Meet The Team | Lisa

What makes Photomatica special is our people. We’re a crew of vintage enthusiasts with a knack for the cool and quirky, all about the old-school vibes and capturing epic memories. Meet Lisa Allbaugh, also known as @lisaland__, our operations manager and the glue that keeps everything running smoothly behind the scenes. Lisa is not only the mastermind behind our flawlessly organized team events, but she’s also the creative force who handcrafts the custom curtains for each booth we build. She’s also an integral part of our events team - working directly with clients to book events, ensuring that every detail is just right from start to finish for their big day.

We caught up with Lisa to learn more about her journey at Photomatica, how she balances her creative side with managing operations, and what keeps her inspired every day.

How did your journey with Photomatica begin, and what drew you to the operations side of the business?
Before working at Photomatica I owned and operated my own analog photo booth (located at 1234Go! Records in Oakland). So I was already photo booth obsessed, running my own booth and was also working at a photo lab in San Francisco. This was in 2014. I saw their job post for a photo booth attendant on Craigslist, and decided to reach out. Within a couple weeks of starting as an attendant, I was given more responsibilities and within a few months I quit my other job and they promoted me to manager and things have evolved from there. It’s been more than 10 years and I love my job now more than ever!

What’s a typical day like for you at Photomatica, and how do you keep everything running smoothly?
I work from home, so once my daughter goes off to daycare, I get right to work on whatever tasks I have for the day. Mostly tons of emails or other administrative work. Once I’m caught up with that, I might head across town to my sewing studio and work on making curtains for our custom built booths. If it’s a Friday, I might head out to Photomatica HQ and go to lunch with the team. Every day is a little different.

You’re quite the seamstress—sewing a curtain for each new Photomatica booth—how did you get into that, and what’s your favorite part about it?
My mom taught me to sew as a kid, and I always enjoyed altering my clothes or making weirdo punk fashions. In 2013 I decided to level up my game and enrolled in Apparel Arts, a pattern-making school in San Francisco with the goal of being able to make awesome one of a kind clothes for myself. I followed that up with additional classes at local community colleges. I wasn’t intending to have a career in fashion, it was for personal enrichment. Learning pattern making and advanced sewing gave me the skills to take my ideas from concept to reality, which I LOVE! When I started working at Photomatica, Matt’s mom had sewn the curtains for the original rental booths. So when they needed to be replaced, I was happy to add that to my long list of job duties. The curtains I’m making now are modeled after the original vintage set from the first analog booth that Photomatica acquired.

What’s a project or accomplishment at Photomatica that you’re especially proud of?
I think I’m most proud of the team building experiences I had the opportunity to plan for our crew. Keeping our team happy and connected is a priority at Photomatica, so we have a lot of FUN! We have taken two international trips (Costa Rica and Mexico) as a team and also hosted two Manager Summit events in San Francisco, in addition to many dinner parties and holiday parties over the years. Seeing the crew bonding and getting a chance to get to know each other and feel cared for by our company has been very rewarding.

How do you stay inspired and motivated, both in your role as operations manager and as a creative?
Matt and Doug are so enthusiastic about giving me pep-talks and positive feedback and making me feel like they have my back and they believe in me. They always pump me up. That really helps me stay motivated and feel seen. Our whole crew is super loving, like a family.

If you could place one of Photomatica’s booths anywhere in the world—no limits—where would it be, and why?
Hmm. I would love it if we could put our booths in the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Arcade. Growing up in Santa Cruz in the 80’s and 90’s, our town had around 10 active analog photo booths. The Boardwalk Arcade had around 7, plus the Capitola Mall and Woolworth’s downtown. That’s where my love of photo booths began and why when all those booths disappeared, it became my goal to own my own.

Where can we find you when you’re not at work?
Having fun with my family and friends. I have a 2 year old daughter, so we’re trying to show her a good time. I love a nice day at the beach or river the most.

What’s your go-to pose in the Photo Booth?
Something involving sunglasses probably. Or a version of one hand on my head.