With tiny photos, Koreans turn moments into memories
"Look at the camera and pose within 10 seconds after you hear the sound beep."
After the countdown cue begins, put on your best smile, strike a pose, switch it up and let your best angle shine. And get ready for the next shot. After the minute-long shoot, flip through the snap photos, pick your favorites and print them out to take home.
This is a scene at a self-service photo booth where anyone can snap fun shots and instantly print out bookmark-sized keepsakes that capture the moment.
The photos are taken using automated cameras, lighting and backdrops. These unmanned photo "studios" are open 24 hours, meaning you can pop in whenever it strikes your fancy. Instructions are available in English, Japanese and Chinese as well.
Walk through Seongsu-dong or Hongdae and you will be struck by how many of these unmanned photo studios there are, usually crowded with people casually stepping inside to snap memories as if it were a daily routine.
Among the many studio booths, global selfie brand Life Four Cuts leads the pack. The name is a reference to its "four-cut" photo service — similar to traditional passport photos, with four snapshots framed in a vertical strip, with two printed copies costing 4,000 won ($2.91), 8,000 won for four copies and 12,000 won for six prints.
Ha Yoo-ra, 20, a university student in Seoul, is among those who stepped into a four-cut photo booth with two friends for a fun memory.
"(The three of us) have been friends since elementary school, but somehow never took a nice photo together, believe it or not, until now. So we decided to have a little makeover and dress nicely to mark our years of friendship. One day, I hope we will reminisce about the memories of the day we took the photo, what we ate and how we looked," Ha told The Korea Herald.
"Also, the self-photo booths edit the pictures by making our skin look better and brighter, which is cost-friendly for college students," Ha added.
To stand out in the fast-growing photo booth market, many brands are teaming up with K-pop stars, actors, popular cartoon characters and even sports figures. These time-limited designs add to the appeal by creating a one-of-a-kind experience.
For example, Photoism opened an artist frame on May 26 that allows users to take photos with a frame featuring singer-songwriter IU to mark the release of her new EP "A Flower Bookmark, Pt. 3." The special edition frame will only be available until June 30.
Yoshi from the K-pop group Treasure is another frame option available at Photoism. Released to mark his May 15 birthday, the frame will be available through June 15.
Park Jun-seo, a college graduate who is an avid fan of boy band Enhypen, visited Photoism in November last year to to be in the same frame as her favorite idol.
"Honestly, I think it is embarrassing to enter a self-studio photo booth to take a picture of yourself, but I wanted to be in the same picture with my idol. It wasn't about how pretty I looked in the picture but about the fact that I printed a photo of me standing next to my favorite singer, even if it was just a photo frame," Park explained.
For sports fans, exclusive photo frames featuring baseball players from all 10 KBO teams are available through a partnership with the Korea Baseball Organization during the baseball season. During the baseball sesason fans can capture fun and personalized memories, posing "next" to their favorite player. The special edition frames are available through October.
The photo-booth craze has also spread overseas. Korea's Life Four Cuts and Photomatic are now available in Singapore and London while local companies have jumped in on the market in Indonesia with homegrown brands like Photograms and Palette ID making big waves.
"These pictures come with great quality at a budget-friendly price, which is why the MZ generation are preferring self-photo studios," a senior official overseeing marketing at Life Four Cuts told The Korea Herald.
A total of 120 million visits have been made to Life Four Cuts since its launch in 2017 and the company runs around 410 stores in Korea, according to the company.
Another reason driving the trend is that the pictures come out in formats that are easy to share on social media, according to the official. Also, limited-edition photo frames could trigger FOMO among people and lead to more repeat visits for photos with different celebrities in the frame.
"The trend also aligns with the desire to capture and document everyday moments. With stylish frames and creative setups, these photo booths let anyone step in, take photos and express themselves comfortably and without feeling self-conscious," the official said.
junheee@heraldcorp.com
