Bill George was introduced to photography around the age of 10 years old by his grandfather, who being a photographer himself, had a darkroom with all the necessary equipment to process film. This was the beginning of a lifelong love of viewing the world through a lens. At the age of 13, George’s parents moved to Rochester, New York, where, due to his photography interests, he became familiar with the Eastman Kodak Company and eventually decided this was where he wanted to work.

As fate would have it, he indeed become part of the Eastman Kodak company and had a 41 year career in sales and marketing with them.

George was never without a camera and for decades was a Canon shooter, taking thousands of photographs on film. In the early 1980s he bought a tiny Olympus digital camera which could hold about two megabytes data; this was his introduction to the digital world that would soon take over the industry of photography. When he realized how easy and inexpensive digital photography was he sold all of his Kodak stock.

After retiring at the end of 2006, George and his wife, Jet, moved to SaddleBrooke, an active adult community just north of Tucson. He joined the Digital Imaging Group of SaddleBrook and began to learn the magical world of post processing with Photoshop, Lightroom and other software. George has said many times that before retiring he took pictures, however after retiring he had time to improve his skills and now he feels he takes photographs. He did not stay completely retired however, as for 10 years he became the professional real estate photographer for the SaddleBrooke community. In July 2022, George moved to the Sun City area but remains very busy with SaddleBrooke photography club, planning and participating in field trips for the members.

George switched from Canon cameras to Sony about 10 years ago and hasn’t looked back. He gave all of his gear to his grandson as a high school graduation present and a new generation photographer was born. He is now fully vested in the Sony camera and has all its lenses from macro to a 100-400 zoom lens.

The only photography George is not interested in is astrophotography; he otherwise shoots the gamut from landscapes, birds and flowers, to travel, sunsets, moon rises and human interest subjects. He especially enjoys post processing to bring the best out of the images he takes. After moving to Royal Oaks, George attended his first Camera Guild meeting and is becoming a very active member. He was voted in as a director on the board in January and is setting up a Program committee and is active in the Grab and Go committee. He is off to a great start and he is looking forward to many years of enjoyment and comradory in the Camera Guild and in Sun City.

View some of George’s images at suncityaz.org/recreation/clubs/camera-guild-of-sun-city.