“Christopher’s Story Tells of A Rich Personal Journey”

Christopher Petrich worked at his family’s shipyard at ten years old. He studied photojournalism at The American University in Washington DC. At sixteen he was a professional studio photographer. He founded the Image Market Studio on Sixth Avenue in 1985 with partner Jerry Timmons, and in 1998 he created the COOLPHOTO® website. He learned to fly so he could make aerial photographs for the city. He’s a sometime actor, a short distance road race runner, a mountain climber, and a fine furniture maker. He once towed a stricken boat back to shore during a winter storm in his small tug boat named Snort. He keeps a small apple orchard in his postage stamp-sized garden and he rides his gravel bike every day. He has published three books, and created a magazine under his registered trademark COOLPHOTO® imprint. His photography has taken him across the United States, as well as to the Middle East, Japan, and Europe.

Christopher’s collection at the Northwest Room of the Tacoma Public Library includes numerous famous and infamous personalities who had come to Tacoma, including Leroy Ostransky, Jacques Cousteau, Bill Cosby, and Richard Nixon. He photographed the lost, historically significant Hawthorne District before it was removed for the construction of the Tacoma Dome.

As a young artist he documented the city in a series of film panoramas, memorably one of the interior of Union Station, and another of the interior of the old Northern Pacific Engine shops.  His later work includes experiments in complex color and monochrome collages.

Christopher has written several books, including A Complete Guide to the Lighthouses on Puget Sound including Admiralty Inlet: Second Edition: A Practical Guide for Your Enjoyment [ISBN 9781257327881] and a photographic memoir of his family’s island cabin, The Beach At Fox Island [ISBN 978-0-9744775-2-7]

Christopher’s family has lived a long time in the Northwest, spanning four generations in Tacoma. His grandfather and father built ships in Tacoma for more than sixty years, some famous, and all with beautiful lines.

Buy original; buy photography.

Original Photography is fun and easy to collect. Initial investment is low; prints are small and easy to store, and best of all, good photography is a pleasure to see.