“The photograph itself doesn't interest me. I want only to capture a minute part of reality.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Infinitely more appealing than the offerings in Neiman Marcus' Christmas catalog this year (you may recall my curiosity regarding who would buy a $60,000 replica of themselves in Lego) is this Boardwalk Photo Booth from Hammacher Schlemmer. For a reasonable (if you're talking 'fantasy gifts') $10,000 you get the booth and enough film to take 3,200 pictures.

Which seems to me to be the perfect gift...though I do admit to a general fascination with these booths anyway. It’s not (just) narcissism...the photos they create make me think of passports and travel...scrunching into a booth when you want to capture a moment or mood but don’t have a camera with you...the slightly grainy, mug-shot, quality of the images that somehow makes everything look a little bit cooler. The only off-putting factor normally being the layers of grime and miscellaneous strange stains that you normally encounter...after all, it’s difficult to smile for the camera when you’re not quite sure what you’re sitting on.