Corporate photo booths tend to rely on the versatility of advanced digital camera technology, but will historic instant film ever become the standard again?
Will Analogue Photo Booths Ever Make A Serious Comeback?
This year marks the 100th anniversary since the invention of the photo booth as we recognise it today, and there is a massive difference between the versatile corporate booths available to hire today and the more rudimentary film-based solutions of the distant past.
Whilst Anatol Josepho’s Photomaton booth was technically not the first ever photo booth when it was patented and launched in 1925, it was the first that automated the entire experience, allowing anyone to pop in, pay 25 cents and have a strip of eight pictures eight minutes later.
For a wide range of reasons, photo booths took off not only as a way for people to get passport-quality photographs, but also as a way of bringing people together.
Most people will have an experience of going into a photo booth and having fun with the camera. In Japan there is an entire culture based around it.
However, when photo booths made a comeback in the 2010s, they were typically not analogue cameras that printed a strip of film that developed after a few seconds or minutes.
Instead, they are highly versatile, adaptable, unique and customisable digital systems that are often booked for events and provide both physical and digital copies of photographs for social media and mementos.
Because of this, it seems extremely unlikely that analogue photo booths will make a comeback as the most common type of photo booth available.
Whilst instant film is more available now than it was when companies such as Kodak went bankrupt, it is still seen as a niche concern primarily for hobbyists.
However, at the same time, it is also unlikely that analogue photo booths will ever truly go extinct. They are historical artefacts with entire exhibitions made about them, and there will always be people who enjoy the nostalgia of the traditional booth.
Much like how Impossible (now Polaroid) brought back the instant camera, there will always be people keeping analogue photo booths alive, even if they will never be the norm at weddings and corporate events.