A Continuation of Ed Templeton's Disneyland

Paying tribute to one of my favorite zines by making a pseudosequel to it.

May 30, 2025

Over the past year or so, I’ve looked into zine curation and creation online. I started my research with people I was already familiar with and who were known creatives. One of my main sources of inspiration was Ed Templeton, a mixed-media artist who is also known as the founder of the skateboarding company, Toy Machine.

I first started my research into Templeton’s work because I was already familiar (and a fan) with his involvement in skateboarding. After keeping up with Toy Machine on Instagram for so long, I became more and more interested in the graphics being designed and the photographs being taken. This led to me following the founder of Toy Machine, Ed Templeton, on Instagram and becoming infatuated with his work and consistent postings. While looking up the process of how DIY zines were curated and created, it didn’t take me long to check out Templeton’s website. The site itself is well organized and clean cut, but what I valued the most about it is its archive. It’s filled to the brim with Templeton’s new and old work. Some of my highlights include: Common Side Effects, Contemporary Suburbium, Teenage Kissers, and Teenage Smokers.

However, one archival zine that I’ve been fixated on for quite some time is Templeton’s Disneyland. Photographs in the zine were taken from 1995 to 2015, but most photographs were taken from 2012 to 2015. Nearly all photographs were printed in black & white and were taken in the Disneyland park in California. Below (and sometimes above) some photographs in the zine include accounts of deaths that happened in the Disneyland park, which offers an incredible juxtaposition of the cheerfulness that Disneyland is known for.

When offered the chance of visiting Disney World this past week, I jumped on it immediately. I knew that if I were to take photographs inside the park, I needed to acknowledge and appreciate Templeton’s Disneyland in a full-length post.

While I was taking photographs inside the park, there were times when I saw myself go on my phone to source inspiration from Templeton’s Disneyland directly. I didn’t see it as “copying” or “infringing.” I intended to create new photographs that offered a continuation of his zine. A “ten years later (and in Orlando, Florida)” type of thing.

I wanted to add to Templeton’s black & white photography that juxtaposed the idea of the happiness found in Disneyland. But I wanted to find more of a “niche” to it. While using a heavy saturated color film, I took photographs that focused on this juxtaposition but also honed in on the limited time aspect. More often than not, people travel to Disneyland and/or Disney World to vacation, but the parks’ happiness is something that has a limited time. Time is limited due to park hours and the individual’s time constraint in California/Florida. If one were to do one thing, they’d surely miss out on another. Does the environment around the individual create their happiness, or do the individual’s choices create their happiness?

I spent one day photographing at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and another day photographing at Disney World’s EPCOT. Ed Templeton photographed Disneyland (on select days) for twenty years and compiled it into one zine. I took photographs for two days and compiled them into one “piece” as a continuation of Templeton’s work. I did this not only to challenge myself, but also as a way to pay homage to one of my biggest inspirations when it comes to being a creative. Thanks Ed!