The songbird and the Secret

Just a quickie... as promised, the wonderful bit of artwork Siobhan made at the Convention:

and, the Songbird, an award winning cocktail by Bar de Ville:

Read a review about it here.

ICP '09 Chicago: Day 2

Saturday was more of the same - boothin' an minglin' and generally having fun. There were some intellectual moments... Brian Meacham's compilation of clips of films, TV, and ads which had featured the photobooth in one way or another perhaps not one of them.. but a panel disucussion led by Tim Garrett about the future of the booth certainly became that way. The panel consisted of Nakki Gorannin, Mr. Mixup, Anthony Vizzari, and Nick Osbourne, author and photographic historian. Like many photographic discussions these days, the main question was analogue vs digital; a discussion of the future of things like the photobooth now that everyone has immediate photos to hand on their phones and digi cameras. I could waffle about this for hours (see first post), but won't, as lets face it we can go round and round in circles.

Mr. Mixup boothin'

Siobhan participated in Anthony's workshop about photography transfers... and produced a lovely little piece which I hope she will scan and pop up here. I, on the other hand, was too caught up with the fact that I had discovered what cool effects you get when shaking your head in a booth, and produced this, my first piece of photobooth art:

The day ended late, but not so late that we couldn't continue in the festive spirit and socialise with our new friends. We went to Bar DeVille, a bar with one of Anthony's booths (312photobooth.com). A Saturday night, the bar was heaving, and to a wee English girl whose nearest encounter with the States til now was in films, it felt like walking into a high school movie. But soon we had the bar to ourselves, courtesy of Eric Hay, friend and colleague of the Vizzari's who also happens to work at Bar DeVille. He introduced us to some boutique American beers, and mixed us one of the most delicous cocktails. So delicious, in fact, it has won an award in Chicago. And so delicious, we had to take it into the booth with us (strip to come... in the meantime have a look at these...)

This strip was a happy accident in the booth with Mixup and Carol, a friend of the Vizzari's. I just love the quality of Anthony's booths; just the right tone and contrast... it wasn't until the next couple of days when we used other booths in public places we realised just how lucky we'd been having free reign of his. I do hope we'll be able to get ours this good.

ICP '09 Chicago: Day 1

Oooof! Don't know where to start really. Two weeks ago we got back from Chicago, where we attended the International Photobooth Convention. We had such a great time, and there is so much to share and tell! May have to post in parts...

The Convention kicked off on the Friday night with what basically turned into a photobooth party. It was set at Centre Portion, an artists led project space in the Logan Square area of Chicago, where there is a small exhibition space, and another room at the back with chairs laid out and a mini stage. In the gallery there was an eclectic display of photobooth art - from the classic, but beautifully executed single black and white strips by Danny Minnick, to the more intricate assemblages by photobooth.net's Tim Garrett; from the funky, colourful, psychedelic displays by Mr. Mixup, to mixed media installations such as a hand knitted scarf which incorporated photobooth images, by Andrea Vizzari. Brian Meacham from photobooth.net exhibited his collection of Photomatic cards, and Nakki Goranin of American Photobooth fame had some of her collection of old booth pictures on the wall. A veritable celebration of the photobooth, which provided inspiration and discussion for the rest of the weekend.

In addition to this, 312Photobooth, run by Anthony and Andrea Vizzari had provided the centre with 3 booths - 2 vintage B&W ones, and a digital one, cleverly disguised from the outside as a true old booth. These were free to use, and, with a very full prop box also on hand, visitors (incuding ourselves!) were going mad for the booth...

One of the hightlights of the evening was a project which came all the way from Moscow, from Martin and Ira of schnellfoto, from whom we bought our booth. They had asked friends to ask questions in the booth, which we were then to answer at the convention in our own strips, and send back to Moscow. The finishing dialogue across the pond and between two of the most powerful countries in the world will be exhibited in their space in Moscow. A great idea which was embraced by the attendees of the convention.

Day 2 coming up...

more pics on our Flickr site