Rangefinder Magazine
December 2004

Insight/On the Cover by Bill Hurter

The world has become a decidedly smaller place, due primarily to the efforts of photojournalists and editorial photographers who bring the world to our door, in all its splendor and all its horror. Photojournalists are, in general, an heroic lot, often risking personal health and welfare to bring back images from unimaginable locations. Half storyteller, half explorer, modern-day photojournalists take their responsibility very seriously. Eric Meola is one such photographer. Returning from a personal trip to Burma in 1996, he decided his unique mission was to photograph the vanishing tribes, customs and cultures of the earth. The result is a stunningly beautiful book, Last Places on Earth, just released last month. It is a celebration of the odd and the fantastic, a chronicle of color that will be marveled at for many generations to come. Lou Jacobs Jr., who interviewed Eric for the story, which begins on page 8, says Eric is one of the most important photographers of this or any time. At the other end of the experience spectrum is Michael Corcoran, a young Marine combat photographer who was stationed in Afghanistan (see page 58). Mike is an affable young man. Guys used to call him “Joker,” after the combat photographer/hero in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. Mike mistakingly thought it was because he was just “a funny guy.” Mike, without making a point of it, has guts. He routinely placed himself in harm’s way, and you can see the unrehearsed strain and anxiety in the eyes of the soldiers he photographed. His pictures are not headline material, although one of his shots made page one of the New York Times. Instead they are the back story that tells us what war is truly like. Tim Zielenbach is a photojournalist who took one of those pictures that managed to move others to action. Concerned photojournalists hope that they can impact world leaders and ordinary citizens with their images. This one did. According to Tim, “The notion that I played a role in influencing one man’s decision to aid others in need is extremely humbling.” See the story on page 122.

Bill Hurter, Editor

ON THE COVER

PHOTOGRAPHER: Eric Meola
TITLE: Red and White Face
MODEL: Simbu Warrior; Papua New Guinea
CAMERA: Canon EOS 1N
LENS: 200mm f/2.8 with 11mm extension tube
FLASH: Fill-flash set three stops lower than daylight reading
MAIN LIGHT: Available light with subdued fill flash.
COMMENTS: I have never run out of film before, but I did on this trip to the highlands of New Guinea to photograph the Mount Hagen festival. Everywhere I turned there was another spectacular face, another image. This image was photographed in soft overcast light with a 200mm f/2.8 lens and an 11mm extension tube. I used fill-flash, but set three stops lower than normal to give a slight fill to the shadows.
Already a successful advertising and editorial photographer, Eric returned from a personal trip to Burma in 1996 where he had a spiritual epiphany. His dream was to photograph all the disappearing tribes and landscapes, ceremonies and cultures in various parts of the world. That dream resulted in Eric’s incredible book, called Last Places on Earth, published by Graphis U.S. This image is from that book. To see more of Eric’s incredible images from this project, visit www.lastplaces.com/.
For more on Eric Meola, see Lou Jacobs Jr.’s profile, which begins on page 8.