2025: 100 Years of the Analogue Photobooth

Stationed on Broadway near Times Square in New York City, over 250,000 Americans used the photobooth in its first year, paying 25 cents and waiting patiently for eight minutes while their photo strips developed. A game-changer for the world of photography, the photobooth would become ubiquitous in cities around the world. In the 1950s and 1960s, photobooths became a common feature at fairs, shopping centres and train stations and were loved by everyone from John Lennon and Yoko Ono to John and Jaqueline Kennedy and even employed by artist Andy Warhol for his now famous series of self-portraits.

Fast forward to 2025 and AUTOFOTO is marking the booth’s 100 year anniversary with a series of globally connected events, profiles and celebrations including major exhibitions and interventions across London, New York and Arles, projects with community groups, artists and designers, plus special events centered around their London and Barcelona based booths and in partnership with colleagues across the Globe. Major projects will also take place at Photo London and The Photographers Gallery.

AUTOFOTO’s operation has grown out of long standing friendships and a shared obsession for analogue photobooths, founded in 2009 by Rafael Hortala Vallve and now working with a team including Creative Director Corinne Quin.

They have been rescuing and restoring original auto-photography machines for over a decade. Their restored machines can be found in locations across their two city bases (London and Barcelona) where they make them available for people to experience and enjoy. Most recently they helped to establish Scotland’s only analogue photobooth stationed at Stills Centre for Photography in Edinburgh.  Their mission to find contemporary spaces for the analogue booths has helped see a resurgence of the photobooth in public spaces and in public art, marking AUTOFOTO at the forefront of the analogue photobooth community. 

To mark the 100th anniversary of the analogue photobooth they have worked up a programme of events to highlight the lasting impact, to share the invaluable knowledge of restoration and to celebrate the modern day allure of the photobooth. 

Kicking off in February 2025 at London’s Spitalfields Market there will be a showcase of the Real Selfie Project, a project that shares stories and self-portraits from an analogue photobooth and the event will include market traders, exhibition spotlights and interviews. As part of the project, participants will be invited to engage in a conversation about photography, selfies and portraiture. 

Across the year, they will be working with celebrated British visual artist and designers such as portrait photographer Jenny Lewis and UK designer Michael Marriott, with other collaborations to follow. Jenny Lewis will be working on a commissioned participatory project about hereditary chronic illness using the language and lack of control of the booths, mirroring the lack of control of genetics and genetic glitches that we pass on in our DNA with a series of photographs and interviews centralised around a local photobooth.

AUTOFOTO will be representing all things photobooth at the internationally renowned photography fair, Photo London during the week of 15-18 May with details of their participation announced in line with Photo London’s programming later in the season. 

Going international, AUTOFOTO are also looking forward to sharing their invaluable photobooth restoration knowledge and current 2025 projects with photography lovers and experts from around the world at Arles photography festival (7 July - 28 September) and New York’s International Photobooth Convention (28-31 August).

In May, there will be an exclusive screening and accumulation of a community project at Rio Cinema - a beautiful independent and community run 1930's art deco picture palace at the heart of Dalston in Hackney. Autofoto will also be launching a short by filmmaker Nick Francis (Speakit.org), filmed across London and Barcelona, following a day in the life of AUTOFOTO and giving an insight into the inner workings of analogue booths (screenings dates/locations to be announced shortly).

In June, they will be celebrating all things love and inclusivity in the booth with a very special LGBTQ engagement programme in conjunction with Ramsgate and Karen Vost. ‘The Love Booth’ is a pilot project celebrating the analogue photobooth as a vehicle for love and social connection, while also exploring the power of photography to encourage storytelling and as a means of evoking memories. The project will connect past and present through spotlighting photobooth images from past historical eras alongside photographs taken during the project with community groups and the public. 

In autumn, The Photographers’ Gallery in London will celebrate the anniversary with an exhibition highlighting the history of the photobooth and some of its photographer fans through the decades. There’ll also be a booth on site at the central London gallery for everyone to create their own selfie souvenir to take home.