Our Story

Before digital photo booths, before instant prints, before any of it, there were the old enclosed booths that still used film and chemicals. You'd cram in with a bunch of high school friends, take the most ridiculous photos you could think of, and then wait. The strip would eventually come out and you'd have to fan it dry before you could even see what you'd got. It was chaotic and cramped and absolutely brilliant. I still have photos from those days and looking back at them takes me straight back to being a teenager.

That love for photo booths never really went away.

The moment everything changed was the 17th of September 2010, at Jerryl and Jean's wedding. It was the first wedding I'd ever been to with a photo booth and I remember walking back to the car that night, looking at my partner Sonny, and saying out loud that was a brilliant business idea. Something about watching everyone light up around that booth, strangers becoming friends, families squeezing in together, people laughing harder than they had all night. I couldn't stop thinking about it.

A few years later, on maternity leave with my first child and very motivated not to go back to full time work, I decided to do something about it.

The Booth Box was where it all began, launching in 2012. A year later we made the decision to split things in two. Shutter Booth became our dedicated event hire company, and The Booth Box evolved into something more specialised, designing and selling photo booths to others wanting to start their own businesses in the industry. We guide them from the very beginning, helping them understand the business, supplying them with the right equipment, and supporting them through their photo booth journey. In 2016 we launched Photobooth Design Co, an online store supplying props, backdrops and downloadable templates to booth operators around the country.

Over the years the business has also grown me as a creative. I've loved developing my skills in photography, design and videography, and that creative side now runs through everything we produce, from the print layouts and backdrops to the way we think about lighting on the night.

Our involvement in the industry has gone beyond just running events. Through The Booth Box and Photobooth Design Co we exhibited at BoothCon, Australia's first ever photo booth expo, for three consecutive years, showcasing our booths, backdrops and props to others in the industry. I also ran a MasterClass teaching photo booth operators how to design and create their own templates using Adobe Photoshop. But what I'm most proud of is seeing the businesses we helped get started go on to succeed in their own right. This business changed my life. The flexibility, the creativity, the lifestyle it gave me and my family. Knowing that we played a small part in giving others that same experience, that sits with me in the best possible way.

Since we started we've completed just over 3,000 events across Melbourne. We've also lived through something we never could have planned for. Melbourne's Covid lockdowns hit the events industry harder than most, and there were moments where the future felt genuinely uncertain. But we came out the other side, and if anything it made us appreciate what we do even more.

We've been doing this for over a decade and the thing that keeps us going is still the same thing that started it all. We capture moments people want to remember. The big ones, weddings, milestone birthdays, the nights everyone talks about for years afterwards.

Over the years, we've been fortunate to provide photo booth experiences at weddings, school formals, brand activations and corporate events held at some of Melbourne's most iconic venues.

Life has changed a lot since those early days. I lost my soulmate and life partner, someone I'd known since I was two years old, and the father of my kids. But I still have every photo from the test shoots before events, the kids tiny in the booth, and then a little bigger, and then bigger again. Those photos mean everything to me. They're exactly why I believe so deeply in what we do.

The team around me shares that same belief. We have attendants who have been with us for years because they genuinely love the job. We obsess over lighting, over print quality, over making sure every single person walks away with a photo they're happy with. We know that weddings and big events don't get a second chance. You can't go back and reshoot the night. That responsibility isn't lost on us and we take it seriously every single time.

That's who we are. That's why we do it.

Maria Abacan, Founder & Creative Director, Shutter Booth