BENGALURU: In an era of selfies and instant uploads, walking around buzzing spots of Bengaluru like Church Street will give you a refreshing experience.
Fondly held in the hands of every other person will be a photo strip, captured in minutes. Searching for its source will stop you in a long queue in front of a few photobooths, alluring people to preserve precious moments in physical forms – something smartphones cannot do instantly.
Sitting inside a cosy booth in a small space by yourself or with your loved one(s), the process is simple yet fun. Following four instructions, the customers have a brief window of a few seconds between each shot.
But what pose will the person next to you strike? Will you be silly or perfectly timed? This unpredictability and anticipation of the outcome make this experience a surprisingly eventful token of time. Before receiving the prints, one can also customise them according to preference, making the journey extra special.
Both customers and owners credit social media for the current buzz. Even though many photobooths started popping up at the start of 2024, they believe Instagram fuelled the buzz among Bengalureans.
According to partners Ritheshale S and Gaurav Patel of Fotoautomatica, they witness crowds from kids to elderly couples, and people accompanying pets, who are all equally curious to try it after seeing it on social media.
“If you go to any place like Koramangala, Indiranagar, people always go to find out something new and do something new. So, obviously, Instagram is one of the media where they’re getting all the information,” Ritheshale says.
"With Bengaluru being a city that embraces startups and anything new, the crowd welcomed it readily. “I believe the current generation thrives on self-reliance. That’s why we have designed our automated photo booth system to be as intuitive and efficient as possible, addressing real-time challenges from both the backend and the customer side,” states Mervin Roy, one of the founders of Retromatica"
For many customers, photobooths are a nostalgic way to treasure memories in a contemporary world.
“I think this is a great way to retain memories with your loved ones, especially in Bengaluru,” says student Vishishta R Yajurvedi.
“It’s affordable too, with each strip costing around B200 per strip,” adds his friend Dheeptha Manjunath.
As Murthy puts it, “Firstly, you get a good experience; secondly, you get something to cherish forever. Digital or not.”
Where to go?
Currently, a variety of booths are located in different corners of Bengaluru.
To name a few, Retromatica, a brainchild of friends Arun S Nair, Anna Elizabath Joy, Pranav Prakash and Mervin Roy – an in-house production, on the first floor of Church Street metro station – stays open from 10.30 am to 11.30 pm every day.
Fotoautomatica with outlets in five localities – Church Street, Indiranagar, JP Nagar, Bellandur and Whitefield –stays open from 4 pm to 10 pm during weekdays and 12 pm to 11 pm during weekends.
Nine Snap, a fully-automatic photo booth at Vega City Mall, co-founded by best friends Yashwanth Reddy and Aakash Shivalinga Murthy, is where you should go to witness an automatic memory creation. All of these are different models, catering to diverse customers.