Like Amélie Poulain
Courtesy Amélie, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001
I have this thing for Photo Booths.
Ever since the French film Amelie came out in 2001, I’ve been told by close friends and family that the main character of the film, played by Audrey Tatou in many ways reminds them of me. My random adventures, curious personality and mischievous ways, as well as old fashioned perspective on love, and my passion for photo booths which has finally led me to becoming partner of a fotomaton business in Spain. It was definitely not a surprise to anyone when I announced my recent venture in this industry because I was looking to share something fun and nostalgic as an entrepreneur. Train rides across Europe as a teenager, waiting in these train station cafes feeling excited about the unknown and watching people sitting inside the booth closing the curtain giggling, the sound of the flash four times, and the finale waiting for the print to come out and creating little funny stories in my head about these people I watched. Lovers, children, friends, it didn’t matter who, people were always happy around a photo booth.
Maybe it’s the romance of taking a secret photo in Paris; maybe it’s the new ease of sending off proof that you’re here. Either way, it’s not hard to become as obsessed as Michel Folco, the author who found himself addicted to searching for photo booth rejects: “It became a total mania that lasted one year, during which I filled a whole blank album. Towards the end, I met [Amélie director] Jean-Pierre Jeunet and I showed him my book.”
Jeunet took some notes and told Folco to guard his story. “He said he was eventually going to use it. Later, when he was making Amélie, I loaned him the album. So my story became that of the film.”
Result: a classic, influential Paris romance—thanks to the special French touch of Photomaton.
If you’re interested in the topic, I’ve written a post on Medium. on how the industry has changed and why its here to stay.
Now that I’ve established the reason I chose to get into this business I am excited to talk a bit about the photo booths themselves. My business partner Gonzalo Barenas began this journey in London, where he designed and built from scratch unique booths with a superior quality in terms of image resolution, colour brightness and backdrop design options. In a short time, his portfolio of clients include some of the best brands and designers in the city, as well as some of the most creative spaces and innovative event organizers. Together we felt, this level of quality was missing in the Spanish market, and based on the boom and influx of creativity happening, we wanted to be part of this community and share our passion with clients and their guests. Our pride and joy is the D-lux Vintage Booth designed by Gonzalo himself. A lot of people think that in our age of selfies, the purpose of a photo booth is no longer exciting or necessary, but we feel the opposite. At every event we do, guests always have fun and engage with our booths. They break the ice, and usually with our original backdrops, guests can’t wait to post images on their social media immediately. It makes us happy to be part of creating memorable events and bringing people together. Even more exciting is some of the stuff waiting to happen next year, with technology rapidly developing, the services we are going to offer- will blow your mind.
