

mati rose
jesC
scrumdillydilly
acumamakiki
nina beana
matt
a.stray
52 projects
bobby
keksofant
lovegreendog
dirtylipbalm
heeeth
in my shoes
jennifer*clare
gwen
forest tails
jibby
tetchystar
pretty.shoegirl
humansparkler
hi kooky
abbytrysagain

photobooth friday

hi, photobooth friday is officially two years old. I don't know how, but I missed it. a hearty woohoo is definitely in order, even if it is a week or two late.

in honor of this miraculous two year anniversary, I'm thinking it might be time to switch up the scene a bit, you know, shake things up. am thinking monthly challenges might be just the thing. those of you who have regular access to photobooths can choose to participate. or not. you won't hurt my feelings if you don't. really, you won't. it's just something I've been thinking about for a while, something I thought might be... how you say? fun.

the first official assignment (good all the way through this very short month of february) is: TEXT

find ways to bring text into the booth with you. blue skies here, folks-- wide open to all kinds of anything. think handwritten messages, found signage and the like.

assignments are in place for the next several months though I am still combing for fresh ideas and am open to any and all suggestions. please do feel free to leave your two cents worth.

please do check the photobooth friday flickr group for more of the PBF goods. oh, and congratulations to my favorite photobooth friday couple (matt and jördis). they're getting hitched and another raucous woohoo is absolutely necessary. hello, lovebirds? I am expecting steamy nuptial photobooth frames from you in the coming months. in fact, I am pretty much counting on it.

photobooth friday

in our eight days of traveling, we only encountered one real photobooth. that's ava there, behind the curtain. results to come, I promise.

still swimming through a sea of boxes and packing paper. still pinching myself to make sure it's all real.

oh photobooth friday peoples, I have missed you.

hooray for PBF debuts! lookit: my dear friend poetmama and my pal j. yamaguchi

but also:

jesC: here, here and here
scrumdillydilly: here, here and here
the whole self: here, here, here and here
acumamakiki: here, here and here
jordïs: here and here
matt!?: here, here and here
a.stray

other notable newbies (found via the photobooth friday group):
life of a loony
saffron
van
keksofant
indierocket
the lulubird
forest tails

photobooth friday

identical twins jim (my dad, on the left) and john, sometime around 1950.

I'm tellling you, it's crazy how much of ezra I see here in my dad. crazy. oh yes, this is ezra through and though-- right down to the furrowed brow (aka corrona scowl), retro buzz cut and implied stubborn streak. this photo has been slipped into the tiniest little frame and sits among an impressive army of old white vases at my parents' house. I love it, I have always loved looking at it. I hold it close to my face to really examine it, I squint as if I might catch any previously undetected details. in my head, I hear the stories my dad tells us about growing up, about the time uncle john threw a rock at the kid who wouldn't shut up. everyone loves to hear the story about the kid who screamed 'NANNYNANNYBOOBOO' so loud and so long that uncle john finally threw a rock to make him stop. now, whether or not uncle john knew that rock would fly straight into the kid's wide-open piehole and choke the taunt right out of him, well-- I don't know. but that is exactly what happened, that's how the infamous story goes. like something out of a movie. and folks, so many more stories like this. I can hear them over and over and over, I'm never bored. and I never get tired of looking at this tiny photobooth snapshot-- I am in love with the details. the matching striped shirts, how worn out and soft it is with all the folds and cracks and years. oh, I love it.

and the scrappy little twins (who just turned 60 on the first day of summer) went on to lead entirely different lives. fantastically juicy stories for another day, really-- stories that involve: an undercover narcotics cop and high school sweethearts and two hardcore marines and the vietnam war and a purple heart and thirty-plus years of coaching and harley davidson choppers and legendary drug busts and motorcycle gangs and a bible college dean of students and even a bit part in a cheech & chong movie. I'M NOT KIDDING. another photobooth friday, another photobooth friday.

can I get a photobooth friday witness? right on, my sisters:

jesC
the whole self
woof nanny
nessie noodle

photobooth friday

with ava last new years' eve, at city museum

I'm all upside down lately. I'm not even sure what day it is. today feels like a wednesday to me but it's friday. it's friday, yes? I'm somersaulting in ways that may or may not be good for my health. on the homefront, there's much to report: ezra's reaction to buzz, my broken camera, hanging out with lovely meridith (and delightful nathan), my meltdown over an (almost lost) ipod, the breaking in of an easy-bake oven, new heights of exhaustion, and thankfully-- love overflowing. again, my broken camera, my broken camera, MY BROKEN CAMERA. I don't have it in me to weave the words together, friends.

