Complex sentence: In addition to his gift for capturing amazing images, Christopher enjoyed skateboarding and snowboarding, and he had been studying to become a New York police officer; he'd just been accepted into the Academy and was set to begin on December 19th, 2016.
Split into simpler sentences: In addition to his gift for capturing amazing images, Christopher pursued the thrills of skateboarding and snowboarding. He had also been studying to become a New York police officer, and had just been accepted into the Academy set to begin on December 19th, 2016.