I LOST MY MIND AT OLD FRIEND PHOTOBOOTH IN NEW YORK CITY by Larry Baumhor

 

I LOST MY MIND AT OLD FRIEND PHOTOBOOTH IN NEW YORK CITY 

by Larry Baumhor

(All photos outside the booth are by Larry Baumhor)

   I was intrigued when I read online that Old Friend Photobooth develops your photo with a film-type process. When I arrived at the photo booth at 117 Orchard (the corner of Delancey and Orchard) I began to feel excitement in my veins, a rush of adrenalin, and an increase of norepinephrine as though I was high on pot. It seemed like a cultural phenomenon with extreme thrills in the booth and waiting for the photo to develop. The owners of the photo booth are Brandon Minton and Zoe Lazerson as seen in the next photo.   

   How did you develop the idea for a film photo booth in NYC?
   Zoe: We lived in Paris and we visited a film photo booth. Brandon and I, when we first started dating found film photo booths and took our own photo strips. We were moving back to NYC and thought they have no film photo booths and how accessible it was to the public. That’s where the idea was born. We both have a love and passion for film and development.

   How were you able to buy a 1960’s photo booth?
   Zoe: We asked a family member for a loan.
   Brandon: There’s a guy who runs photobooth.net. He was a photo booth technician who owned one film photo booth. He worked for a company that manufactured photo booths. He lived in St. Louis and had a route that serviced the photo booths. We drove to St. Louis in a box truck to pick up the photo booth and drove back to NYC.

The photos come out wet as though in a mother’s womb soaked in amniotic fluid. The gathering at the booth creates a community and friendships develop.

   Did you refurbish the photo booth?
   Zoe: It was in great condition. There are a lot of parts but with the amount of foot traffic we were experiencing the parts never worked so quickly.
   Brandon: Some of these parts haven’t moved in twenty years. And when you put a lot of stress on them they start breaking. We learned how to fix it. We spent every single day taking it apart and studying the parts. We reached out to other photo booth owners for help. The small community of booth owners made a difference in helping us out.

The Developer

   How does the machine develop the photos?
   Brandon: There are 14 tanks (little boxes) and five different chemicals, 5 tanks contain chemicals, and the remaining tanks contain water. There is a developer: a developer booster, bleach, a clearing solution, and toner. In between all those chemicals are water tanks that clear off the chemicals and move them into the next chemical tanks. It goes around and the paper develops in the next three and a half minutes and shoots out. There is paper connected to the top of the camera and as you shoot photo frames the photos get exposed and the camera system moves the paper; it clicks 4 frames, cuts it, puts it in a carrier, and goes around 14 times in those 14 tanks.
 
   I brought my equipment: masks, hats, and a camera. I was prepared for theatrics. I love drama and acting out is my forte. I opened the curtain sat on the stool and in my head, the song Hooray For Hollywood appeared.

   And that was it, the flash went off and I lost my mind, tongue out, eyes bulging, frantically trying to invent a new me. The first photo was finished. I then removed my shirt to show off my tits and fat belly and placed a multi-color sequence mask on my face and heard the song in my mind Cheek To Cheek, and yes I was in heaven. Four photos were on one strip. I eventually entered the booth eight times, but not always alone. And I returned two weeks later for more madness.