most importantly, there are but three days left in this year of 2006. I would love to be where I was last year-- painting paper new years' hats with ava (see above, the paint was still wet), shooting down long steel slides (skirt flying over my head, exposing my knickers) and hopping in and out of the photobooth with my family at city museum. but I am here and it will have to do.

coincidentally, it was on that two-hour drive home from city museum on new years eve that I decided to start photobooth friday. I was looking at all the strips we had taken that day, thinking of my enormous collection at home and all the stories they held and wanted a little place to share them. thus, the birth of a weekly ritual. I had no idea anyone else would want to participate, fancy that.

(happy happy new year to every last one of you xoxo)


check it, the last photobooth friday revelers of the year:

acumamakiki (and last week, too)
nessie noodle
woof nanny
a.stray
matt!?
jördis
matt and jördis together
leSophie
the whole self

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

I can't apologize for my late photobooth friday postings anymore, I just can't. I am what I am (and that's the trouble, man). mucho thanks to the luminous leSophie for taking over again last friday. lovelovelove to miss leSophie.

the week we moved, I was in major procrastination mode. not unlike my senior year when I needed to complete a huge research paper and waited until the last minute to finish it. and because I never took typing, my dad stayed up with me all night, grumbling under his breath (and rightly so). I can still see him hunched over the typewriter, white-out at the ready. I had the audacity to stand behind him and make corrections. can you believe that? so wrong. I can see that now. so steeped in 17 year-oldness. poor paper never had a chance-- doomed for mediocrity from the very beginning. the teacher wrote something on the back like, 'so disappointed in your work, andrea! I expected more.' whatever.

procrastinating when something major is on the pike is so vintage andrea. I do believe I have taken the art of procrastination to new, exciting levels and intend to use this blog as a platform to school anyone who wants to be schooled. first lesson: ignore all pressing obligations and go dancing. in my case, I chose to blow off packing and painting for a tuesday night run to star bar with my pal amy. so easily justified-- amy really needed me to help celebrate her new job. really, she did. I hadn't been since before ezra was born and that ain't right, people. also, a photobooth was to be involved and we all know I have no willpower where photobooths are concerned.

highlights of the evening include:

1. the playing of a fantastic song-- get it together (beastie boys with q-tip). all the twenty-something hipsters around me were like 'oh wow, who's this? do you know who this is?' and I was all 'yes, yes I do, silly young people'. thus reaping the one benefit of my status as a thirty-something hip hop head.

2. groove-induced euphoria. yeah, that's right-- I used it, I just used the word groove. I can't help it if there was a groove. you can't deny the groove. in fact, I think they even played groove is in the heart that night. anyway, where was I? oh yeah, there was a groove and the euphoric state I experienced was the direct result of it.

3. the playing of a block of old school pre-wacko michael jackson classics. nothing brings a room together like PYT.

4. the top two frames of this sweaty star bar photobooth session.

low points of the evening include:

1. right before I left to meet up with amy, I realized I had no cash. not wanting to risk a late night trip to the atm, I did what any self-respecting groove-craving mother would do-- I raided my child's piggy bank. I can't believe I'm publicly admitting to this, but I did it and I'll own it. I shook that plastic pig so hard we both saw stars. are you reading this in horror? is that disgust in your eyes? well, I can assure you it's absolutely nothing compared to the look the bouncer gave me when I proceeded to pay the seven dollar cover charge in nickels, dimes and quarters. OH YES I DID. how you like me now? a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do. not to worry, every last cent was discreetly returned to the pig.

2. and then there was the moment some girl opened the bathroom stall door on me. I swear to you, she swung that rickety thing wide open and paused for like, an hour before slurring 'sorry' and slamming the door shut. leaving me sitting there like that, totally exposed. I'm telling you, time stood still. every last hint or suggestion of dignity or coolness, seriously-- completely gone. gone with the flush of the toilet. dude, do you know how hard it is to recover from a moment like that? I rallied, though. I had to. standing at the bathroom mirror, I tried to put it out of my mind. contrary to popular belief, there are some things that lip gloss just can't fix. and then of course, the horror of it all came rushing back to me when bathroom girl and I exchanged awkward glances out on the dance floor. just when I thought I was over it.

3. the tragic absence of double dutch bus from the evening's playlist. what gives, dj romeo cologne? we waited all night for it. when the lights came up at two in the morning and we still hadn't heard it, I wanted to cry. okay, not really. but I was genuinely disappointed.

