‘I found it 35 years later and dissolved into tears’: readers’ favourite photo booth moments

100 years ago, Anatol Marco Josepho, a Russian immigrant to the US, invented the world’s first fully automated, coin-operated photo booth. When it opened its doors near Times Square in New York City, the “photomaton” – which produced pictures from a carefully orchestrated mechanical darkroom inside – was an instant hit. A reported 280,000 people lined up to use it in the first six months.

To mark 100 years, nine writers shared their favourite photo booth pictures, and we asked Guardian readers to show us their favourites and tell us what they mean to them. Here are some of their stories.

‘I’m older, my hair is greying, but when Johnny looks at me, part of him still sees the 20-year-old girl he was falling in love with in the photo booth’

I met Johnny through friends in 1988; I wrote