George Berticevich
From the Photomaton gallery guide:
"The roots of my photobooth fascination began with a visit to the old Sutro Museum in San Francisco. I was a guest at a friend's 10th birthday party, the year was 1962. The museum was filled with Egyptian mummies, taxidermied animals, miniature coin-operated carnivals made of toothpicks and even a life-size 3-D reconstruction of Michelangelo's 'Last Supper' whose characters would talk after you put a quarter in. It was there that I first discovered the photobooth, and was introduced to the art of print collecting.
"In 1972, I had started to work at San Francisco's Musee Mechanique, which had its own photobooth. I began to photograph tourists and locals, making an extensive collection of interesting people who came wandering through. In 1974, I began experimenting with my first female photo booth figure studies. In 1977, I bought my own photobooth from the 'Fun Center' arcade in San Francisco. For brown-toned images, I aged my chemicals weeks in advance to prepare for a certain effect, From time to time, I hand-color my pictures, but only a few papers hand-color easily and have the desired effect. Those papers are becoming more difficult if not impossible to obtain.
"I have many interests related to the photo booth... some of my work has been a continuation of that classic theme: 'picture as souvenir.' I like to work with images that have a social context. I've done a lot of research in Asia and Mexico on photographers who still use paper positives both for I.D. pictures and as inexpensive portraits in front of various painted backgrounds. I've been collecting these fascinating backgrounds since 1973 and have examples from 10 countries. I have a great collection of tintypes made at Cliff House from the 1860s until 1912."
George Berticevich received his B,A. and M.A. in Photography from San Francisco State University. His still photography includes 360-degree panoramas as well as group portraits of such diverse subjects as Buddhist monks in Tibet and participants in Tiburon's Corinthian Yacht Club Centennial. Mr. Berticevich was formerly an animation cell painter and worked on Saturday morning cartoons, including "The Flintstones" and "Smurfs."
"In 1972, I had started to work at San Francisco's Musee Mechanique, which had its own photobooth. I began to photograph tourists and locals, making an extensive collection of interesting people who came wandering through. In 1974, I began experimenting with my first female photo booth figure studies. In 1977, I bought my own photobooth from the 'Fun Center' arcade in San Francisco. For brown-toned images, I aged my chemicals weeks in advance to prepare for a certain effect, From time to time, I hand-color my pictures, but only a few papers hand-color easily and have the desired effect. Those papers are becoming more difficult if not impossible to obtain.
"I have many interests related to the photo booth... some of my work has been a continuation of that classic theme: 'picture as souvenir.' I like to work with images that have a social context. I've done a lot of research in Asia and Mexico on photographers who still use paper positives both for I.D. pictures and as inexpensive portraits in front of various painted backgrounds. I've been collecting these fascinating backgrounds since 1973 and have examples from 10 countries. I have a great collection of tintypes made at Cliff House from the 1860s until 1912."
George Berticevich received his B,A. and M.A. in Photography from San Francisco State University. His still photography includes 360-degree panoramas as well as group portraits of such diverse subjects as Buddhist monks in Tibet and participants in Tiburon's Corinthian Yacht Club Centennial. Mr. Berticevich was formerly an animation cell painter and worked on Saturday morning cartoons, including "The Flintstones" and "Smurfs."
Contributed by Tim
