I have a thing for photobooth photos. And by THING, I mean that I like them. A lot.

There’s something about them that I totally adore. They capture four distinct moments in time, like photographic gunshots: BAM BAM BAM BAM. They’re utterly honest.

We live in the age of digital. We delete the blinky and blurry and never give it a second thought, but the truth is, we are blinky and blurry creatures and the photobooth gives us a glimpse at Life As We Really Know it. The photobooth captures who we are at one tiny moment. In a sense, it’s an homage to time’s passing.

For awhile the girls and I were giving Mark homemade cards with strips of photobooth pictures inside them as Father’s Day gifts. I wish we’d kept this little tradition going, because when you see them side by side you realize how much people grow and change.

Not too long ago Mark and I were at an event with a photobooth. Well, I couldn’t resist. On the right there is the resulting photo.

There’s are a few Flickr groups that are just about photobooths, and there are some real keepers in there. Some of the photos are old, and some are rather inexplicable. Sometimes you have to wonder… what’s going on there? I like this set that announces an engagement, and this one is not part of the Flickr group but it shows a marriage proposal (!) but I think it’s safe to say that the vast majority of photobooth photos are of some friends hamming it up. And I love that.

And of course, there’s also an app out now that can replicate the photobooth style too. But if you ask me, you can never have a digital photobooth. It just can’t work.

Sadly, photobooths seem to be disappearing. I know of a couple here in Ottawa, but that’s it. Hmm. I might just have to get out there before they’re gone.

What about you? When’s the last time you’ve been in a photo booth?