ANTHONY R. VIZZARI | ARCHTOGRAPHIST

Booths & Bodies: The life and work of Anthony Vizzari from Philip Bloom on Vimeo . A few weeks back my good old friend Sarah Estella came to visit our studios with camera "rock star" Philip Bloom . It was great to see Sarah again, as always.... but it was also a pleasure to meet Philip, who is a machine (in a good way) in his camera wrangling. As a still photographer myself, it was fun to watch him move about, pan, twist, swap lenses, etc. As a subject, I felt like I knew Phillip for years, but just met him that day. The result was a well shot documentary short. (I wish my voice was cooler and I looked more like George Clooney, but hey... you work with what you got!). Philip literally has THOUSANDS of followers. I was on the road hauling photobooths from North Carolina to Chicago (AKA The Junkin' Trail). So, when my email box started exploding from the road, I was caught a bit off guard. The cool thing is that I'm not alone... other people also like vintage came...

Scrapbook Studies: The Burn Series: "Lipstick, Smoke Stacks & Pearls" : 8"x10" ( 1 of 1) Silver Halide Print/s; 2011 Scrapbook Studies: The Burn Series: "Yosemite": 5"x7" (1 of 1) Silver Halide Print/s; 2011 After a long break from the blog, an entry is surely due. The business has been going well. We hired a new group of employees this summer and they are fabulous. The new crew is great, all of whom are excited and working hard. Our in-house shop in Wisconsin is manufacturing booths at break-neck speed (thanks to our skilled and dedicated guys). We have recently had sales to England, Hong Kong, Spain, Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, D.C., and New York... to name just a few. I also just refurbished some more classic chemical photobooths...bringing them back from the dead. We also acquired 30 more photobooths this summer (including 9 Polaroid booths secured for our friends at The Impossible Project). All these units and a TON of parts are no...

05 January 2011

I just started this series. Right now, they are just studies. While I was working with the LIFE mags, I picked up some photos in the studio. It's nice to have the photobooths up and running all week. Every night before I leave the studio, I've been spending a little time taking pics. We'll see what comes next. On another note... we booked our tickets to Germany (with a little side trip to Madrid & Barcelona, Spain - assuming all goes well in Bad Berka...)

I guess a lot can happen in a day...week, month, year, decade, century and so forth? Maybe that's why they called it LIFE? I don't think I'd want to relive any of it? One cover is a movie start, while another is the end of the world. It's hard to keep that up...

I've been buying up LIFE magzines on the cheap lately... the covers have some of the most iconic images of the last century. And of course, the advertising is amazing. My favorite period is 1940 - 1969. I'm not entirely sure where this series is going, but I've been having fun with it. The magazine look even better in the vintage B&W strips. Here are a few from our Digital-Retro booth, in color.

Posted in the Tribune Local: http://tinyurl.com/2aw85uo

Some recent "poses" in a photobooth (testing for an event...) I rock a mean ukulele... The beautiful Andrea... after the show, looking majestic as ever... Me at a show...scowling as usual. Andrea at the camera... These recent photos are proof that we are still alive...and, looking good! I’ve been laying low, avoiding the blog, phone calls and email…not in any particular order. I just haven’t had much to say and needed a good rest. At just about 7 weeks post-surgery, I’m moving around and back to work. I’ve lost about 10-12lbs, which I don’t really mind…. I’m still a little slow and limited to lifting 25lbs or less, but I’m feeling well. Andrea’s back is doing better too. I haven’t gotten out much since returning home after surgery. I’ve made it out a few times for social engagements, and a few times for work. Last week, Andrea and I went to the Museum on a whim, which was great. And lately, we’ve been watching the Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup finals. Admittedly, I’m not a...

We dropped off the 4 booths for Europe on Monday and hit the road for Omaha... The booths look so small and scared for their ocean journey. I'm going to miss them! Oh well, we just got in two new 17's, a 14 and an 11 last week. So, 4 leave and 4 new ones come in. We got into Omaha early Monday evening. It was an easy drive and we're all settled in. Tomorrow is pre-op stuff, then the big game on Thursday.

I'm almost done with a large booth order for Europe... I can barely get a minute to breathe this week. The order ships Monday morning, then we head to Omaha for the surgery. Dr. Botha confirmed that my liver is now big enough to move forward. I feel like the guillotine blade is right over my head... The pressure is on the get so much done by Monday. After surgery things will be much much slower. FYI: The photo is of a photobooth bulb I took just for reference. I like it though... My fingers are dirty. I'm going to miss working in the shop for a few months. I'm going to miss the smell of grease and stale chemistry.

Berlin Photoautomat Chemical Booths: From our "grand tour" of Berlin. Location 1-7 (8 was not open in the winter.) Back to back booths in a Berlin neghborhood (loccation #9). Even though it was midnight, and 25 degress, people were still using the booths non stop! Me, Andrea, Carole and Siobhan (from London's Photomovette). Our Lady of Sorrows: Pedro Roldan Circa 1670: Bode Museum, Berlin After a few great, albeit very cold and snowy, days in Berlin we are now back in Weimer. In a few hours I will be headed to Bad Berka for my in-patient check-in. According to my schedule from Dr. Baum, I am supposed to start the PRRT treatment tomorrow (Monday). I will then be stuck in the hospital ward for a little stretch! We saw much of Berlin and toured nine photobooth locations throughout the city. Our friends from London came to visit with us for a few nights, which added to the fun. It was spectacular to catch up with them and see friendly faces. Via taxi, train, and many mile...

