"I Used To Be a Fotomat"

 "The Photo Place - 29 Palms" 

© Julie Pavlowski Green

It all started inside of a hippopotamus's mouth. It was my brother's 2nd birthday and we were celebrating it at the Oakland Zoo. My Mother was busy setting up the party and I distinctly remember her handing me her instamatic camera, you know the horizontal flat one that you could attach a flash cube to, and asked me to take pictures of the birthday party for her.

Several weeks later, we drove up to the local Fotomat to pick up our processed prints (which was always an exciting moment) but was even more of an event, as it was the first time we were picking up photographs taken by me! After my Mother paid for the prints, she pulled over and parked so we could take a look at all the pictures I had taken at my brother's birthday party.

I was bursting with excitement as I knew the images were going to amaze my Mother and possibly impress her enough to let me use the camera again. The look on her face was not exactly what I was hoping for. It was more of a puzzled, worried look. Had she picked up the wrong pack of prints? Had someone accidentally slipped the wrong pictures into the folded yellow and red striped envelope?

"What are these?" I remember her saying in disbelief. She had discovered that throughout the party, I had, instead of photographing the cake, my brother, our family members or any hint of a birthday celebration, I had photographed the animals at the zoo.

There was the hoof of a giraffe, an abstract, off centered shot of a camel, and what appeared to be a wash of monkeys swinging wildly from their cages. But the one image I was most proud of was a shot of the inside of a hippopotamuses mouth. It completely filled the frame. I had managed to snap the shot just as he opened his mouth. "Where are all the photographs of your brothers birthday party?" she said. I didn't have an answer for her. I had gotten lost that day in a magical world. One that captured me capturing the world.

I was 8 3/4 years old and I was hooked...

To this day, I still have an affinity for Fotomats. I was absolutely fascinated that a person, an actual human being, sat all day in a box smaller than your average bathtub. How did they have room to process the pictures? It was all very mysterious to me and a world I wanted to know about.

I have been documenting these little huts over the years and have titled the series "I Used to Be a Fotomat", since 98% of all Fotomat's these days are something else, if not abandoned in the parking lot.

"Statuary Fotomat - Los Angeles" © Julie Pavlowski Green

"Cigarette Fotomat - Glendale" © Julie Pavlowski Green

I wanted to start here, with the mighty Fotomat and the day I fell in love with photography. It has taken me places I would have never gone to on purpose, provided me a ticket into the lives and rooms of people that would otherwise be inaccessible to me. Photography has allowed me to create a vocabulary to convey my ideas and passions. I have grown up with photography speaking for me and now, with this blog, I hope to speak for the photography I have and will be creating for these pages.

I hope you enjoy the view!

Julie Pavlowski Green
February 9, 2013