History
Alan Adler’s test strips became a life in portraits
A technician’s repeated checks left an unexpected photographic archive.
Testing a booth requires someone to sit inside it. Repeated across years, a practical check can become a record of a life. Alan Adler’s archive makes that connection unusually clear: maintenance produced pictures worth looking at for another reason.
The exhibition record
RMIT describes Auto-Photo: A Life in Portraits as a 2025 exhibition featuring Adler’s extensive archive alongside other collections and artworks. It identifies the Centre for Contemporary Photography partnership and the curatorial work of Catlin Langford, Christopher Sutherland and Jessie Norman.
Evidence: Exhibition archive
From check to portrait sequence
Metro Auto Photo’s own account describes Adler sitting for thousands of test strips while maintaining Melbourne’s machines. Treat that as an operator’s account of the archive. The broader observation is ours: a repeated technical task can preserve gradual changes that a single ceremonial portrait cannot.
Evidence: Operator information
Give test pictures a useful label
If you keep your own test sessions, record the date and the setting being tested. Separate exposure tests from portraits you meant to share. Years later, that modest note can explain why several near-identical frames exist. A failed test may tell a story, but it should not be passed off as a typical finished result.
Sources & further reading
Sources for the specific facts and product descriptions above. Our worked examples, interpretations and practical suggestions are original editorial guidance.
- RMIT — Auto-Photo: A Life in Portraits, 2025Exhibition archive
- Metro Auto Photo — Melbourne analogue photoboothsOperator information