George Masa Foundation
Providing young people with the tools and resources necessary to engage in creative and impactful strategies for conservation.
Youth Conservancy Photography Prize
Thank you to each and every one of you for entering our inaugural contest and sharing your unique perspectives on conservation. We are thrilled and inspired by the response we received – 763 incredible submissions from 266 talented students across 26 different states! Your passion and creativity shine through in your work, and it’s inspiring to see so many young people committed to capturing and preserving the beauty of our natural world.
Rediscovering George Masa, Smoky Mountains Photographer:
Iconic photo’s location identified
Asheville Citizen-Times, July 13, 2024
In an exciting discovery, the true location of one of the most iconic photographs of George Masa has been accurately identified. The photograph, depicting Masa on a rock outcrop with his camera and a companion, was previously believed to have been taken at Graybeard Mountain in Montreat, North Carolina. Recent findings confirm the actual location is Blackstack Cliffs in the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee. Read More
“More walk, less talk.”
Carrying a heavy, large-format camera into the wilderness, waiting whole days for the perfect shot, and capturing stunning images on film make him a true master of his craft.
Masa was also a conservationist. He is credited with blazing miles of trails that would become the NC/TN section of the Appalachian Trail, was a founder of the Carolina Mountain Club, and is credited with convincing John D. Rockefeller Jr. to contribute the first funds necessary for creating Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Masa died of tuberculosis in 1933, though his memory lives on at the 5,685-foot peak in Great Smoky Mountains National Park that bears his name: Masa Knob.
