This time last year, Tiktok and Instagram feeds were plastered with grainy, black-and-white photobooth pictures. Bryant, a photographer for the influencers, popularized this style of photography. He is friends with the D’Amelios, Jenners, and broken-up Vlog Squad, using their beloved faces to promote his brand. Being a part of social media culture for some time now, Bryant has found his niche with unique world of influencers.
What once started as a trend has emerged as a business. Bryant launched his photobooth photography on his Instagram last year and then formed an entire page dedicated to these images. @BoothbyBryant has 600k followers and is a collection of celebrity pictures from some of the biggest events this year. He followed fashion’s biggest names to the CFDA awards (Council of Fashion Designers of America); he got entry to the world of tequila drinkers at Kendall Jenner’s 818 party; and he saw the behind-the-scenes of the Daisy Jones and the Six after-party.
Following his online success, Bryant expanded his brand by opening in-person booths in New York and Los Angeles. These booths are marked as “permanent”; however, how permanent can a photo trend be? Bryant now primarily creates special booths for celebrity brand launches, but as you all have seen, these grainy photos are not infecting our feeds like how they did one year ago.
There have always been photographers capturing celebrity culture since the invention of the celebrity. Much of the photos taken of big names since the 1980s till the 2010s were candid and added to their glamorous air of mystery. Celebrity photography used to be just for inner circles and the pages of magazines so fans could get glimpses of their favorite’s life. Now, with social media, our celebs and influencer put their full lives on display, leaving nothing to the imagination.
Bryant is continuing this business venture, but who knows for how long? While his photobooth was growing in popularity, he launched another photo style that didn’t see the same level of success.
@ScanbyBryant smushed pretty faces against a photocopy scanner, giving the impression that the no-name influencer would pop out of the screen. The Instagram page for this branch of his business is empty and has @BoothbyBryant tagged in the bio, directing people away from a failed attempt at a trend.
While Bryant has seen success and failure, he is not going away. He has cemented himself in photography as a favorite of celebrities and their copycats. Everyone is waiting for the next big trend, which I’m sure Bryant will be responsible for.