This piece is part of our PDXtoday Q+A series.
Whether you’re getting hitched or celebrating another trip around the sun, everyone wants special pictures of the occasion.
We spoke with Jeanette Schenk, owner of Hammie the Photo Booth, a vintage trailer turned memory maker that is a hit at weddings (and the odd corporate event or birthday party) around Portland and beyond.
During Silobration NW, Jeanette turned farm animals into faces. | Photo via Jeanette Schenk
Q: What is the story behind your business?
A: I was away on a girls weekend with a bunch of high school friends. We were chatting and I said, “You know I need to find something that’s different, because the photography market is so saturated. It’s hard to stand out.”
We were just kind of brainstorming some things — maybe a little alcohol was involved. We stepped outside this tasting room and saw a vintage trailer in the parking lot and a light bulb just went off. About two weeks later I bought an old trailer and we spent about a year fixing it up.
Q: Where did the name “Hammie” come from?
A: It’s a canned ham-shaped trailer — that’s what they used to call it. And you know, when you ham it up for a picture, I thought, “Oh, we’ll just call it Hammie.”
Q: How did you approach converting + designing the trailer?
A: My husband had a lot to do with that. He did most of the research on how to do the wiring. And he pulled the back out of an old TV and stuck a monitor in there so people can see themselves, which is pretty cool. I was born and raised in Portland, so it has a Pacific Northwest theme to it. Some of my curtains have little rain drops on them and we have the PDX carpet.
I spent a good part of this last winter picking out new fabrics and sewing new triangle flag banners so that they’ll match some upcoming “vibes” for weddings and events that we’re going to be attending — llama prints, wine prints, floral prints, and even chicken prints for an upcoming farm event.
The “something blue” color on the outside — you know the wedding saying: “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” — is based off the original stove and icebox color.
Q: What can customers expect from the experience?
A: I’ve had to change the process since the pandemic, because we used to have all the props hanging up inside, but we have changed that. They’re all outside now, and we have our little stations where they’re sanitized.
Comfortably we can put eight adults in there. We have filled it with 14 drunk adults no problem; they’re a little more flexible then. The seats are in the shape of a U and there are two outside seats that are salmon colored. I call those my jump seats for people that want to be in there, but don’t want to be in the picture.
Once they’re settled, I push the button. Actually, my friend Will — I’m in a band and he’s my bass player — his voice comes on and says, “Welcome to Hammie the Photo Booth.” He walks them through it and takes four pictures; between each picture their last one shows up on the TV screen and everybody is laughing and having a good time.
Also at the same time, I have music playing in there; whoever hires me either selects a playlist or just lets me pick what I think would be fun. It has a killer sound system and it’s basically a party inside.
What we hear every single time is it’s an experience like no other. It’s not just a photo booth. I hear that over and over. Oh my God, it’s an experience. You won’t get it until you do it. We never get tired of people saying, oh it’s so cute. It’s the cutest thing ever. It’s fun and I prefer this side of weddings to being the wedding photographer, which is way more stressful.
Q: Tell us about the props.
A: Oh gosh, I’ve got hundreds. I try to buy sturdy ones. A lot of them I’ve made myself out of wood. I don’t do the paper, flimsy ones. You can often find me at Goodwill, probably once a week, just scoping through, looking for something fun.
I have a wedding coming up, one of the couples, they have three of those squishy faced, grumpy cats, and they have a green bird named “Pickles.” I found a green bird, wooden prop at Goodwill the other day, so I’m really excited.
I definitely try to personalize it by interviewing the couple beforehand. Last summer we had a surgeon and nurse get married, so I had all kinds of medical props for that, like stethoscopes. Then a couple years ago I had a flight attendant and a pilot, so we had all kinds of airplane things. I used to be a teacher, and loved teaching themes, so this is right up my alley.
Q: Are there any trends you’ve seen from Portland couples?
A: Seems like over the last couple years, llamas seem to be starting to be a trend. I was just at a wedding show and they had llamas, and I got pictures with them out front, and I realized that I’m scared to death of them. I do not like them. But one of my upcoming weddings, they’re going to have llamas. I’m going to stay far away from them. They’re a lot bigger than you think. They’re huge.
Q: In general, how early should couples be looking to book a photo booth?
A: I think, usually the websites tell them [photo booths] are like the last thing to think about, but in my opinion, that should be first, especially if they want something like Hammie the Photo Booth, cause it’s a one of a kind thing that’s going to want to be at the top of their list if they’re looking to do something like that.
I’ve actually had clients — they hadn’t booked anything else except us. They were just like all we know is we want your photo booth there.
Q: Do you have any memorable wedding stories that you can share?
A: At a wedding up in Hood River, my assistant and I had a bunch of time to kill. We stopped and had lunch at a winery and then got back in the car and pulled the trailer up to the venue. When we got there, the hitch on our trailer, the crank was broken — we think somebody was trying to steal it. So we had like an hour and a half, we had time. The ceremony was going on, but they couldn’t see us where we were at. We had to go and find the farmer and he brought the tractor out and lifted it off my car, so it all worked out behind the scenes, and nobody knew what happened.
Hammie also has a back-up boat battery. We’ve only used it when camping and without electricity, but if there was a power outage for some reason at a wedding or event, Hammie could keep the party going!
