Photobooth: A Biography, 12th anniversary edition

For almost a century chemical photobooths have occupied public spaces, giving people the opportunity to quickly take inexpensive, quality photos. In the last two decade these machines have started to rapidly disappear, causing an eclectic group of individuals from around the world to come together and respond. Illustrator, writer and long-time photobooth lover, Meags Fitzgerald has chronicled the photobooth’s fortuitous history and the events which gave rise to the desperate need to save them. Having traveled in North America, Europe and Australia, she’s constructed a biography of the booth through the eyes of technicians, owners, collectors, artists and fanatics. In this ground-breaking book Fitzgerald struggles with her own relationship to these fleeting machines, while looking to the future.

“Photobooth: A Biography is an impressive and ambitious project. A deep exploration of an unexpected topic that is in turn historical, journalistic, and personal.” — Jillian Tamaki

“This is a must-read book for fans of graphic-genre narratives, photographers, pop-culture historians, scholars of human relationships to our technologies, and anyone who loves a good dip-n-dunk.” — Rain Taxi

“Easily one of the best books in recent memory. Not only is Photobooth exceptionally readable, but that it’s also one of the most intensely moving books to emerge this year.” — The Comics Alternative

“It’s surprising that something as commonly overlooked as a photobooth could be so lovingly rendered, but Fitzgerald’s images, from historical models in Montreal metro stations to still-active Tiki-themed booths in L.A. bars, testify to her love for the technology.” — Quill & Quire

About the author

Meags Fitzgerald (they/she) is an interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker, writer and performer based in Montreal. They are the author+illustrator of the queer coming of age memoir Long Red Hair / Longs cheveux roux and of the history and travelogue, Photobooth: A Biography, for which they won the 2015 Doug Wright Spotlight Award. Fitzgerald’s short comics have appeared in the National Post, Taddle Creek Magazine, The New Quarterly, Geist, Carte Blanche, Lambda Literary, Éditions Planches and in anthologies including Lettres À Montréal, and Secret Loves of Geek Girls.

Fitzgerald is in post-production for a feature-length film adaptation of Photobooth a Biography, for which they are the writer, co-director and on-camera presence. The film titled Picture Yourself, will stream on Crave in 2027. Fitzgerald also appears in the film as her drag king alter-ego, HercuSleaze (he/him), adding a fantastical queer twist to the film.

Publication details

ISBN: 9781772621280
280 pages, 6.5 x 8.5 inches,
b/w, New Format Reprint
September 2026