4. the bottom two frames of said photobooth strip. completely blackened by processing chemicals. so tragic. yo, star bar-- you need to get someone skilled up in that booth to MAKE THINGS RIGHT.

5. yes, and what about the lights coming up at star bar at two in the morning? joint used to rock it til four am and now we're shutting down at two? nothing more depressing than looking at a dive club (and your own sweaty self, your own dirty nasty sneaks) under fluorescent lights at two in the morning. oh wait, no-- I think there might be something worse-- the realization that you have to go home and face reality. ears ringing and smelling like smoke.

amy, thanks for the diversion. totally and completely worth it, my friend. next time, the photobooth strips are on me. I promise.

photobooth friday peoples, I have missed you something awful:

jesC
the whole self
woof nanny
acumamakiki

friday: orange

friday is orange is juicy is friday. I mean, friday is juicy like the color orange is juicy-- alive and expectant, all set to pop. at least, that's how I feel about friday. and anytime the color orange is involved.



me and orange, we go way back. I think I was something like six when I decided I liked the color orange. we were cruising through town in our enormous brown stationwagon. the carpenters were playing on the radio (naturally) and the windows were rolled down. I was doing something with my hands and the wind (funny, the little things you remember). and I was thinking about oranges, about how pleasing the shape of an orange was, how sweet they tasted and how convenient it was that they could be pulled apart into neat little sections. I was also attracted to the cold, pitted texture of the skin and the way the scent stained my fingers for hours afterwards. I like the color orange, I thought to myself. orange is officially my favorite color. and I was relieved that this matter was finally resolved because adults were all the time asking me for my favorite color and what was that all about anyway? well, now I had my color and my reasons and I could answer without hesitation and with genuine conviction.



a year or so later, I got into it with my grandma because she tried to tell me that my favorite doll's hair color was actually red, not orange. red!? that's crazy talk, grandma. you've gone kooky in the head. it's orange. ORANGE. I'm looking at the doll's head and I see orange. are you blind? round and round and round we went like that. technically, that doll's hair was orange but I didn't know that people with orange hair were called redheads. it made absolutely no sense to my 7 year-old way of thinking and I refused to accept it as truth. I felt compelled to protect my color of choice. plus, I didn't really want to be wrong about this. shortly after, I started calling people with red hair 'orangeheads', desperately hoping it would catch on. it did not.



anyway. me and orange, we're tight.

p.s. no photobooth friday today. just the orange. I think next week is going to be a big week for photobooth friday. details on that later.

photobooth friday

meet bill and georgia, my maternal grandparents.

bill was a printer (which may explain my love affair with typography) and had his own small farm. he died when I was five, so my memories of him are faint. what I do remember is that he used to get a big kick out of my impromptu tap dancing. I had plastic white dime store sandals that made great clickety-clacking sounds and begged to double as tap shoes. at his request, I danced my little four year-old heart out. this would be my last memory of him-- his slight smile. bill was not one to show a great deal of emotion and so I knew (even at the tender age of four) that his chuckle was not to be taken lightly. I felt as if I'd won a special kind of trophy with his small grin and am girlishly proud of it (even today). besides running a printing shop, he also owned a farm where he lovingly tended apple trees, sunflowers, tomatoes, corn and such. his home-baked bread was legendary as were the lawnmower rides he took all the grandkids on each time we visited. grandpa bill also sent the greatest, most magical packages-- boxes wrapped neatly in brown paper, filled with special valentine, easter, and birthday goodies. my cousin recently reminded me of the time he sent us all flashlights-- which doesn't seem like anything until you remember just how much fun a flashlight can be for a kid. so brilliant, that package full of flashlights. yet there's also a darkness to his past. though now is not the time or place. today I'm all about remembering goodness. he remains a tremendous mystery to me, this photobooth shot one tiny piece of an unsolvable puzzle.

georgia helped bill run the printing shop and sold office supplies on the side. she loved antiques, though-- bought, sold and collected them over and over. (in fact, she just may be responsible for two whole generations of hardcore junk lovers). after my grandpa died, her love for antiques and oddities spilled over into the office supply shop. you could walk in and pick up some legal pads, a nice fountain pen and perhaps an old clock or some fine china. she's a great mystery to me too, my grandma. she's still living, though her mind is not her own most days. I have stunning photobooth shots of her, can't wait to share them here and am saving my words and memories of her until then.

