Newspaper Route
Thirty years ago, in 1978, there was such a thing as a daily afternoon newspaper. My first job "outside the home" was riding my bike around after school delivering the Knickerbocker News. The bike was a yellow upright 3-speed with a metal basket on each side. I worked independently on this gig. One of the houses I delivered to had a milk box where they liked the newspaper placed. This same house is now the office of my accountant and, by total coincidence, she recently placed an old milk box on the exact same spot so her clients could leave their paperwork!

Kaydeross Amusement Park
In the summer of 1981, with my fresh working papers, I took a job at Kaydeross Amusement Park on Saratoga Lake (NY). This great family park no longer exists because it was plowed under twenty years ago for, of course, expensive cookie-cutter townhomes. I spent several memorable and adventurous summers there, working alongside my brothers and friends. Tasks performed ran the gamut between mostly fun stuff and the downright dreaded, including: catering large picnics; weeding flower beds; eating lots of free food; parking cars; attending to games and amusements on the midway; and cleaning miles of picnic tables, toilets, and parking lots (like for the late-great "Rafters" night club). I also helped to maintain and paint some of the old rides, such as the now-famous Carousel, which is currently restored and located in Congress Park in downtown Saratoga Springs. Lots of great memories, but sadly very few photos were ever taken.

Cretor's Popcorn Wagon in Vail, Colorado
After high school graduation in 1983, I went west for freedom and adventure before deciding about college. I lived the suntanned life of a ski bum in Vail, Colorado while also learning how to cook and do laundry. Mostly to get my season ski pass, I worked as a show-up (very part-time) lift attendant at Vail. When I wasn't skiing, I often worked in the Vail Popcorn Wagon. This was a rare and wonderfully restored early 20th century Cretor's popcorn wagon. It happened to be owned by a relative of mine who had two of these popcorn wagons (I wish I had one today). This nostalgic eatery was a Vail landmark where skiers and late night revellers could get a cheap and quick bite to eat. Sometimes, I'd serve celebrity skiers such as Robert Redford, Charlton Heston, "Suzie Chapstick" and O.J. Simpson (with his then-wife, Nicole). The Vail Popcorn Wagon is still going strong to this day. There's also one in Aspen. Like the authentic photobooth, a Cretor's popcorn wagon is a rare sight these days and, for many, is a cherished and memorable piece of Americana.

TransAmerica Bicycle Trek
In the summer of 1987, my brother Darryl and I embarked on a TransAmerica Bicycle Trek, from Seattle to Atlantic City. The trip took 46 days, spanning 3,600 miles, and was a fundraiser for the American Lung Association. There were 200 "trekkers" on the ride, which was the largest group of bicyclists to cross the country "intact" at that point. As a group, $4.2 million was raised for the cause, making it also the biggest bicycle-related charity event in history at the time. Pedaling a bike is the best pace for seeing the country and its' communities. You can actually meet people and find out what they do. It was an amazing growth experience... and there were many great photo opportunities!

Walt Disney World Guest Relations
In 1988, I attended "Disney University" while working as a guest relations host in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. My roles on Main Street U.S.A. included navigating the vintage styled vehicles and manning the nostalgic Penny Arcade. What I enjoyed most was the constant interaction with guests of all ages and from all over the world. I also regularly offered to take many of their photos in front of Cinderella's Castle, usually so the chief photographer (Dad) could be in at least one photo!

The Digital Revolution... Web Design & Multimedia
During the mid-1990s, mostly by chance and not necessarily by choice, I began a twelve-year career working in Web site production, Internet marketing, and emerging digital technologies. I actually hated technology when I started and had almost zero computer experience. I didn't even know how to save a file! I worked for book publishers in Vermont and New York before moving onward to jobs in higher education. I much preferred the less "corporate" and sales-driven atmosphere. I was the first Web Content Coordinator at Skidmore College for a few years, and then became the Senior Web Producer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. I worked at RPI for several years, until starting the Saratoga Photobooth Company in the Spring of 2007.

