That Disney Life

Apr 20

When I was 17 years old, I told my best friend “I think I’m going to drive the monorail. When I was 22, I drove the monorail.

That really doesn’t have much to do with the rest of this story, except that I was having the time of my life in the Walt Disney World College Program.

I never had the proper high school experience. And I never had the proper college experience either. But in Disney College Program, I —a notorious introvert and (for lack of a better word) nerd— was finally living that life. Parties and bars and friends. Not that I didn’t have friends before… I just didn’t have a lot of them.

In the Disney College Program, I came alive for the first time. I had a lot of friends. And because you’re in this bizarre situation together, there is an instant sense of bonding. I felt close to these people.

With these newfound friends and good times, I developed a desire to record the moment that I hadn’t had prior to then. I had a crappy point and shoot film camera (this was 2002) that my Mom gave me. I started taking pictures. Perhaps because of my lifetime of loving art and wanting to be an artist, I found that I had a decent eye for composition. I enjoyed taking these photos and documenting these experiences.

One of my closest friends in the program. This is technically the first portrait I ever took.

I’m not going to pretend that I left the DCP with the knowledge that “YES! One day I will be a photographer!” But this is what got me started on the path.

This also began my love of Disney. But that is a different story.