The open booths have two primary benefits. First, larger group shots. Since there is not a limiting little box for your guests to climb into, you can typically squeeze up to 10 people in a group shot. Large group shots are much more fun to take, and create better photographic memories. Secondly, the fun is kept out in the open so everyone can see and participate. The laughter created by 10 people trying to squeeze into a group shot is absolutely contagious. Open booths are typically much easier to transport and can often go where arcade style booths can't. The second floor of a building with no elevator, for example. The trade off is that the open design doesn't look like a traditional photo booth. In fact, it's not a booth at all, even though they call it one. They are also not recommended for outdoor events in the sunlight, unless arrangements are made to block the sunlight. Photos will be inconsistent throughout the day, and some photos may look very bad if direct sunlight is shining on the subjects.

There is still something to be said for the classic arcade style booths. Some people just prefer the nostalgia of an arcade booth. There's no mistaking the signature look of an enclosed booth with privacy curtains. Oh, and about those curtains, if you think some of your guests would like to pose au natural after a few libations, then the enclosed arcade booth is definitely for you! Arcade booths can also be a better choice if there are space concerns, as they have a much smaller footprint than the area taken up by an open photo booth. The arcade style booth is highly recommended for outdoor events when sunlight may be a factor. Since they are enclosed, there is a much more controlled environment to take consistent photos for the duration of the event. Of course the downside is that the typical arcade photo booth will only fit 2-4 guests at a time.

Be on the lookout for the latest in technology, live video recording. Some booths will offer your guests the option to record a short video for the guest of honor after they have posed for their photo strip. This is what wedding videographers used to go table to table to do. But doing the video in the booth affords the guest some privacy, and since it is optional, no one is put on the spot and made to feel uncomfortable. The downside of the video photo booth is that it may take longer to get guests in and out of the booth. It is recommended that if you rent a photo booth with video capability, you reserve it for a longer period of time than you would a regular photo booth. You want all your guests to have the opportunity to use the booth. Some vendors will also rent you a second booth for your event at a significant discount since two booths side by side will typically still only require the watchful eyes of one attendant.

Which ever style you decide on, shop a few companies. Try to base your decision on the entertainment value the booth will provide to your event. Be sure to check with your venue too. Most catering managers have seen photo booths in their venue and they may have some thoughts about what works best for their particular location.

For more information about either type of photo booth rental in San Diego, please see my photo booth company at http://www.StarlightPhotoBooth.com. 

We did it mostly because it makes sense. Aside from the suck factor of meeting at Starbucks, we have some upgrades that really need to be seen, rather than explained. Uplights, monogram projector, and best of all... two photo booths! 

On a personal note, I really hope having the office will help draw a line between work time and personal time. Working from home tends to blur the line and burn me out. I want to work at work, and be a normal person at home. I'm seriously considering removing my home office so I'm not so tempted to sit here for hours at a time, writing blog posts about hipsters.

The space is located on Mission Gorge Place, right off of Mission Gorge Road. It's a great central location. We will have two tenants sharing the space, a wedding coordinator and a photographer. We will definitely have some events surrounding the grand opening, I'll keep everyone posted. 

1. Use props! Even if your event is an elegant, black tie affair, you simply must use props in your photo booth. Your guests will have so much more fun using silly hats, glasses and boas. Props also encourage people to use the booth more than once per evening. If you want to get people to come back over and over, the props are the best way to do it. Here's a tip if you still think your event is too fancy for props: Hide the props until the last hour of the photo booth rental. This will give everyone a chance to have nice pictures taken in their tuxedos and evening gowns, then they'll be back for more when you take out the props.

2. Put it close to the action. Don't stick your photo booth in the foyer if you don't have to. Fun is contagious, why not put it with the rest of the party? One of the best locations is across from the dance floor if you're also having a DJ. Just remember, if the period of time you have rented the booth is shorter than the party, they will have to set it up and/or break it down in full view of your guests. Make sure the set up and break down times don't conflict with scheduled events, such as speech or toast time.

3. Use the photo strips as the party favors. Most photo booth companies can put custom text on the photo strips for you, which makes them a fabulous memento that will never be thrown away. This should also save you a few bucks and help you pay for the photo booth rental. Let's say you have a hundred guests, and you want to give each of them a small token of appreciation. At $5 each, your cost for those party favors is $500! Why not put that money into your photo booth budget?

4. Make a memory book. Many photo booth companies can provide a book, or you may do it yourself. You will want to ask the rental company if their booth will automatically do double prints so your guests keep a copy, and another copy can be put in the memory book. Provide some pens and have your guests sign in next to their photos. Another fun thing to do is to buy stickers that look like speech bubbles. People can put silly comments in the speech bubbles. The bottom line is, people can be quite creative. The more creative options you give them, the more they will come back to use the booth.

5. Make custom cutouts to pose with. This can be a really simple way to personalize your photo booth experience. For a wedding, send 8x10 headshot pictures to be printed at WalMart, or Kinkos, or wherever you print your photos. Make sure the heads fill up the entire frame. Cut them out, give them a cardboard (or similar) backing, and attach to a wooden paint stir stick. People will pose with the bride and groom all night! For other events, simple sayings on signs such as "BFF" or "OMG" will have your guests in stitches. For some events, you can even use bumper stickers with funny sayings (such as "I'm with stupid") pressed onto a cardboard backing.

