I’m Corey McDonald, a wildlife and landscape photographer, artist, and traveler. My work is made for the love of the place I’m in - the things I see, the moments that exist only briefly, and sometimes the things that may not have been there at all.
I didn’t travel much when I was younger, but over time I discovered a deep appreciation for being outside the concrete jungle. New wild places and the quiet moments within them brought a kind of joy I didn’t know I’d been missing. Photographing those experiences became personal, not just professional.
That shift is what led me to create Mac Wildlife & Art.
A Different Kind of Wildlife Art
“Different” is the keyword here.
In my portrait and digital work – especially with athletes - I developed a style that is cinematic and edgy. With my wildlife and landscape, I wanted something more traditional but I didn’t grow up learning classical art techniques or formal how-tos.
I can draw, sure - but if you asked me to draw a realistic elk bugling on a ridgeline, you’d probably end up with something abstract, mismatched, and poorly shaded. I needed an artistic outlet beyond client work - something that allowed me to create freely and served as a form of therapy as much as expression.
From the start, I wanted to be a rugged wildlife photographer. Before I committed to photography as a full-time career, the pull toward wildlife and everything that’s out there drew me in.
I remember photographing my first bald eagle just up the road from my house. It was half a mile away from me, too far to capture anything remarkable. It was a start, though, and that’s what matters.
For most of my life that’s been my struggle, things being just out of reach, and for a long time, wildlife and this kind of work felt the same way.
Years later, after learning how to shape light and build cinematic images through my portrait work, I turned what I learned back toward what started it all. The early results weren’t pretty but we all start somewhere.
I revisited some of my early work and started creating something that finally felt right. Not perfect. Not polished. Just right.
From the Wild to the Wall, How I Make the Art
I never know what I’m going to make at any given time. When I’m out photographing landscapes and wildlife, I do my best to see the scene that’s in front of me and try to capture that. Sometimes, though, there’s a power line or something else that’s too distracting to say, “That’s pretty.” That’s when I start to think about, “What can I do with this later?”
When I photographed the elk in “The Bull,” he was standing at the top of a ridgeline in Yellowstone National Park. It was probably around 10AM and the sun was just too high in the sky to get any good directional light.
It would be another year and a half before I opened it up on my computer and visualized a graphite-style drawing of an elk in rut.
This piece of Shasta, a wolf that was at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, Montana, has a similar story. She laying on a rock and not doing much but four years later, I could see it for what it was.
Watch the creation from start to finish here.
Every piece begins with my own photography. From there, the digital art is shaped by hand using a tablet and art pen through a personal and manual process. No generative tools. No automation. Just time, intent, and experience.
I even made the Photoshop brushes out of physical media at home.
The Farm Is Part of This Too
Agriculture and farm work are just as much a part of this body of work as wildlife and landscapes.
I grew up around farming. Long before it became something I photographed, it was simply part of life. My grandfather raised me on the understanding of cattle and teh opportunities that came from working the cows. It wasn't something I truly appreciated until I was too far grown up. Now, though, it's something I truly pay attention to and lean toward as I get older.
When I photograph ag and farm scenes now, I approach them the same way I do wildlife. I am not chasing perfection or nostalgia. I am paying attention to what is actually there. The land. The work. The people who depend on both.
These images matter to me because they document something real and often overlooked. They tell the story of where food comes from and what it takes to keep things moving forward, season after season.
Ag and farm work belongs here because it lives in the same spaces as the wildlife. It is shaped by the same weather, the same light, and the same land.
A special thank you to Saucer Farms - where I've worked off and on as needed packing cotton, combining peanuts, or just general handywork.
"And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so."
Genesis 1:28-30
The Turning Point
When I was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 22, my entire mindset shifted.
That journey was long and full of hurt, overcoming, and a lot of growth. For my art, it made me want to get outside more and discover more.
At the time, I could not go outside for more than five minutes. Most days, I could not leave the house except to go to treatment. Seven hours a day, sometimes eight, five days in a row, with two weeks of rest in between. During treatment weeks, I could not even watch television without my head spinning.
During those two weeks of rest, though, I watched every documentary I could find about Yellowstone National Park.
It became something to hold onto.
Fun fact. My first time on a plane was at the age of 31, and it was to Yellowstone for the first time.
Whenever I browse through the images I captured on that first trip, I think back to what it took to spark my love for the outdoors and for wildlife and for the scenery that exists beyond these four walls.
When I look at The Bull, I remember trudging up a two-mile trail, completely out of breath and out of shape. I remember how that trip motivated me to lose weight and get healthy. I do not just see a piece of wildlife art. I see a life changing direction.
When I open a wildlife image to begin the work, it is not about showing off or presentation or anything technical. It is about working through the scars in my memories and the weight that stays in the quiet parts of my thoughts.
That process brings joy. It brings peace. It brings me to a place I never expected to be.
"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."
Romans 5:3-5
Who Do I Make This For?
I make this work for people who feel something when they stand in front of it.
• For those who have stood in the cold before sunrise just to hear the world come alive.
• For those who know what it means to slow down and pay attention, whether that is watching wildlife move through a valley, light settle across a landscape, or a field being worked as the day begins.
• For those who understand that some of the most important moments and most important work happen quietly.
• I make this work for people who carry responsibility without recognition. The ones who put in long hours, work with their hands, and give more than they ever receive in return. The kind of work that keeps food on tables, land in use, and life moving forward, even when it goes unnoticed.
• I also make this work for those who may never step into these places themselves, but still want to understand them. To see the care, effort, and humanity tied to the land, the wildlife that depends on it, and the people whose lives are shaped by both.
Not everyone wants art that is loud or dramatic. Some people want something honest. Something that reflects patience, effort, and respect for the world we live in.
That is who this is for.
More Than an Image on the Wall
Every piece that comes from Mac Wildlife & Art starts in the field with my camera. What ends up on the wall is shaped by time and patience.
Some images stay untouched for years before they turn into something meaningful. Others come together quickly. There is no formula and no schedule.
What matters is that when a piece leaves my hands, it feels honest.
These works are not meant to be trendy or temporary. They are meant to live with you. To become part of your space. To be something you notice differently as time passes.
Sometimes that means noticing strength. Sometimes it means noticing quiet. Sometimes it simply means noticing that you stopped scrolling and stood still for a moment.
That is enough.
Why Mac Wildlife & Art Exists
Mac Wildlife & Art exists because photography gave me a way forward, and wildlife gave me something to walk toward.
It exists because I believe art can be both personal and shared. Because the places we love deserve to be remembered. Because the outdoors has a way of teaching us things we miss when we are not paying attention.
This work is not about perfection. It is about presence. About noticing what is there and honoring it.
If you are here, reading this, I hope something in this work speaks to you. Even if you cannot quite put it into words yet.
That is usually how it starts.
Where to go next
If you would like to continue exploring, you can view the collections across the site, including wildlife photography, wildlife art, landscapes, and ag & farm work.
Each section offers a different way of seeing the land and the life connected to it.
You are always welcome to return here.
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