Christian's Original Caption From 2013: Christian Klos, of the Atlanta Kols' began work as a photographer aboard the Pride of America exactly one week after me. So, at 19, Christian became the newest and youngest member of our gang. The adjustment must have been a difficult one. Photographers, like sailors and pirates like to drink and swear in equal measure. Unfortunately for Christian he is only old enough to indulge in the latter. Legally excluded from much of the teams bonding activities Christian was forced to forge his own path, his own social life both inside and outside of the team.
When I had Christian sit for his portrait I was expecting more of what I had seen before. Optimism, naivete, and some of the chutzpah that only youth has the luxury of barging through the world with. What I got instead was a passionate, self-aware and intense interview. Made all the more remarkable by the fact that many of his peers, though much older in some cases, were far less thoughtful.

Of all my portrait subjects, I was most eager to see what five years had done to Christian. When we met he was only 18 years old, and our job working on a cruise ship was quite a jolt to him (as it was for many of us). Christian is now an air traffic controller in the U.S. Navy, and making preparations for his first deployment. Upon meeting up again, it was obvious that Christian had grown both physically, and emotionally. Much more a man these days than the bare-faced boy I knew back in Hawaii. His journey into the next five years will be fascinating to witness.