My 3oth B-Day Candles Andrea and Sylvie: Bedroom @ the Highland house... in progress. A vintage chemical photobooth we installed last week at a new location, The Charleston Pub, Chicago, IL: Michael is checking out the booth.... Farmscape: Highland, WI. Highland, WI sign: Entering the town. Andrea threw me a small, albeit great, 30th b-day party for me on Friday at our house in Oak Park. Afterwhich, we skipped town and headed up to Wisconsin... we went to Mineral Point, then to our "cottage" in Highland. After 3 days of no phone service and limited email, I was starting to get a little stir crazy. (At&t is the worst up there!!) The house is coming along well. We still have a lot of work to do before we can start deocrating, but we're making progress. We did some painting and worked out some of the floor finishes. The bathroom is almost done too! Our friend Sylvie just moved to Madison, WI for 6 months and she came out to meet us in Highland. She was our first guest ...

It occured to me today just how many photobooth strips that I have (of myself!! - 1000+)... I service the booths, refurbish them, etc... And of course, every week I test the machines on our route. I have photostrips falling out of my ears. I'm wondering what to do with them all? Maybe a book, simply titled "Repair Man..." ??

The last crate of paper being taken off the truck today! Digital-Retro Model-002: Built by 312photobooth for UK Client ("Snaparazzi") That's right, today we finally got our shipment of film for our vintage photobooths! Sales are off to a great start and we're already planning a new order.... Also, we finished the Digital-Retro booth for our UK client, and, picked up two really beautiful Model-14's last week. We also came into a sweet stash of parts and other sweet deals. So, that's right, things are happeing. I put together a little demo of our digital retro photobooth. It's for marketing, but really is a work in progress. I'm going to change the audio and add in a few things. Also, it only takes 20 seconds for the photos to print, but the sign says 2.5 minutes... yeah, I know... the sign is more for aesthetics than anything else. We've also started working on the A&A Studios web store ... it's still in progress, but you can buy the paper...

I met with the IR team at Northwestern (Dr. Lewandowski, etc.). I'm still on the fence as to my course of treatment and gathering some final data. I'm leaning toward the surgery. The Northwestern folks are pushing Y90 which may work well... but, that's also not a sure thing. I feel like if don't at least try to find the primary, I'll never let it down. I can always get Y90 in the future. If Shafir's ablation does nothing, and even if the primary is not found....at least they will get a complete picture of the disease in my liver. If the surgery is a total wash, and there is no disease regression by the intervention, I may never be this healthy again. Right now, I can tolerate a big surgery, physically and even mentally. Maybe this is the time for surgery? I spoke with Warner again today and he has assured me this is the way to go. The tumor board, surgeons, etc. will be reviewing my case on Friday at Northwestern. I can expect to get more info from them Friday a...

It's not glorious, but it's my hand...! New vintage photobooth refurb in progress. Slated for placement at a new bar opening in Logan Square: The Rocking Horse...

Last night we had a great 4th of July / Andrea's B-Day celebration at our place in Oak Park. True to form, we had the Digital Retro Photobooth up an running... now, the day after, back to work in the shop! We have a busy week ahead and no time to loose! Click here to view the images from the photobooth.

Above: Our new Digital-Retro photobooth design put into service this week! After a grueling week with minimal sleep, including multiple 18 hour work days, we pulled it off! We were slammed with events this weekend. And just in time, I finished our new booth pictured above....with only a few minor items needed to be completed on the electrical inside. -nothing major. Yes, we built that in our shop. And I personally tore up my muscles to make it happen. This booth is by far the best one we have buil to date. It's much cleaner with better construction and materials. It's not all over yet, but we can now breathe for a few days. Anyhow, you can read all about it on the 312photobooth Blog (Which has also suffered from attention, due to my work load). Health: My MRI report from last week was botched... the details are too much to go into right now. It should be completed by Wednesday for my appointment with Benson. I have my exam tomorrow and I'm starving!! Haven't eaten in ...

Buenos Aires: The Land of no Photobooths. I want to make it clear that we have searched high and low and have found NO photobooths here in BA. We have asked manyy people, and get nothing but puzzled looks. Only one person told us that he remembered BA having booths in the 80's, but I suspect he was mistaken. There are no chemical, or even modern digital booths in this city. Furthermore, in searching for photos, I have found NO photobooth images throughout my travels. I did find one Photomaton, but suspect it was from Spain, France, or somewhere else in Europe, transported back to BA. I spoke with a very well versed photo dealer here in BA, and he explained that photobooths were never popular in Argentina. He also noted that he had never seen a Photomaton piece before... which astonished me. I guess it makes sense... the photobooth is somehow a quintessential American (US) thing. After all, it was invented by a New Yorker. But I do find it strange... why did Hammer pants make it to ...