[2] Her father died when the twins were three months old and the family relocated to Wallingford, Connecticut, where they completed their schooling.
[3] Frances graduated from Lyman Hall High School as the class valedictorian and Kathryn was salutatorian in 1937.
She began on shoots with junior models working for Vogue′s Glamour Magazine which was aimed at younger viewers and was able to capture movement in ways that had not been done before.
[3] In addition to fashion photographs, her images included celebrity photos, as well as still lifes for editorials and covers of House & Garden.
In 1954, though she continued working for Glamour, House & Garden and Vogue, McLaughlin became a freelance photographer with Condé Nast Publications.
[12] In 1995, an exhibit of her photographs was held at Hamilton's Gallery in London[3] and in 2011, she and her sister published their final book together, Twin Lives in Photography.