P H O T O B O O T H : R E V I E W S

Hello Kitty's Print Club
located inside Small World Surprises
Cedar Hills Crossing Mall, 3205 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton

Some years back Cedar Hills Crossing was an abysmal mall. Most of the shops, excepting maybe a GNC vitamin store and an ever-vacant nail salon, were closed and drywalled over with space rental advertisements. In more recent days, larger stores have glommed onto the outside structure of the mall strip, such as Old Navy, Best Buy, the Mac store, and in the past year Powell's Books. But the interior mall carries still that unsettling air of disuse. The only cheery outlet is Small World Surprises, a small store specializing in Sanrio product and home to Hello Kitty's Print Club.

For $3, Hello Kitty (who has no mouth) voice prompts you to pick one of 35 different frames ranging from Badtz-Maru, Keroppi, Little Twin Stars, and other classic Sanrio icons. There is also the option to choose no frame at all, but my guess is that if you're in Small World Surprises, you're not one to opt out of having your sticky portrait edged with chubbed hamsters with pink tulips on their heads. Kawaii! You get three tries at the perfect picture and after each attempt have the option of approving or taking another. Note: Anyone 5' 4" and under may have a problem getting into the frame. I had to tiptoe into view.

Mark, the owner and a fairly tall, graying man wearing a supercute Pochacco apron, was bummed my pictures weren't all they could be and that I didn't ask for the stepstool I didn't know was kept in the storeroom. So feel free to ask for it prior to inserting your cash. Also once you receive your sheet of sticker photos, you can jumpstart your photo distribution by electing to nab one on the "Wall of Fame" (which is essentially anywhere on the photobooth machine) though be warned, Mark scrapes them off when it "gets to be too much."

cost/method of payment: $3 / one dollar bills
unit: 16 mini stickers, color
print time: less than 1 min.
rating: 2 shutter clicks

Ace Hotel Photobooth
located in front lobby of Ace Hotel
1022 SW Stark

This photobooth is a new arrival to Portland with the recent opening of the Seattle-based Ace Hotel. Since the one at Red Light fell into disrepair and Newberry's closed down, it's the last unicorn of photobooths. Totally perfect. Classic black & white photostrips with super high contrast; not to mention it resides in a hotel lobby which translates to 24-hour access!

Hands down it's the best one I've ever been in, pristinely maintained and the pictures are crystal clear. Adjustable seat. No scratched or dirty lenses. No strange internal machine whirs and clicks that get you fretting your pix won't turn out just so. And you can grab a coffee/tea at the new Stumptown adjoining the lobby while you wait for things to develop. Behind the front desk too is a growing gallery of photostrips of employees.

It's hard. I adore the photobooth aesthetic but I'm not so good at taking pictures. Most of my friends are seasoned photobooth veterans, often hands confidently forward and up to display "Peace!" or "Westside." I panic and fumble. A 4-segment strip will find me meandering between poses or doing motion-y things that don't translate to still photos (see below). Look, she's hitchhiking...in a photobooth (frame 4). Look, she's spinning in her chair (frame 2). With a few more duckets though and a better strategy in tow, I think I could shoot for four consecutive wins.

cost / method of payment: $3 / one dollar bills
unit: 4 pictures to 1 vertical strip, b&w
print time: 3 1/2 min. (approx.)
rating: 5 shutter clicks BEST RATING!

Oaks Park Polaroid Photobooth
Oaks Park Roller Rink
7805 Oaks Park Way

Next stop: Welcome to Oaks Park, which boasts the largest roller rink in the Northwest and where I visited Portland's only remaining Polaroid Photobooth (Red Cap used to have one, but in the last year it's disappeared). I fucking love Oaks Park. When it's completely empty it's totally beautiful and eerie and when it's in full swing it's totally beautiful and fun and the elephant ears smell so compelling and doughy. For now, owls live in the carousel and the Tilt-A-Whirl is unlit and minus its whirl, but that's its own brand of magic.

