Why Are Photo Booths Social Hubs During Corporate Events?

Whilst photo booths were initially designed to allow people to take home souvenirs immediately without buying expensive camera equipment and waiting weeks for the plates or film to develop, they have since become remarkably important places to meet people and make lasting memories.

From weddings to corporate events to even nights out in clubs or arcades, photo booths have remained a constant social hub even in the age of smartphones and selfie sticks.

It is an amazing sight to see, and part of the reason for it is that there has been a shift from being the only place to get professional quality printed photographs that draws people towards it to being a social event in itself, with the printed photographs a bonus.

A lot of this shift began in Japan with the “purikura” movement and the Print Club series of machines. Rather than focus on producing instant photography, Print Club machines instead offer the ability to modify and have fun editing pictures, printing the results in sticker form.

This directly inspired photograph sharing sites and platforms such as Instagram, but it also established the photo booth as more than a utility.

Rather than use digital effects and filters, modern photo booths use props, more elaborate staging and even features such as 360 panorama videos and slow-motion photography, giving people a living, vibrant moment to share alongside the printed photographs.

Photo booths are generally used alongside branded iconography and props, providing a form of guerrilla marketing as well to help promote and forward a brand. This can be as simple as having a photograph printed alongside a corporate photograph, but it can get particularly unique.

Finally, photo booths have come full circle. Where selfies and smartphone photography can feel rigid and awkward at times, photo booths provide, as oxymoronic as this sounds, a professional place for people to have fun, let their hair down and show off another side of themselves.