April 24, 2017

Meet Ryan Darton of Time Machine – Slow Motion Photo Booth in Los Angeles County

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Darton.

Ryan, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
A few years ago, I saw a video go viral of a bride and groom who had a production company shoot slow motion footage of them and their guests at their reception. After the wedding, the production company edited together a really great video from all of the clips that they captured and posted it to the web about a week later. It was amazing. Everyone was calling this a “Slow Mo Booth” and saying that “Slow Motion Booths” would be the new thing at weddings. The only problem was, it wasn’t a booth experience at all. When you step into a photo booth, your photos are immediately edited and shareable right after you’ve snapped them – you don’t have to wait a week to enjoy them. This production company had a lot of copycats pop up right away, but everyone was filming clips and then delivering an edited video a week or so later. What about that instant gratification that you get from a photo booth?! Why can’t guests get an edited clip right away?! I saw a problem and decided to solve it. After many sleepless nights of brainstorming, inventing, and maxing out my credit cards, I found a way to use a cinematic camera and have clips automatically edited and shareable. We did our first official event in February of 2015 and have been entertaining parties ever since.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Starting this company has definitely not been smooth. It was very difficult to figure out a way to have a cinematic camera function with instant edits and shareability like a photo booth. Not only that, but I had to take a leap and spend tens of thousands of dollars to bring my vision to fruition. I never really knew if my idea would work or if there would be a market for it. I got into quite a bit of debt, just hoping that it would all be worth it in the end.

Time Machine – Slow Motion Photo Booth – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Time Machine is a Slow Motion Photo Booth company. We are the only slow motion photo booth that has the ability to shoot HD slow motion footage that is automatically customized to your event and made shareable across social media during your event. Our equipment is encased in beautiful hand crafted woodwork giving it mystery and elegance for your upscale event. Our staff comes well dressed in cocktail attire. We are the perfect solution to both entertain your guests and capture memories.

Watch how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p99csPXiDak

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I get excited knowing that I’ve created a product that people love. It’s refreshing to hear the enthusiasm in my clients when they discover Time Machine – Slow Motion Photo Booth. I love that I have the ability to employ people that love their job. Having happy clients and happy employees is a key part of success for me.

We’re only in our third year of events, but each year has been substantially busier than the previous. This pattern is essential to my company’s growth and expansion into other cities.

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