this tiny photobooth snapshot was discovered just recently as my mom was organizing some of my grandmother's papers. up until this point, we had only formal portrait-style photographs of the two of them together, very few candids. I gasped when I first laid eyes on this. I love how shockingly intimate it is-- they're so young and beautiful and well, sexy. so much story there, so much I'll never know. I'll take what I can get though-- forever grateful for this small glimpse. besides, mystery is the stuff from which great imagination is made.


more photobooth friday fabulousness to be found:

my house is cuter than yours
mad organica
jesC
lovegreendog
jackie
cult of degan

and just in case you missed it, check out ticky tacky's photobooth friday post from last week (here). it's what inspired me this morning.

photobooth friday

the little camera inside the photobooth? it loves my mother, adores her. every single photobooth frame I have of her is luminous. this is what I love most about photobooths: they capture people in a way no other camera can.

here, I am loving: the side-turned pose and that lovely brown shoulder, the crisp white blouse (which I like to think is tied at the waist), the terrifically short (albeit slightly crooked) bangs and holy smokes, that smile-- impossibly fresh-faced and full of promise, mi madre. other words that come to mind: giggly. sparkly.

I used to be giggly and sparkly once. I miss it.


other photobooth friday peoples:

poetmama
scrumdillydilly (and last week)
acumamakiki (and last week)
jördis
matt (and last week)
woofnanny (and last week)
nessie noodle
lovegreendog
gwen
jennifer*clare
the lulu bird
jibby
daniel minnick

(daniel minnick! I lovelovelove his work and am over the moon to see him posting to the photobooth friday flickr group. more on him later.)

photobooth friday

taken on friday, november the 17th at the booth in the basement level of the manhattan mall while I was waiting for h&m to open (lookit, jesC and kristen have both been here). then, while I was switching from the red curtain to the blue one, I discovered the background graffiti. better even than the curtains, I say. funny, because later on that night, I went to see david dorfman's revolution at bam (so much more to say about that, so much I don't even know how or where to start) and all I keep thinking about when I look at these frames is how much it reminds me of that performance. which may not seem like anything, but it is.

I'm a little embarrassed of these. maybe because of the expressions, I don't know. I do believe in peace, though. and I am quite fond of my green hat.

anyway.

some photobooth treatlets for today: thanks to poppy for this link to constructing your own photobooth. if only! coincidentally, I've just joined the new flickr fauxtobooth group. absolutely marvelous idea, especially if you're without a photobooth. and here's how folks are trying to bring the photobooth into the 21st century, check it: mark van s. and the shine flickr photobooth in san francisco (thank you very much for sharing, leSophie). although I'd be in a state of perpetual bliss if someone would just please oh please figure out how to modernize the old skool photobooth without robbing it of the old skool charm. all you technology-minded peoples out there, I am begging you. the old booths are rapidly vanishing into the night and without any warning to the world. I guess I could say something here about how we can get a man on the moon but we can't figure out the old photobooths, but I won't. although I already have. feh. as always, don't forget about the folks at photobooth.net, they are so very fantastically, magically delicious (well, in the eyes of this photobooth fanatic). and I have to say it: nice to have a boy in the friday mix. say hello to matt, won't you please? he's balancing out our revolution just a bit. I think it's nice.

ahem, not so much with the writing skills today.

righteous words or not, the revolution lives on:

jesC
the whole self
nessie noodle
woof nanny
acumamakiki
a.stray
jördis
matt!?
leSophie

photobooth friday

on a monday because that's how I seem to be rolling these days. plus, I think maybe I needed a little break from photobooth friday.

I've been missing family lately, more than usual. I'm feeling a little raw over it, wondering how I'm going to make it through the gloom and doom of what I hear the winters are like here. I'll do what I can to get through, but I'm worried. any suggestions, fellow portlanders? or those who live a world away from family? I'm all about proactiveness.

this morning, I am feeling thankful that I pushed my brother nate into the photobooth back in july when he was visiting. and speaking of my brother, all of you who are wondering how you can get your hands on poem's track 'will not be sold'-- it should be available soon on itunes. what I shared with you (with permission from nate, of course) was sort of a special preview. your positive feedback means the world and I promise to keep you all posted.

as for my usual photobooth friday linkage, not sure I'm up to it this morning. if you need a fix, check the flickr group. bound to bring some shinyhappy to your monday morning.

photobooth friday

I don't know these women. I don't have any names or dates. no stories to tell today except that this was the first vintage 'found' photobooth strip that I ever bought.

