Photo Booths, the Party’s Hot Spot!

The photo booth party was for VFiles at Raven Club (Raven Club Photo Booth). The online fashion hub and store, and as expected, cameras were everywhere. In addition to the half-dozen photographers assigned to cover the Fashion Week affair, guests posed for selfies. And they snapped pictures of the rapper A$AP Rocky and the artist Mykki Blanco.

But there was only one camera that people lined up for. Tucked into a corner of the Raven club was a photo booth. Like the kind once found in drugstores, where 20-something fashionistas posed with friends.

Raven Club Photo Booth

“They are at every party now.” said Billy Farrell, who runs a photography agency that covers parties in New York and elsewhere. “It started about a year ago, you would see them sometimes. Now it’s standard.” Mr. Farrell said his agency would offer its own photo booth in coming months.

That may seem odd, given how cellphone cameras and Instagram have made selfies almost a prerequisite of going out these days. But the new photo booths, which resemble mini studios with professional backdrops and lighting, tap into a different social urge.

“It’s a mix of technology, art and good old-fashioned narcissism,” said Aaron Fisher-Cohen, “People want to share pictures of themselves endlessly, especially at this moment.”

Sharing is a big draw. Subjects still walk away with a printout in their hand, but they can also share them instantly on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms by swiping them through tablet computers linked to the photo booths. Hosts not only get their events promoted through a subject’s social network, but they can also collect e-mail addresses and other useful information.

There is also a nostalgia factor to the Raven Club Photo Booth. “It’s like the return of Polaroid, people are now re-obsessed,” said Brian Wallis, the chief curator of the International Center of Photography in New York. “You can do this performance and see the image immediately.”

All of that makes a great party, said Campbell Bromberg, the vice president of production at KCD.  “It animates people and the whole tone of the room,” he said.