Picturesque Monkeys

How many monkeys can you stuff in a photobooth? 

As you may have guessed, I didn’t find a jungle photobooth or convince these guys to pile in.  While my picture involves some photographic monkey business, a photobooth does seem to bring out the monkey in most humans.   From stuffing the booth to making funny faces, people just naturally get into the spirit of posing for pictures. 

A patent for an automated photographic machine was filed in the 1880’s, although there is no evidence that a working model was ever produced.   While some photographic machines were subsequently built, none were truly automated.  Anatol Josepho, a Russian immigrant, is credited with the creation of the earliest model of the modern booth, which made its first appearance in 1925 on Broadway.    For a 25 cent charge, the booth printed eight pictures.  The picture taking process required approximately ten minutes.

In my youth, photobooths were usually located at tourist attractions or carnival events.  I still have some photo strips taken back then.  The quality of the pictures was never good and has diminished even more over the years.   Digital technology has improved the quality of today’s photos and one doesn’t need to seek out tourist attractions to use one.  Photobooths can now be rented and are popular for weddings, anniversaries and other special events.   That’s a wonderful concept and I’m sure it produces some memorable photos.