Imaging Spectrum is passionate about quality and it is apparent that Smile Lounge Photo Booth shares that same passion. When we learned that Lisa Oler, owner of the Smile Lounge PhotoBooth company, recently chose the Brava 21 printer for a large national contract we were flattered. When Lisa told us the printers would be used in her kiosks for the national launch of Burberry Brit Rhythm, we were super excited to have the opportunity to support her efforts. We were confident the Brava 21 printer would represent the brand well.
Interview with Lisa Oler, Smile Lounge Photo Booth:
Q: Burberry is one of those iconic British fashion brands that has been around for a long time (Since the 1800’s I believe). When I think of Burberry, those captivating images of Emma Watson and Kate Moss in Burberry coats come to mind. Always bold and graphically powerful. Your booths appear to compliment the brand well. What was your thought process during the design of the booth and ultimately your printer choice?
A: Burberry approached us with a VERY tight timeline. We had to design, fabricate, brand and ship 25 new photo towers all over the country. And we only had 6 weeks to get it all done. We needed a printer that met our size and weight restrictions, as these would be placed into the towers for shipping. The Brava 21 is compact, lightweight yet durable. Plus the versatility with the choice of sticker and traditional photo papers made it a great choice for this campaign; and positions us for more large & unique activations in the future.
In terms of design, our client had a general idea for what they wanted. They wanted a tower format that offered a large branding canvas, plus a viewing monitor to showcase the images. We added the touchscreen, live-view monitor on the front so that users could interact with the software and share their photos immediately after their session. It was an all-in-one solution that met both our client’s and our needs perfectly. The towers looked amazing! We couldn’t be happier with the design and format.
Q: Having to simultaneously launch the Burberry kiosks at 25 Macy’s department store locations on the same day must have been a bit hectic. Were there any technical difficulties that came up? How did the Brava 21 printers hold up during the events?
 A: Knowing that this would be a huge feat to accomplish, and wanting to make sure that we could quickly address any on-site issues, we decided to hire fellow photo booth owners to operate the units in their markets. We had a project manager in NY and another in FL, as these were the most dense regions, with 10 and 6 stores each respectively. Amazingly, all 25 units arrived on-time! And even with some damage that occurred during shipping, all 25 stores were up and running. I have to give tremendous credit and appreciation to the operators who went above and beyond to make sure our activation went so smoothly. The Brava 21 is such an amazing little workhorse! Not one single damage or mechanical issue. Seriously, 25 printers and not one single problem?  Impressive!
Q: I noticed a ring flash was used in your custom builds for this project. Ring flash just adds such a “big studio” look to the image. What were your thoughts on the choice of ring flash for this project vs. other forms of lighting?
A: Burberry is a fashion brand. Ring flashes are widely used for fashion shoots as they leave a beautiful “halo” catchlight in the model’s eyes. They also cast a soft, shadow-free glow surrounding the subject. We wanted to make sure that our towers produced photos that were worthy of the Burberry brand! Other tower-style photo booths have square light panels above the camera lens. When you look closely at the subject’s eyes (particularly if they are wearing glasses) you can see this boxy light reflection. We didn’t want that in our images. This needed to be more like a fashion shoot than a photo booth session. The ring flashes we used also have a modeling light which, not only made the towers look cool, but also provided lighting on the subject to help with camera focus.
Q: I am assuming you used a DSLR in your kiosk build for quality reasons, so I always have to ask… Canon or Nikon? and of course, why?
A: While we’ve used Nikon for most of our builds in the past, we chose Canon for this project for a number of reasons; versatility being the main one. The Canon SDK is apparently the choice for most software designers as it’s easier to use and manipulate. Some photo booth software packages available only support Canon and we wanted to have the option to use different software products as needed for future campaigns. Plus, the price-point for the model we chose (T5) was better than the comparable Nikon model.
Q: Is there anything you wish you would have done differently, that you did not do?
A: If we’d had more time, we would have made custom cases for the towers and we would have shipped them via LTL freight vs express ground. We also would have added webcams in the towers as backup and for added flexibility.
About Smile Lounge Photo Booth
By combining premium photographic activations and experiential marketing solutions with cutting-edge technology and personalized attention, Smile Lounge Photo Booth has quickly become a go-to favorite for parties of all shapes, and companies of all sizes. Some of our clients include: ABC, CBS, NBC, Universal, Paramount, Burberry, Heineken, CNN, The Getty, Grammy Museum, Playboy, Coca-Cola, Yahoo, Facebook, Target, Maybelline, and many others. Smile Lounge Photo Booth, with its ever-evolving strategies for harnessing the power of social media, helps transport your brand or event from the virtual world to the real world… and back again.
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