Photo boots now and then:
During 90 years of analogue photo booths existence, customers have been requesting for negatives to be destroyed. However, the truth is that analogue photo booths do not use any negatives. When the shutter opens, light falls directly on photographic paper and positive black and white strip is created. Dark room, fixer, developer and other chemicals are hidden inside the vintage photo booth.
Analogue photo booths have very long tradition. First was created in 1925. Its inventor, Siberian immigrant Anatol Josepho, put the first prototype of this machine at Broadway, on the corner of 51st and 52nd street. Beautiful black and white pictures charmed New Yorkers almost immediately. The road to success was even more supported by the fact that cabinet was closed from all sides, except the front which was closed by a curtain. Later, curtains became indispensable accessory to all photo booths. Vintage photo booths spread the cities with great speed and their popularity was growing rapidly. Their peak was marked by Andy Warhol, who made pop culture icon out of photo booths.
In 90's analogue photo booths started to be replaced by digitals, which use computer and printer. However, printed digital photography could never replace charm of chemical black and white photos, and so analogue photo booths made a huge comeback after year 2000. One of them could also be found in Prague.
Vintage photo booths today are so much more than just a machine to create document photos. Many artists work with analogue photo booths, many art projects and exhibitions have been made. Photo boots today have their artistic side, they are not just for souvenirs as it first seems.