BERLIN.- teNeues announces American Amazon: A Groundbreaking Visual Dispatch from North America’s Most Endangered Biodiversity Stronghold.

As global climate discourse intensifies, teNeues is proud to announce the release of American Amazon, a definitive and urgent photographic record of the wild southeastern United States. Renowned conservation photographer Mac Stone delivers a stark warning through two decades of unprecedented fieldwork: while international attention remains fixed on the tropics, a biological powerhouse of equal significance is vanishing quietly.

Photographer Mac Stone recalls the genesis of this realization with a haunting clarity: “The first time I heard the phrase ‘American Amazon,’ I was waist-deep in blackwater, slogging through a guzmania swamp in the Fakahatchee Strand of the Everglades”.

The American Amazon is no mere landscape; it is a scientifically proven global epicenter for life, harboring more species of freshwater turtles, fish, and salamanders than almost any other place on the planet, including the actual Amazon Basin for certain taxa. Yet, the Southeastern U.S. currently leads the nation in extinctions, a crisis Mac Stone documents through haunting images of "ghost forests"—coastal groves killed by rising saltwater—and ecosystems where invasive species like Burmese pythons have caused native mammal populations to largely vanish.

The making of American Amazon was a feat of extreme physical endurance, involving scaling 2,000-year-old old-growth cypress with fixed ropes and rappelling 160 feet into lightless underground caverns. Stone’s work serves as the foundational companion to a four-year cinematic collaboration with Director Eric Bendick, resulting in a concurrent IMAX feature and PBS NATURE mini-series. Together, they have captured phenomena never before recorded, from the subsonic bellows of breeding alligators to the territorial combat of giant hellbender salamanders.

Mac Stone

Mac Stone is a National Geographic Explorer, photographer, and filmmaker dedicated to documenting and protecting wetlands and swamps. Combining his background as a field biologist with his artistic vision, Mac Stone creates compelling images that have earned international acclaim and contributed to scientific knowledge. His work breaks down misconceptions about these vital ecosystems, engaging audiences through powerful storytelling and stunning visuals. With over 33,000 followers on Instagram and a widely viewed TED Talk, Mac Stone is a passionate advocate for America’s wild places and an inspiring voice in nature conservation.