Leah Park traveled to South Korea two years ago with an empty suitcase, intending to fill it with skincare products and childhood snacks. Instead, she returned to Canada with several adorned photo booth strips and a new business idea.
“Seongsu-dong, the ‘hip place’ of Seoul, has photo booths lined up on the streets with several stalls within each one,” she said. “I thought of photo booths back in Vancouver that are usually situated in malls – they only have singular booths that can barely fit one person.”
After experiencing the tactile joy of selecting accessories, entering touchscreen booths and printing photo strips, Park wanted to make Vancouver’s photo booths immersive like Seoul’s.
The surge in popularity of Korean culture, from pop music to mugwort skincare, has spread to unmanned four-cut photo booths globally.
According to VisitKorea Hallyu Insight, the number of self-operated booths in Korea grew almost 200% from 1,006 in 2023 to over 3,000 in 2024.
Park, 15, is an incoming first-year student at the University of British Columbia and the co-founder of Photo Crumb – a Korean-style photo booth business with two locations and a wide range of backdrops and props.
“We do a lot of collaborations with famous K-pop groups and fan bases,” she said. “We have hosted events with the local public library, ambulance services and weddings too.”
Unlike traditional Western booths, which are often limited to single, cramped spaces, Korean models typically feature multi-stall buildings, personalized props and vibrant themes.
Some booths also feature K-pop artists. Photoism – one of Korea’s leading booth companies – recently partnered with the girl group Twice, allowing fans to pose with virtual versions of their idols without paying hundreds to see them in concert.
Rita Song, 16, said she finds this aspect most exciting.
“It is fun to see how the photos turn out after posing with my K-pop biases,” Song said. “I love sharing them online with my friends who enjoy the idols as well – I must have at least thirty strips at this point.”
TikTok has over 1.5 million posts under the photo booth hashtag. The posts show a wide range of formats, from retro-style booths to commercial installations.
But some suppliers have observed higher demand for vintage-style photos instead.
Slice of Life co-founder Sheena Botelho, 36, said these models offer longer wait times and fewer chances for retakes, but also a more unfiltered picture.
“We’re now in an age where everyone has this filter and digital technology at their fingertips, so people are longing for something you can’t replicate – something not easily accessible,” Botelho said.
One critique of Korean-style booths lies in their use of beauty filters, which often include features like face-slimming and airbrushed skin – tools that reinforce narrowing beauty standards, especially in East Asia.
Slice of Life offers a curated mix of analog and digital options.
“We offer the best of both worlds: a booth from the 1980s, another from the 1990s and a digital booth designed in the Korean style,” Botelho said.
Still, the Korean photo booth model is broadening in Korea, along with the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and throughout North America.
In Manila, Kiara Justine Sanchez, 29, founded Beyond the Booth Philippines after being inspired by Korea’s photo booth culture.
“Photo booths are the best keepsakes at events,” Sanchez said. “People love capturing moments to keep.”
Many booths also offer unconventional green screen settings – such as elevators and laundry rooms – and creative use of a 0.5x camera lens, she said.
“I think these photo booths will continue to grow in popularity because they capture memories in a tactile way that a phone camera will never be able to do,” Song said. “Even with constant new phone releases, our generation will always go back to the basics.”
