In the '70s my sisters and I used to take rolls of quarters and a bag full of props with us to the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles and shoot strip after strip of fifty-cent tales. There was a campy,ghastly murder by wrench, a girl who disappeared into her white hoodie, a flying dog (we borrowed a puppy for that one) and many other four-panel vignettes. Years later we shot one as a trio of Frida Kahlos, complete with faint mustaches and unibrows sketched on with eyebrow pencil. We still treasure our time spent squashed three in a booth, changing hats and passing a puppy overhead.

I have taken photo booth pics at least once every year since I was a child. I recently started a scrap book of all the photos and its amazing to see how I've changed over the years.

My long history with photo booths lead me to start my own photo booth company. Rock the Booth (http://rockthebooth.com) is Michigan's photo booth company. We have booths at events every week of the year and love to provide machines that make such precious memories for our clients.

Thanks for the great article. It helps remind me why we do this in the first place!

I believe that the sailor on the left in the trio picture is that of my father. He was a sailor on the LeRay Wilson during WWII. He was a handsome devil until the day he died.

I read your article yesterday and had the technician at the lab where I was getting my blood drawn to copy it for me. I have one memory that I see (I do not remember the time though) that my dad goofed off in a photobooth with me when I was about 4 or 5. He passed away in 2008 and I will always cherish his memory but you article brought back that memory of the picture so much that i had to look through all of his pictures to find it so I could laugh one more time. Thanks for a great article!

In the late 90's my son and I traveled to Florida, my home state. This would have been his first trip back to my old haunts since the 1970's. Most of my family was gone, so there was no one to see. I wanted to give him more of a feel from where I had come from, things I had encountered and seen in my youth. It was purely by coincidence that we discovered we had forgotten beach towels before leaving and had to detour to a former popular "Family Mart" where my sister and I had used to have our photos take in just such a photobooth. The experience was always a novilty for us, the shine never came off that particular penny. I was actually telling David, my son, as we were crossing the parking lot about that very machine. After we were inside, the booth soon slipped fogotten into the backs of our minds. We had towels to find and a beach to invade. At the checkout counter however I heard my son cry out. "Dad! Is that the picture machine?" I looked over where my son was pointing and sure enough, there it was, right where I remembered it. There was no way it still worked, I thought. But Dave was digging in my pocket already for two quarters, (I guess the price had gone up since I was his age). I came across those photos three days before reading this article. That was a great day for us. One out of several that were not so great, but then nothing is perfect forever. But I have proof that perfection exists, four tiny frames of a boy and his Dad on a sunny afternoon in Jacksonville, Fl at a pit stop on our way to the beach. We took a lot home with us from that trip and have returned several times since. We even stopped by the Fmaily Mart to but of course the machine was gone, later, the chain of stores would be gone too. But I have proof of perfection, that it was there one day and found purely by chance by a boy who had never seen a photobooth in his life and has probably never seen one since.

Mark McDonald, Atlanta Ga

I have vivid memories of being placed on a revolving seat in a photobooth when I was two (1928). I still have that series of eight pictures and also a set of my brother who was a year older. Mine starts out with a happy little girl who suddenly realizes that her mother is not there and then catches a sight of a very bright light out of the corner of her eye and doesn't like it at all. There are two views of a big pout and then the final three of a a full blown cry. In contrast my brother's set is a serious little boy taking it in stride with even a smile in one of the pictures.

I am sure that seeing the pictures kept the memory alive, but I have never forgotten how scary the light was.

Imagine my surprise when leafing through a copy of my mother's Smithsonian magazine, I came face to face with my father! I swore that the picture of the three sailors was of my father and two of his old Navy buddies! My mom couldn't seem to place him though. I've since copied the article to send to my brother to get his opinion. What a treat for me!! Thanks!

I remember photobooths back when (40s & 50s) and even stepped into maybe one or two. My interest is now peaked upon reading the article & I'll look for a strip that might still exist. However the thought which remains with me is that I always took them for granted and assumed them to be more Coney Island than main stream. Isn't it interesting how much more reverence we have for something that's gone (or almost gone)? Additionally photobooths are associated with my youth which, at this end, I would dearly like to revisit. Very good article; I will become a subscriber.

As soon as I read your artical I had to get out my old photos and sure enough the memories came pouring back. It helps to see these little photos of a time when life was better. You see the handsome man I married 45 years ago is confined to a bed with Muscular Dystrophy and a number of other illnesses. He has all but forgotten our early years and lives in his childhood memories. It was nice to remember!!

Ace Hotel in Portland OR has a Photobooth. Great Article

I found the Smithsonian magazine while waiting in the ER at the local hospital and tore the article out about the "photobooth". I just loved it!!!!! I had photos taken with my husband, mother and son. I'd love to share these photos with you so maybe you could put them in your next book. Thanks again for the GREAT story!!!!!

Thanks for the great article on the "photobooth". I had my daughter Rita send in my picture. It was of myself and my boyfriend when I was 17 and he was 25 and just out of the Air force. The picture was taken at Kings dancehall in Norfolk,NE. One might now raise eyebrows at the difference in age for us. But it seems it all worked out as we were married 2 years later and will be celebrating our 60th aniversary along with our 10 children.What a wonderful life we still have. Hopefully we will see that picture in a later issure of your great magazine. Thanks again, Ellen Anderson

A friend of mine was reading your article and smiled,"If they only knew the beginning of the photo booth!" His dad invented it and had the copywright. He sold and shipped the booths out. They sold their pictures 4 for ten cents during the depression. They had a camera store in Salina,KS called "Smile-A-Minute Photo".

I loved the photobooth story! One of my favorite photos of my Grandmother is of the two of us in a photbooth. It was taken the week of my first Christmas in 1973. She has these fabulous glasses with rhinestones and a huge proud smile saying to the world, or at least the camera "Look at this! Isn't she the most amazing baby! I am a Grandma!" I was too young to appreciate the camera, and look uncomfortable, in the grip of Grandma's arms, in a tiny booth with a woman I barely knew. Thankfully, I got to know my Grandma a lot more and had many more photos before she passed away 28 years later, but the joy in the photbooth shot will always be one of my favorites.