The Art Of Photobooths

We’ve seen a lot of crazy pictures taken with our photo booths. That’s kind of the point with wedding photo booth hire.  

But there’s a whole subset of visual artists who take it to the next level, creating unique and powerful images within the technical limitations of photo booth photography. Event and party planners can find artistic inspiration here – as Steve ‘Mixup’ Howard demonstrates, you can do a lot with a magnifying glass!

Photobooth art was pioneered by Andy Warhol in the Sixties. Warhol delighted in taking everyday objects and experiences and playing with them in his art. In the decades that followed, the potential of the photobooth has continued to intrigue and inspire successive generations of visual artists. There’s loads more artists to check out at Photobooth.net. Here’s two that we enjoy.

Steve ‘Mixup’ Howard

Photolink – http://www.mixup.org.uk/pages/magnified.htm

Based in Nottingham, Steve has been making Photobooth art since 1979. He organises the Annual Photobooth Convention, which takes place in a different country every year. He’s also a gifted musician, and you can look at more of his Photobooth art and listen to his music at his MIXUP website.

He was the subject of a 2013 film, ‘Mixup’, directed by Howard Walmsley. The film provides a fascinating insight into the world of photobooth art.

Kate Tyler

Photolink – https://theartofwaiting.wordpress.com/2010/09/26/photobooth-contest-category-1-winner/

More examples of Kate Tyler’s work can be found at Kate Tyler’s Photobooths. In early 2013, she was the Artist-In-Residence at Fred Aldous in Manchester, a camera and darkroom supplies shop where Kate worked onsite using their photobooths to create wildly original and inventive imagery.

We hope you enjoy exploring these creative approaches to photobooth photography. Don’t get us wrong, we enjoy a rubber chicken mask as much as the next person – but whatever props you lay out, you can guarantee your guests will find something unthinkable to do with it. Take some arty inspiration, and see what happens….