This month, we are happy to feature Ryan Stratton, owner of Photobooth Northampton. This small but mighty kiosk lets visitors take vintage-style snapshots, making memories they will carry with them for years to come. (Some people even return to recapture the same poses many years later!) Ryan’s passion for purchasing and restoring photo booths is truly inspiring. Pop by the booth with some pals—or on your own!—and bring a little joy to your world today.
An interview with Ryan Stratton of Photobooth.
Ryan, please share your story with us about yourself and your business, Photobooth.
In 2021, I was looking for things to do during the pandemic, and I thought it would be interesting to embark on a road trip to find a machine. I discovered Photobooth.net, and I was about to go find one, and then I remembered the local Western Mass listserv. I figured I’d write to the group to see if anyone knew of any machines for sale. I didn’t even know about the one on Level 2 in Thornes at the time, but I got in touch with the owner, Anand Nayak, and he was ready to sell after owning it for thirteen years. It felt like something I would enjoy owning and running, so I purchased it, signed a lease with Thornes, and have proudly owned and operated it for four years now.
The routine monthly maintenance of the booth includes changing the chemistry, cleaning tanks, saving old chemicals for disposal, and mixing new ones. Twice a week, I have to check the chemistry levels, and every month or so, replace the paper. It’s an older booth—I am still working on getting a more exact year—so mechanical issues are to be expected. There are just so many quirky things that can happen, but I’m pretty attuned to what needs to be done repair-wise overall. Also, I have a great community of owners around the world I can reach out to for tips and tricks, including Anand. I feel so fortunate to have that type of support and guidance.
What are your favorite things about having a business in Thornes?
I love being across from The Shiny Black Door. They are great neighbors and very helpful when it comes to making change for people to use the machine. I love seeing what new items they have in their store—there’s always something interesting. I am often running down to Share for a cold brew and a gluten-free baked good. All of the business owners are so friendly and there’s a great sense of community throughout the building.
Are there any events/other exciting things on the horizon for the booth or your business in general?
I just hit my four-year anniversary of owning the booth, which is very exciting. I recently changed the heating system, on the advice of other photobooth owners, and now there is more consistency in tones during the development process. I am currently still working on getting three other photobooths up and running, but where they will end up is yet to be determined. I should be able to get one of them fully functioning within the year, though.
A few weekends ago, I went to a three-day Photobooth Convention in New York City, with about 200 attendees. I would say approximately half were photobooth owners and technicians, and the other half were photobooth fans. There were great talks about new developments with booths, and I reconnected with people I’d met at a London convention. I was also able to meet some people in person whom I’d only communicated with online previously. While we were at the convention, there was a new museum debuting on the Lower East Side with five or six machines running and some in-depth historical background about photobooths, so that was fun to check out.
We visited Classic Photo Booth, a company in New Jersey, owned and operated by Max Sverdlov. The company has been running for at least 30 years and mainly services NYC. We had the opportunity to meet Max and poke around a bit, which was really interesting. There were a couple of booth operators from South Korea that had checked a booth transmission onto an airplane to be repaired by Max on-site, then planned to bring it back home with them.
I have an art installation on display in the Hosmer Gallery at Forbes Library through the end of September. There was an opening reception with two other featured artists, which was really fun. It’s such a great little gallery. I am currently working with Dylan Gaffney, a librarian at Forbes, to dig deeper into the history of my Thornes booth. I really want to be able to date it more accurately if possible.
What do you enjoy doing outside of the business these days? Any other fun facts you’d like to share?
We just got a new puppy—a miniature Poodle named Olive—which has been so much fun. I am also starting a part-time graduate program in Library Science through Simmons University. The classes are in-person at Simmons West at Greenfield Community College as well as online. I am also still working full-time as a Library Technician at Deerfield Academy, plus running the booth, so life is pretty busy!
