[Vella Gonzaga]

Who remembers photo booths?​

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Credits: Facebook/Australia Remember When

Back in the day, if you wanted to take a ‘selfie’, you needed to step inside one of these photo booths. In the early 1960s, photo booths debuted in Australia and quickly became a sensation, offering instant photos instead of waiting a week to have them developed. Sure, they may have been costly, but the fun and memories they created with friends were worth every penny. Sadly, they eventually took a back seat with the rise of mobile phone cameras. Do you have any unforgettable photo booth memories to share? Tell us here.

 

[Veggiepatch]

The precursor of the "selfie" that costs money.

There is still one here in Dandenong Plaza.

 

[CANDALYN49]

There is still one at Flinders Street Station. Elizabeth Street side.

 

[Gsr]

I remember using photo booths on several occasions, when on holiday with my friend, but the most special time was with my then boyfriend, we took some photos of us smooching and sent out to family members to announce our engagement. Caused quite a reaction from some members of the family, older ones in particular. But we did like to do things a bit differently.

 

[Michelle Sc]

The one I'll never forget: the booth at the Eiffel Tower, though you may think as I hail from Paris, so what... We had our Australian passports stolen in Paris a Friday afternoon 3pm on our way to the airport, so went to the police to declare the theft, enquired at the Australian Embassy what we needed and obviously ID photos were required. The closest booth close to the Embassy was the Eiffel Tower souvenir photo booth... we had to wait because someone was servicing the booth.

He helpfully drew a black curtain for us to hide the picture of the Tour Eiffel, though "Souvenir de la Tour Eiffel" was still duly printed at the bottom of each photo, quickly remedied with a pair of scissors.

We dashed back to the Embassy and on Monday morning 11am we had brand new passports in hand
- (considering that neither my husband nor myself were originally Australians, a miracle in itself... people, true blue Australians, in such circumstances normally at best waited for weeks, and even months... we never found out why it was so quick)