Growing up in the Central Queensland mining town of Bluff, Mitchell Burns followed the path many locals did after finishing school and started work in the coal mines at 18.
“I never wanted to work in the mines but that was just what was expected where I come from,” Mitchell, now 33, tells New Idea.
“I remember the guys I worked with would talk about going pig hunting and shooting kangaroos on the weekend, and I’d wonder why they would want to do that.”
In fact, Mitchell was far more likely to be snapping pigs and roos than shooting them because outside of his shifts underground, he spent every spare moment teaching himself nature photography.
Eventually, after a decade in the mines, he decided to take a leap of faith.
Leaving his career in 2022 to pursue wildlife photography full-time, he never imaged the gamble would transform him into one of Australia’s fastest-rising social media stars, take him all over the world and even find him the love of his life.
“At first it was all about the photographs I was taking. My audience was photographers,” he says. “Then in late 2022, I shared a video about my personal journey on Instagram. Within hours my follower count had gone from 18,000 to 80,000.”
The video got scores of cheeky comments from admirers, comparing him to everyone from Tarzan to Robert Irwin.
But while the internet crowned him the country’s latest heart-throb, Mitchell insists the attention caught him off guard.
“I’m certainly not trying to be an Irwin,” Mitchell says. “If there is a similarity, it’s that we both share the same passion for Australia’s wildlife and want people to appreciate it.”
It was a few years before Mitchell started earning money from his passion, after companies began approaching him for paid content. And it wasn’t just animal lovers taking notice.
Mitchell caught the eye of some of the world’s biggest brands, and he started stepping in front of the camera for the likes of Ralph Lauren, Akubra and Mustang.
His new career also found him a girlfriend, with fellow wildlife creative Jessie Stenhouse connecting with Mitchell through Instagram in August 2022.
“He came to visit me in Torquay for what was meant to be just three days, and three months later we packed up and moved to Queensland together,” Jessie says.
“People are always telling me how handsome Mitch is, and I just say, ‘Would you believe he has no idea?’ He’s so humble – I’ve honestly never had a reason to be jealous of all the female attention he gets!”
Jessie has become Mitchell’s secret weapon with his online content. While he’s busy crawling through scrub or wading through creeks she’s behind the camera, capturing it all.
Mitchell says having Jessie behind the lens, rather than relying on a tripod, has helped him relax.
“Suddenly I was reacting to someone rather than performing to a tripod,” he says.
These days, Mitchell and Jessie are traveling the world. Sometimes a trip is tied to a brand campaign while other times they’re chasing a location or idea.
While landscape photography has always been the foundation of his work, Mitchell says wildlife has become a huge part of what he’s known for online, particularly his animal rescue stories.
Now, four years on, Mitchell’s wildlife photos rack up thousands of views every day, and his videos have racked up an astonishing two billion views on TikTok.
Despite all this, Mitchell says the best part of the job ultimately has nothing to do with social media.
His favourite moments are standing in the bush before sunrise, camera in hand, listening to the sounds of Australia waking up.
“If even one person walks away with a greater appreciation for wildlife because of something I’ve shared, then it’s all worth it,” he says.
