5 minute read
Staying Focused
Upfront Staying Focused
BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI
Arizona Game and Fish Department photographer George Andrejko has been in his position for more than 31 years. The three decades have gone by quickly.
“When you fi nd something you love to do, time fl ies,” the Surprise resident says.
The 66-year-old photographer won the International Regional Magazine Association’s 2020 photographer of the year for magazines of 35,000 or less, which is the silver category. The judges said Andrejko’s work in Arizona Game and Fish’s Arizona Wildlife Views Magazine has “very special moments captured by a dedicated, smart and patient photographer. The love for what he does comes through in each photograph.”
“It’s nice to be recognized,” says Andrejko, who works out of the Carefree Highway offi ce in North Phoenix. “It was a surprise because my boss put it in without my knowledge.
The major part of Andrejko’s work is wildlife photography. Arizona Game and Fish manages 800-plus species in the state, so he never has a lack of subjects to photograph. He tends to gravitate toward birds.
“Birds have so many diff erent species, sizes, colors and shapes,” he says. “It’s really a challenge to get a good picture.”
Andrejko was born and raised in Chicago, where his wildlife watching was limited to Cubs, Bears and Blackhawks, he says with a laugh. Still, he was an “outdoors kind of kid.”
“I daydreamed in school about getting outdoors,” he says. “Chicago’s set up with neighborhoods, and each neighborhood has a park district. Little did I know, our park, Riis Park, was named after a photographer, Jacob Riis. He was instrumental in New York City during the late 1800s in exposing the way the other half lived, so to speak.”
Riis photographed children working in factories and subsequently shows showed his photos to Congress and discussed child labor laws.
“I didn’t know I grew up in Riis Park that he was a photographer,” Andrejko says. “Our park was on a hill. They claim Lake Michigan came up to where we lived and that’s why it was kind of bilevel. We had a lot of great outdoor experiences in the winter. We had a lot of snow back then.”
His senior year of high school, Andrejko was asked to tell his counselor the line of work he wanted to pursue. His stepfather said to say a photographer.
“I fi gured, OK. I have nothing to lose. I had nothing else to say,” he says. “I was laughed at. All the guys on the school yearbook said, ‘You don’t know a thing about photography.’
“I said, ‘I don’t, but I’m going to.’”
Andrejko, his siblings and mom changed climates and moved to Tempe before he attended New Mexico State University. The more he learned about photography, the more it paid off . He did well in his photography classes, where his photos were frequently used as examples. Andrejko joined the yearbook staff as a photographer.
“It became the No. 1 thing in my life,” he says. “I had keys to the dark room for the newspaper and yearbook. When I didn’t have fi lm to develop or images to print, I’d be in the library all night studying compositions and colors. That became a passion.”
He entered Kodak contests and won numerous awards. The daily paper in Las Cruces, New Mexico, noticed his talents and off ered him a photojournalist position. He covered everything from peewee sports and university sports to musicians who came to town.
“I really enjoyed the entertainment side,” he says. “I got to cover just about anybody who came through, like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, when they were doing their reunion tour. Heart was another one. I covered them when they fi rst came out. I covered Prince.
“We had a meet and greet with Prince, and his people said Prince doesn’t want to see any cameras. If he saw any of us with a camera, they were going to throw us out. In the other breath, they said if we got some good pictures, Prince would like to see them.”
He traveled to El Paso, where he met Willie Nelson and Jack Nicholson, the latter of whom was fi lming a movie.
“I got to photograph all the top bands in the ’70s and ’80s.”
One day, his brother brought him a newspaper clipping that said Arizona Game and Fish was looking for photographers.
“He said, ‘You might want to look into this,’” Andrejko recalled. “I pursued it and got the job at Game and Fish.”
In the winter, his favorite place to be is Willcox, when the sandhill cranes begin to arrive. By late December/early January, more than 45,000 cranes spend time in the area.
“You should arrive before sunrise,” he says. “Park on Davis Road and you can just watch the birds lift off from the water or fl y off on fi rst light. They take off and the only thing I can say is it looks like a World War II bomber, or the ‘The Wizard of Oz’ with the monkeys fl ying. Their sounds are just phenomenal.
“When they come back to roost at night, their cooing is so pleasant.”
Arizona Game and Fish boasts 600-plus employees but only one Andrejko.
“I cover all the photography that we do, which makes it interesting,” he says. “With my 30-years plus, I’ve covered all the reintroductions and recovery eff orts the department has done. It’s very rewarding.”
To subscribe to Arizona Game and Fish’s Arizona Wildlife Views Magazine, visit azgfd.gov/magazine.
Arizona Game and Fish Department photographer George Andrejko recently won the International Regional Magazine Association’s 2020 photographer of the year for magazines of 35,000 or less, which is the silver category. The judges said Andrejko’s work in Arizona Game and Fish’s Arizona Wildlife Views Magazine has “very special moments captured by a dedicated, smart and patient photographer. The love for what he does comes through in each photograph.” (Photos courtesy Arizona Game and Fish)