right out of high school and into my early twenties, I went a little crazy over vintage clothing, hats, jewelry. taken with the notion of old school glamour, I hung dresses, costumes and beaded cardigans all over my walls along side hats with huge roses and veils. I surrounded myself with piles of vintage jewelry, old perfume bottles and posters of ginger rogers and marilyn monroe (went through a real marilyn monroe phase in high school-- I think I even wrote an english paper about the suspicious nature surrounding her death, no lie). so it was sort of love at first sight when I happened onto this photobooth snapshot at a fleamarket in ohio. I was (am) crazy about those smiles, that fantastic feathered hat, the angles and the slight blur of motion in each shot. so alive, these women and I was fascinated by the idea that I knew nothing about them but now owned a little piece of their history. superb entertainment for a quarter, I thought. so it came home with me where I tacked it up along side all my vintage goods. couldn't exactly put my finger on why, but it made me happy.

years later and I no longer decorate my walls with vintage clothing. oh, I still have a little bit of a thing for it but I boxed up or sold most of my pieces. some of it saved for ava, some of it saved for myself. much too difficult to let go of all of it. and I still love old things (understatement of the year, ha, DECADE) and continue to surround myself with it. my tastes have dramatically shifted, though-- as well as the way I display the things I love. the tacked-up photobooth snaps-- those remain. there's something about the quality that's just so rich, so gorgeous (why can't they make photobooths like that today? we should all look so glamorous and radiant). anyway, it's one of the few constants after all these years. something about them continues to make me happy.

and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the story of these women. oh yes I would.


more photobooth friday drama and glamour:

lovegreendog
jesC
pickle-b
mad organica
anatomist
I'm channeling doris day
domestic adventures
meegan blue
lulu's world
wardomatic

(and check out this lovely photo that jenny sent my way. also: a call for entries for an upcoming photobooth exhibit in philadelphia (found on photobooth.net). and if you are so taken with vintage photobooth snapshots, take a little lookie here.)

photobooth friday

taken the day before my 34th birthday at city museum in st. louis, december 10th, 2004. I am wearing the hat that ava and I painted together at the museum. actually, we painted two hats together-- one for her and one for me. she sprinkled pink glitter all over the hats because that's what little girls do sometimes. and the glitter found its way to the sweaty parts of my face and neck and then yes, days and days later, I continued to find it everywhere. behind my ears, in my hair, on my jean jacket, in my shoes-- everywhere. a slightly annoying (though ultimately charming) reminder of a marvelous day. and I also remember that the paint on the hat was still wet when I stepped inside the photobooth. of course, there are pictures of the two of us together (wearing said hats) but I'm saving that little gem for another friday.

that was a good day for me, that last day of my 33rd year. it was the best birthday EVER (or at the very least-- in the running for the title of Best Birthday Ever). guess that's why I chose it to be my hula seventy icon, my flickr icon this past year-- it always makes me happy when I see it (although I had absolutely NO IDEA just how much I'd be looking at it). might be time to retire it.

take a little lookie at my fellow brothers and sisters of the photobooth revolution:

wardomatic
jesC
anatomist
the whole self
and more of the whole self
lovegreendog
factory a-go-go
nessie noodle

and thanks to the cool cats at photobooth.net for the splendid little write-up on photobooth friday (check it here). pleased as punch, yes I am.

photobooth friday

(miss abby)

of course, we did more than just hide secret fortunes all over downtown portland last friday. we also ventured into little finnegans for a bit of shopping and a couple of turns in the photobooth.


(that ava-girl)

and yes, we did leave a few fortunes behind.


(millie bo billie)


(mister ezra)

well, mister ezra refused to wear the silly glasses. so vehemently opposed to our perfect girly plan and dead set on doing his own thing. which was a supafly version of the robot dance. I can say nothing more here than this: the boy has his own ideas about things. which is totally okay with me. even if it did throw off our whole crazy-eye theme.

hey, I want to show you something:

weaker vessel (this one too)
jesC
scrumdillydilly
acumamakiki
rising to the challenge (this one too)
keks
matt!?
nessie noodle
koreana
gwen
jodi mckee
that bee girl
revivify
pinky doll
in my shoes
totally wired

in addition: check out startling moniker who has a fantastically enormous collection of photobooth strips. oh, and daniel minnick has just added tons of new frames to the flickr group. yes, please don't forget the photobooth friday flickr group. because I've surely missed someone along the way and we just can't have that.