As the World Turns, So Do These Cameras As the World Turns, So Do These Cameras

Whirling 360-degree photo booths have gone from red carpets to bat mitzvahs to tourist sites like the Cradle of Humankind.

Wild Adventure Corn Maze, since opening in 2010, has become a fall destination in Idaho Falls, Idaho. There are acres of farmland with corn planted in labyrinthine arrangements. There are more acres bursting with 25 varieties of sunflowers. There is a pumpkin patch, a rock climbing wall and a zip line.

Spinning in circles near those attractions, there is also a camera that captures visitors from all angles inside what’s known as a 360-degree photo booth.

Ryan Searle and his wife, Bethany, the owners of Wild Adventure Corn Maze, first rented one of the booths two years ago. Last year, they rented another. This year, they bought their own booth secondhand for $1,500 because photos taken at the farm had become a main reason many high school students, engaged couples and others visited, Mr. Searle said.

The setups, also called memory or selfie booths, typically have a platform with an attached arm holding a ring light and a smartphone or camera — think of a selfie stick — that spins around people capturing 360-degree footage as they vamp and pose.

This type of image-making emerged on red carpets at awards shows more than a decade ago as a way to show elaborate formal wear from every vantage point. Not long after, 360-degree photo booths started replacing their less mobile predecessors at lavish weddings and bat mitzvahs. At a Paris Olympics party this summer thrown by the watchmaker Omega, Cindy Crawford, her daughter, Kaia Gerber, and other stars mugged for the rotating camera.

The booths, cumbersome as they may be, have also started appearing en plein-air at places known for attracting visitors carrying cameras. That includes Wild Adventure Corn Maze and in New York City along the Brooklyn Bridge and on streets in Times Square, two areas where their presence has led to crackdowns on operators.