Is there hope for happiness?

What 16 years of photojournalism has taught me about happiness.

Carl Costa was a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. He could fieldstrip an M-16 blindfolded and engage a target from 500 yards.

But the military wasn’t his calling. After four years of serving with people that would touch his life forever, he traded his weapon for a camera — and learned about himself.

Since then, the camera has taken him around the world and into the lives of countless beautiful people. Today he shoots a healthy mix of commercial, editorial, and personal work. But every image he makes has a thread of those early years running through it.