I'm Christopher David McLaughlin. My interest in photography started when I was 13 years-old. My parents got me a film camera for Christmas and I took a few classes at National Camera Exchange and I was hooked. In the Seventh Grade I took a photography course where I shot and developed my own work. What I enjoyed about this experience was that I could be as creative as I wanted.

Fast forward a fews years and I joined the United States Coast Guard and went to journalism school at Fort George Meade near Baltimore Maryland. It was here I learned valuable skills that still serve me well today.

As a Coast Guard photojournalist I was part of a small group of people in the Coast Guard who were responsible for telling the Coast Guard's story. My first duty assignment was in Kodiak, Alaska. Being assigned to this remote duty made me in most cases the only Coast Guard photojournalist around for thousands of miles. I was deployed in many remote places on or near the Bering Sea and my images and writings told stories of valiant rescues in freezing oceans and major disasters at sea. I learned very quickly how to get the shot.

My experience in the Coast Guard was invaluable to my growth as a photographer. I see the world in stories through my camera.