For more information about San Diego Photo Booth Rentals, please visit http://www.StarlightPhotoBooth.com

It's a good thing we did. If it hadn't been for the half dressed honeys, we would have missed out on the booth we ended up purchasing. We were just passing time when a photo booth salesman from a different company pulled us out of the aisle. He quickly showed us all the features of the booth, each one more impressive than the last. But I think I made up my mind when he showed us that the photo booth also records video clips! A brilliant feature that is missing from all other photo booths. We knew we had a unique opportunity to bring a product to market that is generations ahead of what's out there. Andy and I did some deliberating, but not much. We knew that even though it cost about double what we were expecting to spend, this was the booth for Starlight Photo Booth. 

In keeping with the company name and theme, Andy thought we should call it The Galaxy Photo Booth. Even the paint job fits with the theme of the company, it's called (coincidentally) "Starry Night." The booth is all metal, and the black automotive paint job has a metal fleck in it. Any cholo would be proud to have this paint job on his '64 Impala. The Galaxy Photo Booth is beautiful, and can be used in the open like our current booth, or in the traditional Arcade configuration. 

For more information about San Diego Photo Booth rentals, please visit http://www.StarlightPhotoBooth.com. 

 You've got to love the props!

 Notice the large groups we can fit in our booth.

This is the co-owner of the booth, Andy and me. 

Brilliant design! This is why we can fit such large group shots. We're not limited by a tiny wooden structure.

Starlight Photo Booth

A request for “something by Cole Porter” can be a bit confusing. Cole Porter was an American songwriter whose most famous work is Anything Goes, a Broadway musical for which he wrote the score. Cole Porter was an unusual talent because he wrote the music and lyrics for his songs. Most musical composers use a lyricist. For example, in the duo Rogers and Hammerstein, Rogers composed the music, Hammerstein penned the lyrics.  As DJs, it’s pretty unusual to get a request for a composer, as opposed to getting a request for a singer or for a specific song. To make it more confusing, Cole also performed and recorded some of his songs himself. If I type “Cole Porter” into the artist search in my computer, at least 3 or 4 songs will come up, all sung by Cole Porter. But the truth is, Cole Porter’s singing voice was about as pleasant as sitting on a sharp tack. His nasal voice would make you stick your fingers (or maybe spikes) in your ears. People don’t want to hear him sing. They want to hear his songs, sung by people who can actually sing. What a DJ needs to know, is that when people ask for Cole Porter, they are really asking for Jazz Standards like I Get A Kick Out Of You, or Under My Skin, as sung by singers like Frank Sinatra. Most DJs don’t have their music indexed by composer, so this is something you just have to know.

Cole Porter’s most famous personal attribute was the fact that he was a notorious mama’s boy. He mostly lived off of his family’s fortune after his first few flops on Broadway. His most notable professional attribute, aside from the fact that he wrote his music and lyrics, was that his lyrics were so witty. I thought it would be appropriate to leave you by quoting some typical Cole Porter…

“Good authors, too, who once knew better words now only use four-letter words writing prose... anything goes.”

This topic came to mind because of a bizarre incident with a potential client at a recent bridal show. I should have seen it coming. He rubbed me the wrong way from the moment he introduced himself. It was a very loud show with hundreds of vendors in an echo-filled convention center. So when this soft spoken guy came up to me and introduced himself, I misunderstood him. I though he said his name was Tim. I leaned in a little closer and said, “Tim?” I was about to comment on the fact that we have the same name. I was going to crack a little joke about it or something. You know how it goes when you’re trying to make small talk. But then he lowered his chin slightly, and in an exaggeratedly slow speaking voice, he said “No, you are Tim. My name is Tom. Your name is Tim, and my name is Tom.” He was enunciating each syllable as if he was trying to talk to me through a pane of glass. Then, he pointed at me with both index fingers, then back at himself with his thumbs as he slowly said “Tim, Tom. Got it now?” I immediately made a mental note. Either this guy’s personality lends itself to being too comfortable with strangers, or he’s the type of guy to give a waitress a hard time just for the satisfaction of it. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and continued our conversation.

Twenty minutes of abuse later, not only did I regret giving him the benefit of the doubt, but I began to regret waking up that morning. All of his questions involved laying out his low opinion of me and my profession, then asking me to defend myself. “I don’t understand why I can’t just ask one of my guests to make a few announcements, and have another guy play music. I mean really, how hard can it be? You don’t need a degree to do this, do you? You just switch songs and speak into a microphone a few times. Anyone can do that, right?” When I told him that I would provide a veteran entertainer’s perspective to the team, I would keep everything flowing smoothly, coordinate with other important vendors, and use my many years of experience to keep things on track and entertaining, his response went something like this… “It sounds to me like all these things you say you do, are responsibilities that overlap with other [pause] professionals I’ve hired. I wouldn’t expect my photographer to need a DJ to hold his hand so he doesn’t miss any shots, and my fiancé has hired a wedding coordinator. It seems like you get to twiddle your thumbs while other [pause] professionals do the work, but I still have to write you a big, fat check.”

I know what you’re thinking. “Oh snap, Tim! No he didn’t! I would have sent him packing!” So I feel the need to explain that I never turn down a client on the spot. I’ve had plenty of "difficult" clients turn out to be my best advocates. I’ve had clients tell me they didn’t want me to play even one song that you would normally hear at a wedding. I’ve had clients ask me to practice making scripted announcements in a foreign language. I’ve even had a client ask me to help clean up because they only had 30 minutes to get out of the hall. All of that is fine. I took those gigs, and I would gladly take them again. Those clients were not being difficult for difficulty’s sake. They considered me a part of their team, not the opposition. I always sleep on it before I turn an event down because I need to differentiate between the ones who are just trying to make a prudent decision the best way they know how, versus those who simply enjoy harassing “the help.” Tom was definitely the latter. Tom hasn’t called yet, but if he does, I’m booked. Whatever date it is, even if it’s three years from now on a Wednesday morning, I’m booked.