Meet Chris McNulty McNulty | Songwriter/Author/Photographer – and Product Creator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris McNulty McNulty and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris McNulty, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I was born and raised in New York, on Long Island, and spent much of my professional career in Boston. My parents introduced us to arts and culture from early on – and when I reflect on my music education through college, I see where I got my quest to improve the talent level of any group I work with. And my own..

Think about casting a musical. The talent of your cast isn’t constant. You can neglect it – but my goal has always been to make a cast better musicians, better singers, at the end of the project. That takes intentionality. And i try to apply it to my own craft, whether its writing, or music, or photography.

Music taught me what awe and joy can be. That’s a value I aspire to touch in my work, when I’m lucky, and when I’m inspired.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I make things. Some of them are software and some of them are photographs, and I’ve stopped treating those as two careers.

The photography is Cascadia Oceanic. Landscape and aerial work, mostly the Pacific Northwest, plus some from the desert Southwest. It comes out of a quiet attention to landscape, weather, memory, and the changing character of the coast. Not postcard spectacle. Each piece is rooted in a place and the atmosphere of a particular morning. I print large on ChromaLuxe aluminum because that’s the only way these images actually work: a coastline at four inches is a snapshot, at four feet it’s the place. Recent pieces include Wharf 2026, Deception 2026, Snoqualmie 2026, and Snow Bridge 2026. Last year the work was out at the Bellevue Arts Fair and the Woodinville Art Walk, and on exhibit at Beaumont Cellars. The best part of any of it is watching someone stop in front of a print and go quiet for a while.

The day job is Chief Technology Officer at Synozur, where I built eight new software platforms in the past year. Eight products, not eight features. I also host Polaris, our technology podcast. An AI industry news publication launches this fall. A book on AI and marketing lands by year end, and my first set of short stories publishes around the same time. I sit on a couple of boards. People tend to describe my work through the Reveille engagement, which is real, but it’s one client project sitting inside all of that.

Was it easy? No, though not for the reason people assume. The volume isn’t the hard part. The hard part was believing I had to pick one thing. For years I treated the photography and the writing as hobbies I’d get to once the real work was finished, and the real work is never finished, so I never got to them. What changed is that I noticed they were making each other better. Framing a shot is the same muscle as designing a system. Interviewing podcast guests made me better in client meetings. Once I quit rationing attention between them, all of it sped up at once.

Lessons, such as they are: finish things. A finished imperfect thing beats a perfect idea every time and I’ve never regretted shipping one. Work on a schedule, because momentum dies fast when you pause. And ignore anyone telling you to pick a lane. They’re describing their own comfort, not your ceiling.

What I’d want somebody to take away: I’m trying to make something that gives you a clear moment you didn’t have before. Sometimes that’s a platform that finally makes a messy process legible. Sometimes it’s a print of the Cascades at first light. Same job to me.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I split my time between two coasts, so this depends on where you land. I’ll give you both.
If it’s LA. Start downtown, which people skip and shouldn’t. Ride Angels Flight, which takes about a minute and costs almost nothing and is still one of my favorite things in the city. Then spend a long time in the food hall downtown, where the right move is to not decide in advance and just eat three small things from three different counters. LACMA gets a full afternoon. Give the rest of the day to whatever’s on that isn’t the obvious blockbuster show.
For the coast, I used to send everyone to Santa Monica by reflex. Lately I’ve been pointing people toward the Pacific Palisades and up into Malibu instead. After the damage last year, those businesses need people showing up and spending money far more than the pier does. Go eat there. Go buy something. It’s a better day anyway, and it counts for more.
If it’s the Pacific Northwest. This one’s a proper road trip, and I’d run it south to north over about a week.
Start at Cannon Beach in Oregon. Two nights. The ocean does what the ocean does and the hiking around there is worth the drive on its own. Cut inland for a side trip to Mount Rainier, which is not on the way to anything and is the correct decision regardless.
Then the Olympics. Hurricane Ridge for the view, which on a clear day is genuinely absurd, and Sol Duc Falls for the walk in. That’s the day where your friend stops taking photos and just stands there.
Take the ferry across to Whidbey Island and stay in Coupeville. Slow evening, small town, water in every direction.
Head east and north to Mount Baker and up to Artist Point, then come back down Chuckanut Drive, which is the prettiest twenty minutes of driving in Washington. That lands you in Bellingham. I describe it as Santa Cruz without a boardwalk, and I mean that as high praise. It’s a college town with real coffee and a real waterfront, and I’d give it a full day.
Finish in Vancouver. Walk the forest at UBC, which is a serious old forest sitting at the edge of a university, and then go up Grouse Mountain in the evening. Looking down at the city and the water from up there is the right way to end the week.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I could of course mention my family. But I’ll mention the North Fork Community Theater in Mattituck NY. I performed there often from high school into my early 20s. They bring a love of art and performance to their community, and become the stepping stone for many creative careers.

Website: https://www.chrismcnulty.net

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cascadia.oceanic/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cmcnulty

Twitter: https://x.com/cmcnulty2000

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chrismcnultymusic

Other: https://www.amazon.com/author/chrismcnulty

Image Credits
(c) 2026 Christopher F.McNulty