One of my favorite parts about living abroad is that you get to make your own traditions. Deciding we really aren’t fans of turkey, we still host an annual Thanksgiving party but usually buy a half dozen halbes hähnchen (half a roasted chicken) from the nearest Döner shop to feed our guests. For Christmas we are inundated with German traditions and pick and choose which we participate in – Nikolaustag yes, opening presents before the morning of December 25th no. And on Valentine’s Day we have traded non-existent candy hearts and mushy cards for a tour of Berlin’s photo booths or Photoautomaten.

Berlin Photoautomat PHOTO: Erin Porter

Traditional it is not, but it has become an annual pilgrimage for first myself and my boyfriend – now husband – and now we lug two kids along in the often freezing February temperatures. There are several booths within walking distance of Schönhauser Allee, a short distance from our house, so we usually bundle up and start there. We have quite the collection of photos at this point which proudly hang above our bed so we try to add some variety with silly props like a captain’s hat, comically large glasses, maybe some fairy wings. You can easily get by on just a plan for different faces. Like “good photo, sad, mad, kissing/looking at each other”. That’s part of the fun that you can be as creative as you want. There are no bad photos at a Berlin Photoautomaten (…ok maybe there are but I will get into that in a minute.)

We used to drink some beers along the way in the grand tradition of wegbiers from Spätis (convenience shops) and end with a celebratory meal out somewhere informal which I highly recommend. But with two small kids we’ve nearly frozen to death and only kept going with the promise of sweets we often just trek home with our photos as prizes. Both ways are pretty enjoyable (but go with the one that comes with beer).

And there is no wrong time to visit a photo booth. We might make a big deal about it once a year, but I have friends who hit one up every time they have a guest from out of town, every date night, or whenever the urge strikes. Walking into a Berliner’s home you can often spot a random strip tucked into a mirror or a multitude collected in a frame. The French movie “Amélie” has a whole subplot based around the stories of photo booths in Paris and the mysterious Nino who collects unwanted strips, but Berlin has its own love affair with the Photoautomat. Berlin photo booths are an institution and taking a picture in one is both an inexpensive souvenir and authentic Berlin experience rolled into one.

History of Berlin Photo Booths

While photo booths are still omnipresent and hard to miss in the city, there was the real threat of them dying out. These beloved relics are a labor of love, relying on analog film photography and the tender care of technicians. It is in sentimental cities like Berlin that this finicky technology can remain in use and still be affordable.

To dig into the history of photo booths I am going to borrow from the ever-knowledgeable Digital Cosmonaut,

The concept of a Photo Booth dates all the way back to 1888, when William Pope and Edward Poole (from Baltimore, USA) filed a patent for an automated photography machine – which was never actually built. In 1889, the French Inventor T.E Enjalbert and the German Photographer Mathew Steffens constructed working machines, which turned out to be not reliable enough to be self-sufficient. The German Inventor Conrad Bernitt managed to build the first successful Photo Booth in 1890 in Hamburg. It is interesting to note that all these machines produced Ferrotypes (in simple terms – the positive images was directly created on a metallic plate). The first machine which managed to produce photos with a negative and positive process was invented by the German Carl Sasse in 1896.

Photo Booths as we know them today were invented by the Russian Immigrant Anatol Josepho in 1923 in New York. He produced a working prototype and presented it on Broadway, which turned out to be an instant success, despite the pictures taking 10 minutes to develop. In 1927, Josepho sold the US Rights to an investment group for 1 million dollars (and guaranteed himself royalties from then on).

The booths were instantly popular and even the advent of digital photography didn’t completely dampen enthusiasm. In a story from Lola, superfans Asger Doenst and Ole Kretschmann are credited with bringing the business of photo booths to Berlin from Zurich and even they were surprised at how vandalism-happy Berliners embraced the photo booth rather than destroy it.

“People stopped and used it. That was the amazing part of it, you know? We didn’t expect much to happen. We didn’t know if anyone else would share the excitement,” Ole remembers.

There are anywhere from 20-35 booths in operation around in Berlin at one time, with others appearing in German cities like Hamburg, Leipzig, Cologne and even branching out to other European countries. They have an identifiable look to them as a metal box with bright accents and cramped interior, but each machine is also a bit different. Ole calls them characters as they are from different eras, some as far back as the 50s, and take individual care to keep them running. There are – of course – modern machines popping up everywhere that eschew the traditional mechanical workings of the Photoautomat, but “official” machines can be found on the map via www.photoautomat.de. Note that these are most definitely not the same as the sterile photo booths that support passport photos.

How to Use Berlin Photo Booths

Photo Booth at Berlin’s Kulturbrauerei PHOTO: Erin Porter

Booths are perfect for Berlin in that they are open 24 hours a day, much like the city itself, and cheap. A strip of 4 photos still only costs 2-3 euros. Machines only take change so come with a pocket of coins. Strips are usually vertical, but a few print horizontally, and one is in color.

While I earlier stated that there is no wrong way to use a photo booth, there are some tips to increase the quality of your pictures.

Tips on how to use a photo booth

• The stool is adjustable so before you get started look in the reflective black “mirror” and position yourself so you can comfortably see your face.
• There is no maximum number of people, but you can really only fit four faces in frame. Two is ideal.
• Once you are settled in, close the curtain as tightly as possible so the photo isn’t overexposed.
• It is not uncommon for a small group to be waiting as the photos take about 5 minutes to print. Be patient. And this is one of the few times it might be welcome to strike up a conversation.
• Don’t forget your photo! In the post-photo-taking rush many people rush off forgetting the ultimate prize, the photo strip itself.

The Germans have Fasching/Karneval for this chilly short month, but we have Photoautomaten. Maybe I will see you out there creating your own special traditions.