Interview: Frances Spencer, events photographer

WHEN Frances Spencer hit on the idea of running photo booths for parties and events, she had no idea she was following in a family tradition.

"Then it turned out my mum had looked after a photo booth at a fairground in Glasgow in the 1970s. We've got a photo of her in front of it, with her flares and turtle neck. It's a crazy coincidence," says the 29-year-old.

There the similarity ends, however, as Spencer's LookLook booths deliver pictures that are head and shoulders above the usual passport-style lunar landscape-skinned alien against a dirty curtain background. Equipped with Photoshop and greenscreen technology, the booths she runs with fianc Darran Barton allow mere mortals to star in their own photoshoot, with a little sympathetic lighting to highlight their best points and a some computer wizardry to smooth off the rough edges and a pound or two.

Such are the transformative powers of the magic cubicle, it's no surprise that people often have to be hauled out in order to let someone else have a chance.

"The booths are really popular with corporate events, birthday parties, weddings, and with anyone looking for entertainment that's a bit different. Everyone is dressed up at a birthday party or wedding anyway so it's a good time for people to have a picture taken," says Spencer.

Raised in Aviemore, she studied marketing at Strathclyde University, where she met Barton, who was studying photography. Now resident in the capital, after a stint in Spain, as well as running the booth at nights and weekends with Barton, Spencer works for Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance and revels in a day job that sees her promoting the city.

"It was lovely living in Spain and there was a bit of an adjustment coming back, but it's great to live in a city that you promote, as you get to know all the best restaurants and bars and keep your finger on the pulse."

"I had the idea for LookLook after a friend saw a booth at a wedding in New York and came back full of tales of how it made the party go with a swing. She said it was the best invention she had ever seen. Darran is a fashion photographer anyway and I have marketing skills, so we thought, 'Why don't we just do it?'" says Spencer.

While studying, Spencer's plan had been to eventually start her own business and be her own boss, but she had no idea in what area her entreprenurial destiny might be.

"When I heard about the booths I knew this was the one. I said to Darran, 'This is what we are going to do.' No-one else in Scotland is doing it. It's new, it's trendy and we knew it had worked in New York and London and we had all the skills necessary to make it work. We are both ambitious and entrepreneurial."

At 650 for four hours and 100 printouts, LookLook isn't cheap but the cost includes a booth butler, all images put on an online gallery, and a disc containing all shots. And for an extra 120 guests can take and keep unlimited pictures.

Props include fake lips, moustaches and wigs and greenscreen technology means a picture backdrop can be added, weather map style, so a staff night out appears as if the boss has rewarded their diligence by whisking them off to a sun-drenched Caribbean island or luxurious French chateau somwhere deep in the Loire Valley.

"Darran sets up the lighting as he would on a shoot. That's our strength - the quality of the photos - and because they're automatically Photoshopped people look good so it's quite addictive. You get some who go in again and again - the hoggers," says Spencer.

So successful is the booth that the couple have just launched a second one, with the addition of a wind machine so rock chicks and chaps can have their hair billowing in the wind Beyonce-style, and plans are afoot to include a soundtrack for the full Whitesnake Here I Go Again effect. Hopefully this is something the couple will avail themselves of when they marry in September.

"The events usually start off sensibly at the beginning of the night, then later you need the booth butler. We've had guys in kilts attempting to lift them, but the photos are taken from the chest up, so they can't manage it.

We have also had 15 people in a booth at once (they're designed for eight), but as long as they're not damaging it and having fun we let them do it. Then on the web gallery we censor the pictures later. Although whoever is picking up the tab does receive a disc with the full, uncensored version."

You have been warned.

• (0131-343 1994/07792 236 549, www.looklook.co.uk)

• This article was first published in Scotland on Sunday on 24 April 2011