The independent entrepreneurial spirit seems to be a trait in my family, on both sides... my father's family from the Adirondack Mountains of New York and my mother's family from London, England.

Here's a little family rundown:

Adirondack General Store
Decades ago, my great-grandfather ran a general store in the little Adirondack Mountain town of Redford, New York. My paternal grandfather, Joseph Caron, was a self-employed carpenter in northern New York.

Feeding the pigeons in London's Trafalgar Square
In London, England, my maternal grandfather was also a self-made man... sometimes a bookee for British horse racing and sometimes a street vendor selling jewelry. In the mid-1950s, he started a unique sales venture in London's busy Trafalgar Square that would become quite famous over the years, especially with tourists: his business was the Pigeon Feed Stand on Trafalgar Square for over twenty years! The stand was documented for decades in countless tourists's snapshots and professional photographers. I like to think that I'm sort of carrying on this "mobile metal box" tradition... my grandfather's British pigeon feed stand and my American photobooth! To read about the state of the Trafalgar Square pigeons today, go here: www.savethepigeons.org

A salesman in Upstate New York
My father, Don Caron, was always a hard-working travelling salesman. He worked in ad sales for radio stations throughout the 1960s in places like Plattsburgh, Lake Placid, Albany and Washington, D.C. In 1969, he started his own business in suburban Washington, D.C. called Adirondack Advertising. A few years later, he moved his young family to Saratoga County in upstate New York, mostly to be closer to the extended family. Through many ups and downs, he consistently and independently managed to support my mother and brothers with various sales ventures and creative schemes. He worked in sales up until the mid-1990s, when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease at age 57. His last business was an advertising-based road map publishing company called Adirondack Associates. This company employed as many as twenty people at it's peak — including me, for a few years in the 1980s. He was dedicated to his work and he did it mostly from a home office with us three boys (and our stereos!) always around. He was also always there to join us in whatever sport we were playing at that moment!

Adirondack Sports & Fitness Magazine & Expo
My brother, Darryl Caron, and his wife are the publishers and owners of the monthly Adirondack Sports & Fitness magazine. This publication has gained a large and loyal readership and advertising base since it began back in 2000. The magazine's circulation is over 25,000 copies per month with 300+ distributors in upstate New York. It's an informative and inspiring resource for outdoor recreation and aerobic sports enthusiasts across the region.

My wife and business partner
In the fall of 1995, I volunteered at the Home Made Theater in the Saratoga Spa State Park because it sounded different, fun, and interesting. It also turned out to be rewarding! I was the sound operator for the production of "The Diary of Anne Frank." From the first moment I saw Media Lee Smith on stage at an early rehearsal — playing a young Anne Frank — I was struck by how she was such a naturally talented and believable actress. I remember thinking this girl couldn't be more than 14 years old, and was probably from New York City, or some place like that... But when I read her "bio" in the theater playbill I learned she was actually a sophomore biology major at Skidmore College, with a minor in theater... I was stunned that she was "of age" and I was also star-struck.

Media was a passionate horse person and also competed in equestrian sports, which is why she chose to come to Skidmore College and Saratoga Springs! Instead of being from NYC as I guessed, her hometown was actually a tiny old logging village in the northern Adirondack Mountains. Like my father from the North Country, Media's dad also had his own business and then faced a dreaded disease... he ran a Sunoco service station and fixed cars until he became disabled with Lupus while he was in his 50s. Media and I took many walks in the State Park after the Anne Frank production was over... then we went on lots of aimless car rides... we got married in 1999 at the State Park (outside, near the theater).

Media is also very creative and designs many of the event graphics on the photobooth photos. For the past several years, she's been a reading teacher at Greenwich Elementary School. She's now at home full-time as the mother of our young daughter and son (Abigail and Samuel).