   How did you choose Orchard and Delancey?
   Brandon: It was a dark and cold winter. We walked up and down the Lower East Side and I asked store owners if we could put a photo booth in their storefront that had access to the street. I walked up and down for 6 months before I found someone to work with us.
   Zoe: The idea was that we could collaborate with another store. The owner is subletting to us. There were so many moving parts. We didn’t want to be held up with a lease or having too much space. We’re a small business and we were learning every day by seeing new business owners. The owner of our storefront operates a suitcase and luggage store. When we brought the photo booth back from St. Louis we opened a month later.
   I became a carnival barker in front of the photo booth: “Ladies and gentlemen step right up enter the booth and magically appear, transcend yourself into another person,” I yelled. “Real film, not that digital crap, 8 bucks, 8 bucks, 8 bucks, do I have a buyer.” Lines are often wrapped around the corner. “Now’s your chance. You will freak the fuck out. If you don’t like the photo I’ll give you your money back!” I was drawing a crowd. People were talking about me in a low voice. “Who’s this fuckin’ nut.” “Get your photo booth photos, act silly, take off your shirt, make faces, and make out with your lover. Who’s next, who’s next, who’s next,” I chanted. Once in a lifetime, no other film photo booths in NY that have access to the street. There are about nine film photo booths in bars in Manhattan and Brooklyn but the quality isn’t as good. “Who wants to be the next fool? Memories of a lifetime!”

   Brandon Minton and Zoe Lazerson two lovers in their twenties purchased a 1960s photo booth and refurbished it in their apartment. This guy Brandon is a trip. I called him on the phone asking for directions. Within fifteen minutes of my arrival, Brandon drove up on his bicycle. We shook hands and I told him, “I’m fucked up from this photo booth. It’s f’n amazing.” I said I’m a photographer and writer, and gave him my card; we connected. He took me in the booth for a free photo with him and opened the machine showing me the inside process. Brandon informed me that sometimes the lines are wrapped around the corner and that one day he sold 600 photos. “Give me your photos, and I’ll take them to my apartment and digitize them for you,” Brandon said...

Brandon the owner and Sam

   “Thanks!” And he rode away like a galloping cowboy on a horse. Is this really happening, I thought. Twenty minutes later he’s back with my photos and he sent them to my email. What an entrepreneurial story between Brandon and Zoe. Brandon is dripping with passion. And he appreciated my craziness!

Brandon

   What was opening day like?
   Zoe: It was a very fulfilling day, but a very hard day because Brandon had a production job he couldn’t say no to. I was manning the machine. I had gone around the city posting about 100 posters for the booth’s opening day. There was a lot of foot traffic and it was amazing. We were experiencing paper jams every 2 to 3 hours. We had to close early. Brandon had to go into the machine and learn what parts of the camera were causing the jam. We’re using a new paper that the sizing is a little off and it leaves room for the paper to fall out of the feeder in the camera causing it to jam. Brandon built an extra feeder, and a guide (a rail) for the camera so the paper wouldn’t slip through; it kept the paper in place. Brandon had to get creative with a lot of parts.

   What other repairs do you make to the photo booth?
   Brandon: There was a repair with the knife in the camera that cuts the paper. I had to take the knife apart and put it back together. I took the knife to a knife sharpener.  And now the paper cuts cleanly. I had to adjust the flash system. There is only one manufacturer in the world who produces the photo booth paper. There used to be multiple back in the day. The paper is not as light-sensitive as it used to be, now it requires a lot more light to get proper exposure. There is not a huge need for photo booth paper. There are only 100 film photo booths in the world. Years ago, you could buy glossy, matt, and textured paper. It’s a matt paper company called Foma out of the Czech Republic. Now you can’t get other photo paper, there’s only one manufacturer.

   Finally, upon rejection after rejection for a partner in the photo booth with me, Sam a twenty-something-year-old said yes. We entered the booth and two people were awkward because the stool only held one person. I sat on the stool and Sam began jockeying for position. I said Sam, you could sit on my lap. What a putz I thought. She’s in her twenties and I’m 70 years old. Sam stood over my shoulder and leaned down looking into the camera.

   The photo comes out surreal, an eccentric coloring, not true black and white, a little brown, clear but muted. It’s kind of interesting.
   Brandon: That’s the look that this company produces. The old paper was black and white. We change the chemicals every two days. It takes about two hours. You pull out all the tanks and dump them in a waste tank that gets picked up every month.
   Zoe: Our photo booth went viral on TikTok. We are thinking about another location in the near future.

 

Larry as a clown

 

Rueben

                                                 Brandon

Larry and Brandon

The Boss