Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ashlee Tan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ashlee, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I mainly learned photography through playing around with my Dad’s camera. Growing up, my Dad would always bring his camera with him on family trips, vacations, or even for family get togethers. I’ve always had a fascination with the camera, so sometimes I would ask him if I could take some photos or play around with the camera. When he’d let me, I’d just snap away and take photos (mainly on auto mode). But I did learn from my Dad how to frame my shots. When he’d see me lining up the shot, he would always take my hands and show me how to frame the shot or subject properly. Later on, when I started sharing my Disney Parks photos on Instagram, I then dove into the world of photography even more and learned a lot by asking my favorite photographers in the Disney photography community how they got a specific shot and what their settings were and I would try it out for myself to see what worked and what didn’t. I would say that in some ways (or maybe a lot), what I know about photography and how I learned was through a lot of trial and error. However, I wouldn’t have it any other way because through the trial and error process, I was able to develop my own photography style.

One thing that I could have done to speed up my learning process was take more time to focus on learning about things like aperture and shutter speed as these things are essential for taking photos and to getting the shot you want. This is something I still am learning, but I’ve come far from even just a few years ago. But if I dedicated more time in the beginning to learning these two things, I think it definitely would have sped up the learning process for me.

One of the obstacles that stood in the way of learning more was having limited access to the Disney Parks. As my photography is specialized in taking photos of Disneyland and Walt Disney World, it was hard to get practice shooting these places specifically as I live in Canada. I would always learn as much as I could about photography and practice before my trips to the Disney Parks so that I’ll be ready to shoot once I’m there. My family members probably get a little annoyed with me when we go to Disney because I’d have to stop every few seconds when something there would catch my eye and I’d take time to photograph it.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Photography was and will always be a hobby for me. I don’t plan on making it into a business. Photography brings me so much joy and I want to keep it that way without having to worry about numbers or the business aspect of things. When I take photos, it’s always because I want to remember something and how that place or subject looked like and felt like to me in that moment. Again, as my speciality in photography has to do with photographing the Disney Parks, I want my photos to be dreamy, colorful, and vibrant! That’s how the parks feel to me, and I always aim to portray that in my photography. Photography is simply something I do for myself and it’s also provides me with a way to creatively tell stories.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

One of the most rewarding aspects of being an artist or creative is when someone resonates with my work. When I share my photography online, I would get messages or comments from time to time from people saying that they’d want to live in my photos, or how much the photo resonated with them, or reminded them of a moment they themselves experienced at the Disney Parks. Again, I do all of this for fun so when I get a comment or message saying that my photography resonated with them, it means the world! I think that being able to evoke a feeling or tell a story with a photo is so special, especially if it connects with someone who was simply just scrolling through their feed on social media.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I’m not sure if it’s considered a resource, but I think asking questions is something I wish I did earlier in my creative journey. There’s so much you can learn from other people, especially if they’ve been doing photography for quite some time. Asking questions, no matter what industry you’re in is so important. There’s value in it – not only do you learn things by asking questions, it also allows you to build meaningful connections with people and gain new perspectives.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/disneywithashlee

Image Credits

Image credits: Ashlee Tan (@disneywithashlee)