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.