A Los Angeles native, Colter Johnson was raised in a production family. He received his first film credit at age 10 as 2nd unit camera operator. After attending Concordia University in Portland, Johnson gained valuable hands-on production experience working in the Art Department at Hungry Man one of the largest and most successful commercial production companies in the world. Johnson then went to work for the lifestyle publication "Breaks Magazine" in Venice, California. At "Breaks Magazine," Johnson gained experience shooting the gritty realities of street culture and urban entertainment. He quickly began directing long-form content, covering events such as music festivals and surfing contests, shooting such luminaries as Kelly Slater and John John Florence. In 2016 Johnson's documentary "Chasing Begg Rock" was acquired for global distribution by Gonella Productions. Johnson's 2017 documentary "Vahine I Te Moana - Girl In The Sea" has achieved distribution on Amazon Prime, AMC owned cable TV network Shorts TV, and Air Tahiti Nui in flight entertainment.