This photobooth is good for those who crack under pose pressure because you can take a little more time between snaps to collect your wits. You push a button when you're ready for your picture and a nice male voice soothingly counts down the remaining seconds. The seat is non-adjustable being just a bench, but I didn't have any height problems this time round. Getting the machine to take my bills was a pain, but then it turned out I just needed George Washington to turn the other cheek so try flipping it if at first the bills keep spitting back.

Reading tone in text messages and emails is hard, but what do you make of this sign? Is it a challenge or encouragement?

The picture is dispensed immediately after your "shoot" but as with most Polaroids the image develops in your hand. Is it true shaking Polaroids does nothing to speed up the process? I heard that somewhere and have since started holding the developing side against my stomach (over my shirt) instead. I took my pictures and saw that on my strip the secret message "This One's Going in the Yearbook." Initially I thought it would appear overtop my pictures and was pretty excited, but when the image began to develop the words faded back to nothing. You know, magic. After my pictures, I watched three afternoon skaters for a little while under the scattered lights. There was an older woman with white leggings working the middle of the rink who blew my mind.

cost / method of payment: $3 / one dollar bills
unit: 4 pictures / 1 4-square strip, color
print time: under 1 min.
rating: 4 shutter clicks

Portrait to Anywhere Photobooth
first level by the ice rink and Mrs. Field's Cookies, Lloyd Center
2201 Lloyd Center

The digital photobooths at the mall are pretty shitty but sometimes you gotta work with what's immediately in front of you. I figured I would test the waters and see whether or what they delivered. I was seduced by the slick slogan:

Gee, where do I want to be? You can choose to travel the US or go international for your framing options. Do you want to see the Eiffel Tower? The Roman Coliseum, perhaps? There is a holiday menu also with Halloween webby designs and squiggle-fonts for Father's Day. You can elect to have no frame at all, but then where's the fun in that I'd have to ask. You get four pictures then pick your favorite at the end. A bummer or advantage depending on how public a persona you are: the entire process that shows on your screen inside the booth is shown on the two screens outside of the booth as well. I had a tense moment when some rowdy teens walked past while I was readying my pose amid the dry deserts of Egypt.

Overall, I was a bit surprised at the end product which was simply a printout of a sketched background of the Sphinx over top the Great Pyramids.

cost: $3 / VISA, MC, AMEX, one dollar bills
unit: 1 picture / 1 8" x 10" printout on white paper, color, b&w
print time: under 1 min.
rating: 1 shutter click

FotoFun Photobooth
first level beside ice rink and Mrs. Field's Cookies, Lloyd Center
2201 Lloyd Center

This ranks lowest in my photobooth retinue. Fotofun offers several frames to select from with varying slogans such as 90% Angel or USA (and a waving flag). It is digital and also has the two screens outside. Is this to prevent making out in photobooths? Rough image quality and bad lighting. It takes four pictures of you and prints them sequentially. After your photos are complete, a male voice tells you you've done a good job (so relax). I really don't see myself using this machine ever again, thought the voice also mentions the incentive that the backgrounds are always changing, I will say that Fotofun does bring forward a pretty innovative concept in that it prints doubles. I think the entire photobooth community could learn a little something from the Fotofun booth. Perforated down the middle, it prints two identical strips for easy-tear share. Extra kudos for that one leap forward.

cost: $3 / VISA, MC, AMEX, one dollar bills
unit: 4 pictures / 2 identical strips, perforated, color, b&w
print time: under 1 min.
rating: 2 shutter clicks

Lastly, one should also be on the lookout for the Rose Festival and its troop of visiting non-digital strip photobooths. These are great but a little rickety and at times the strips will come out with anomalies of light streaks or cracks. Personally I think that just adds to the look. There are color booths that print 2 frames while the b&w booths print the standard 4. Some of the machines are equipped with pull-out wooden boards with painted old script that says things like "Lovers" or headless swimsuit-clad bodies you place your head over. A tokenmaster converts your hard-earned cash (4 bones) into the tokens you need and will refund your cost if the pictures come out torn (which does happen).

Much love.
Happy photoboothing!
-Jae