As a visual journalist for The Current, Justin Taylor covers the stories of the challenges and cultural changes residents face with sea-level rise and fast growth in Coastal Georgia’s six counties. He is a self-taught photographer who started his own photography business in 2017 and began freelancing in photojournalism in 2023. Before journalism, Taylor spent 15 years in the marine industry as a captain on a tugboat in the Savannah River. His journey with photography began during his time in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he served two combat tours in Iraq, including the 2003 invasion. Taylor brought a 35mm camera with him and started photographing daily life in a war zone, sparking a lifelong interest in documentary photography.
Beat: Multimedia visual journalist telling the stories of people in the six counties of Coastal Georgia.
Coastal Georgia is linked by 100 miles of fragile salt marshes and barrier islands. Population growth is constant, as are the threats to the varied communities there, including the only surviving Gullah Geechee enclave, a tourist-rich city (Savannah), pockets of extreme wealth and poverty, plus 4 Superfund sites and the country's fastest growing port and electric vehicle manufacturing sites. This visual journalist will be asked to tell the stories of the challenges and cultural changes residents face with sea-level rise and fast growth.