Christmas Bash

Here it is: the highlight of your Christmas calendar. Due to popular demand, we will be hosting the Photomovette Christmas Party on Sunday 13 December. Another chance to use one of the only analogue photobooths in London! If you're very good, you may get a chance to have your picture taken with Santa... and who do you want to be with in the booth when the mistletoe appears?

Guest DJs Miss Aloha and DJ Dandy will be spinning your favourite rock 'n' roll tunes, and the wonderful people at Utrophia will provide a fully stocked bar to keep those creative juices flowing. We have a great prop box, but feel free to bring your own to add to the mix. For inspiration, click here to see what we got up to at our fundraiser.



£5 entry fee, which includes unlimited use of the photobooth.
At: Utrophia Project Space, The Ice Cream Factory, 136 Tanners Hill, Deptford SE8 4QD
Close to New Cross Overground (trains from London Bridge), Deptford Bridge DLR, and numerous buses.

Fun fun fun!

Here are just a few examples of what people got up to in the booth at our party last week... such fun!





More can be seen on our Flickr site... and remember, if you were there and have some cool strips, we'd love to see them! Become a member of our Flickr group and pop them on there, or join us on Facebook.

Party pics!

The big day finally arrived. Rainy and very wet - not a good start.

The misfortunes continued during the morning. We were running late, a miscommunication had occured at the space, and the next exhibitors were all set to mount their work just as the DJ equipment arrived. Meanwhile, one of the tanks exploded (I'm making it sound more dramatic than it actually was, but suffice to say we are now running the machine one chemical tank short), I managed to drop the paper cannister with an almight crash, and, just to top it all off, the machine refused to flash. Perhaps the baby got pre-party nerves. It was not the only one; it was an hour before the start and we were about to call the whole thing off. Just before sending that fateful email, we decided to try one more time - a miracle occured and all worked as it should.

So we felt we deserved our glass (or bottles) of champagne! We were lucky to have three of the best rock n' roll DJ's around; Miss Aloha, Frankie V and DJ Dandy, who ensured the tunes kept spinning. Julia of Recycled Beauty came with some of her beautiful hair flowers, and Utrophia did a fine job manning the bar. Thanks also to our door people: Sarah Jane and brother Craig, Kaoru and Gavin, and Joe and Mayumi.

And a thanks to Sophie Mitchell for taking some fabulous photos:



And more to come; watch this space!

Take 2 @ Cargo

Second trip to the black and white booth in Cargo, Shoreditch... and this time a result. The first two frames just show how shocked we are that it actually worked!

The booth itself is still looking a little shabby. It seems they have tried to make an effort; the word Firetrap has been pasted all over it. At first we thought they may have got sponsorship from the fashion chain of the same name, but looking at their blog, it seems it is some sort of graffiti art...

As for the strip, it is a little muddy, with a strange flare in the top left hand corner. So we are not feeling too threatened. They are on photobooth.net now though. Bummer we are not the first UK booth on there.

No longer the one and only...

We have found out we are not the only black and white booth in London. Photoautomat, the Berlin based collective, have got here first. We knew that they were planning to bring one to London, but didn't think it would be so soon.

So we went to check out our competition. It is based in Cargo, a very trendy bar in Shoreditch, which is housed in 2 railway arches. It is a decent venue; it has gigs and club nights and is also open during the day for lunches. And, because it is a rather large place, I was imagining the booth to be inside. But no - turns out it is in the beer garden! Which seems to me a rather strange place to put it; the only punters in the evening are likely to be the smokers who take refuge there due to the smoking ban...

Aesthetically, they have not pushed the boat out. From the outside it is just plain blue metal, scuffed and dented. Inside, instructions are written with black marker on a piece of paper which is sellotaped to the wall. So we were keen to see what the strips were like.

(photo courtesy of Photoautomat's flickr)

But the booth wouldn't take our money!

We asked the girls at the bar - they said the technicians had come that morning to check everything was OK. But it didn't work; the coins just fell through the slot. Judging by the strips on their website, however, they are not that great - a lot of flare going on in the top left corner.

So that was that. Disappointment but also an inside feeling of smugness! Siobhan went another time with a friend and the bar was closed so they couldn't try it out. Which was wierd, as it was a Thursday night.

When I heard there may be another booth in London (which, actually, was in Chicago - Brian had received an email from Photoautomat) I felt a little upset that we could no longer claim to be the first. But now, I realise that it is a good thing there is competition. It means the British are getting a taste for these old machines again, as are, it seems, other countries in Europe. This resurgance of old processes in a digital age interests me... so more soon.

Shedding its skin

Last night at our booth meeting we decided to rip off all the horrible, grey industrial metal from the outside of the booth. It was strangely cathartic - but very hard work. My muscles are screaming this morning!

The front part with the lovely lady was easy enough to take off - just a few screws to undo. Then the side panels, too, were simple once we got the knack. It was the panel with the mirror which got us thinking. It was a bit like the Krypton factor - we just couldn't work out where it screwed in. In the end it was a case of lifting it from the bottom and hoisting it off its support.

As for the back, it was a sheet of thin metal which had not only been screwed on, but also STUCK on with double sided tape! And, to add insult to injury, underneath we uncovered a beautiful vintage veneer... now ruined cos of double sided tape and a crowbar, which was the only way of getting the bastard off.

But I think we have taken off a good 100kg from the overall weight, and I must say the booth does look a lot smaller, lighter and more manageable. But more importantly, it's a clean slate for the creative juices to flow!