Growing and giving again via wildlife pictures

Featured {photograph} by George McKenzie Jr. at DeLuca Preserve

“Photography saved my life. Photography changed my life.”

George McKenzie Jr. is an award-winning conservation photographer, filmmaker, and National Geographic Explorer, identified for documenting the intersection of wildlife, tradition, and pure historical past. He’s keen about democratizing conservation and mentoring the following technology of storytellers of coloration.

When McKenzie met the person who would change into his first wildlife storytelling teacher, his love for pictures had already taken root. His inspiration got here from one fateful encounter at a New York City nightclub. A girl caught McKenzie’s eye one night. “I saw who I thought was the most beautiful young lady at the time,” he recollects. Meanwhile, the nightclub’s occasion photographer had caught hers.

“I had a light bulb moment. Your boy’s about to be a photographer,” he thought. “She inspired me to take a chance and do something outside of my comfort zone, and it turned into this amazing journey.”

He dove into occasion pictures, which advanced into a celeb portfolio, together with Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Bon Jovi and Steven Spielberg. So when the day arrived that Charlie Hamilton James walked into the Adorama electronics retailer the place McKenzie labored, he might precisely presume from the digital camera round his neck that James was an expert. When James revealed he was a wildlife photographer for National Geographic, McKenzie requested to be his assistant.

A Florida black bear at Archbold Biological Station.

Photograph by George McKenzie Jr.

Growing up, nonetheless, McKenzie recollects having two distinct aspirations: to be a fighter pilot, “like Tom Cruise in ‘Top Gun,’” however he couldn’t, as a result of he wasn’t born within the United States. His second was to be a gangster.

“What was familiar to me was gold chains, gold teeth. I’d go to school with a .38 in my backpack.”

It was the Nineties, and the very last thing McKenzie remembered earlier than waking up within the Brooklyn hospital was being tapped on the shoulder. He was linked to life assist and it turned clear his mom was now within the room, crying. He had been crushed throughout the top with a hammer. The second was an awakening: “I realized there’s no retirement in the gangster lifestyle. You either die or go to jail.”

“My mentors are the reason I had the ability to dream … All these Explorers saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself,” he displays.

Eventually McKenzie and James labored collectively to doc no matter dwelling, non-human factor they might across the unlikely wildlife residence of New York City. “You photograph what you have access to,” explains McKenzie. Rats, roaches and pigeons. He labored as James’ assistant photographer, portray portraits of pigeons, alongside the curious world of their keepers, in a seldom seen gentle.

A digital camera entice picture of a raccoon Archbold Biological Station.

Photograph by George McKenzie Jr.

Later, McKenzie says Vincent J. Musi — acclaimed National Geographic photographer identified for his animal portraiture — helped propel the path of his goals. Then, adopted inspiration from Carlton Ward, the conservation photographer and filmmaker who would “set me free in the Florida Everglades” the place McKenzie resides now — in a city of two,500 individuals and an honest variety of alligators.

“I chose wildlife photography because I didn’t see anybody that looked like me in this field, and to storytell from the point of view of someone that’s not from Florida, someone who moved here from a city. For me, I’m in awe of everything.”

A younger Florida panther, CREW Land & Water Trust Cypress Dome Trail digital camera entice.

Photograph by George McKenzie Jr.

Since 2025, McKenzie has been documenting the trail of the endangered Florida panther via the Wildlife Corridor, an extension of Ward’s conservation campaign to guard an roughly 18-million-acre community of lands stretching from the Everglades to the Panhandle.

“People say the swamp gives it and the swamp takes it. The swamp gave me an appreciation for nature and it took away all the things I held onto,” McKenzie says. He’s additionally engaged on the time-sensitive job of documenting seldom noticed searching conduct of mountain lions preying on northern elephant seal pups to tell understudied coastal ecosystems.

According to McKenzie, two substances make an individual pleased: rising and giving again. So he’s paying it ahead to the following technology of storytellers as a daily teacher for National Geographic Photo Camp — a pictures schooling program based by National Geographic Explorer in Residence Kirsten Elstner. He additionally helps the Generation 2050 foundation, and regularly teaches pictures to his mates’ children.

“I share my story of how nature healed me and changed me, because ultimately to live the life I live now I had to witness the old version of me die.”

McKenzie reemphasizes his private story in his self-made movie, and his first-ever function. “The Book of George” received a Best Short Form Film award on the Jackson Wild Film Festival in 2025.

“I ain’t no hero, I’m just a regular dude. I just want to be remembered as the person that gave somebody else the opportunity to dream. That’s it.”

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ABOUT THE WRITER

Natalie Hutchison is a Digital Content Producer for the Society. She believes genuine storytelling wields energy to attach individuals over the shared human expertise. In her free time she turns to her paintbrush to create visible snapshots she hopes will encourage hope and empathy.