There’s a new spot in Southern California where you can get in on the vintage photo booth action. Booth by Bryant has just opened up two new photo booths inside a beloved store in Costa Mesa. The Camp is a green, eco-friendly retail campus located in Orange County. And its on-campus off-shoot, Camp Out, now offers two more chances to snap those grainy vintage-looking artistic photos that have become so popular around the world.
What is Booth by Bryant?
Booth by Bryant is a vintage photo booth project launched by the famous fashion photographer, Bryant Eslava. The once-popular photo booths have become trendy again thanks to Hollywood celebrities and social media. The project started as an exclusive invite-only booth. Eslava carefully curated his chosen images and then posted them to a personal Instagram account which caused the fervor for grainy photos to grow.
What is a photo booth?
For those who grew up in the age of digital photography, photo booths are a bit of an unknown thing. The first automatic photo booth was opened in New York City way back in 1925 and quickly became very popular around the world. By the 1930s through 1950s photo booths had become common in many public places like amusement parks, train stations, and shopping centers. When personal cameras started to become more commonplace in the 1960s through 1980s, the popularity of public photo booths declined. And by the 1990s, computerized, fully-automated, full-color photo booths emerged rendering the old-style vintage photo booths obsolete.
But now nostalgia for vintage style photos has grown increasingly since the early 2000s. Vintage photo booths are now seeing a resurgence around the world. They’ve become a fun, popular attraction at parties, weddings, and other events.
How does a vintage photo booth work?
These unique vintage photo machines have special photo paper on a large roll which is then exposed to capture the image. After that, the photo paper is fed through a chemical development process that works similarly to a mini darkroom. It’s ready for development within a few minutes, and often comes out still slightly wet and smelling of the darkroom chemicals.
Where can I find Booth by Bryant?
Luckily, Booth by Bryant has grown so much in recent years that it’s no longer an exclusive, invite-only activity for A-listers. Anyone can pop down to one of these cool, refurbished photo booths and live out their own vintage photo fantasies. Currently, SoCal has two locations in West Hollywood. One is located at Harriet’s Rooftop bar, and the other can be found at Bootsy Bellows nightclub. Unfortunately, both of these locations are 21 and over only.
Happily, the new location at The Camp in Costa Mesa is open to all ages and no reservations are required. It’s open every day from 10AM – 11PM. And even better news – there are two photo booths at this OC location. Go today and create beautiful lasting memories with your loved ones.
🕙 Opening Hours: Every day from 10AM – 11PM
📍 Location: 2944 Randolph Av, Costa Mesa, California