Rangefinder Magazine
December 2004

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Profile: Eric Meola by Lou Jacobs Jr.
Visions Rewarded

This is the story of a project photographed over five years by Eric Meola, whose career is now further distinguished with his book, "Last Places On Earth." He is one of America’s top advertising and editorial photographers, but he harbored a dream of photographing third world countries and getting close to the people and their environments. This dream came to fruition in his grand book, published by Graphis, distributed by Watson-Guptill. For a preview, go to www.lastplaces.com/.

When he was 14 and living in Syracuse, NY, Eric was inspired by a photo in Parade of a giraffe in Africa taken by Pete Turner. Eric never forgot it. His father, a doctor, introduced him to the darkroom, which lead to some personal photography, though while at Syracuse University he studied English literature and not photography. In his senior year, he visited Turner in Manhattan and asked about becoming his assistant. After graduation in 1968, Eric moved to New York City and within six months he began a two-year apprenticeship with Turner, where he honed his vision and learned the intricate business of advertising photography. Turner’s strong color style has stayed with Eric.

Early on Eric had schooled himself by “looking at every picture in every photo magazine and photo annual.” He says, “I became completely absorbed by photography.” Reading travel magazines stirred his plan to generate income by shooting stock on the road where he could do personal work in places he wanted to see. Eric’s work on covers and inside Popular Photography helped promote his visionary ambitions.

Karo Tribesman, Omo River, Southern Ethiopia	Geerewol Celebration, Niger, West Africa

In 1972 he made a trip to Haiti for Time magazine where he photographed the “Coca Kid,” an image of a youngster walking past a Coca-Cola sign, which got the attention of editors and media buyers. “It was my first break towards recognition,” Eric recalls. The photograph’s intense color defined Eric’s style. Another break was a campaign for Porsche. “They weren’t sure what sort of locations they wanted,” he states, “so I had the opportunity to find some unusual places that worked out well. It helped me continue a track record and prove myself.”

Eric’s first studio was in the soon-to-be Photo District of New York in a big loft where he lived and worked alone. He hired freelance assistants when needed, and, over the next several years, his career bloomed as he shot assignments for IBM, American Express, Porsche, Canon, Kodak, Time, Life and Esquire. About two years into photographic success, pictures he made of singer Bruce Springsteen added to his reputation. In 1975 he photographed the cover for Springsteen’s album Born to Run.

That self-assignment was an early career decision in a certain direction that meant temporarily putting aside some other work.

Coca Kid, Haiti	Tari, New Guinea

During the 1970s Eric’s business grew until he had two full-time assistants. He recalls, “I was getting more and more work, but my studio was hampered by terrible elevator service. I wanted to buy a small building but didn’t have the money, though I held onto the decision. In early 1980 I found a building in lower Manhattan, near Tribeca. At that point I had never specialized. I was shooting for magazines and ad agencies and doing personal work, but what I loved most was travel photography.”

With a couple of bank loans he bought and refurbished a new studio, and put a lot of his income into self-promotion. Eric Meola was on the map, but he still maintained feelings for “the assignment of a lifetime” that would include the challenges of foreign travel. “On a personal trip to Burma in 1996,” Eric states, “I had a spiritual epiphany. When I returned I bought an Epson printer and made a large-format portfolio of several dozen images from Burma. I approached Kodak with the idea that lead to Last Places. Kodak was ready to introduce a new Ektachrome 100 series when I described my dream of photographing all the disappearing tribes and landscapes, ceremonies and cultures in various parts of the world. They were enthusiastic that my work would show off their film. Canon later agreed to support me with cameras and lenses for my ambitious project.”

Laughing, Jodphur, India	Inle Lake, Burma	Monks’ Feet, Rangoon, Burma

First Eric planned how to apportion his time to sustain his business in New York plus a home life. He figured to travel for a month or two, visit contiguous countries when possible, return to New York, and shoot some assignments. He would then fly to other areas in his photography strategy, and “take the pictures I so wanted to take.” With courage and concentration, he was able to make his journeys and continue his commercial photography career.

Eric knew what kind of book he would like. “I didn’t want it to be a series of chapters that dealt with various tribes or countries individually. I wanted the book to be an emotional pictorial voyage,” and he succeeded. His imagination, passion and energy have resulted in a marvelous 224-page book with over 100 color photographs in full-page and two-page spreads tied together by occasional black pages that present some of Eric’s comments.

Wildebeests, Botswana	Zebras, Tanzania

The images are dynamic and well paced. The layouts contrast colors, cultures and natural phenomena. Painted tribesman, dramatic market pageants, bright birds, close-ups of children and women in colorful veils, impressions of bizarre customs, native animals and many portraits grace Last Places on Earth. Ending this kaleidoscopic presentation are thumbnail images of each page with informative captions. A trip through the book is a distillation of five adventurous years during which Eric translated his enthusiasm to film.

A few of the places he visited are New Guinea, Tanzania, Morocco, Nepal, Alaska, India, China and Bali. His research spread widely, and travel agents helped make available many esoteric spots, “In countries difficult to get to,” Eric explains, “I needed to know specifics about the locations, and the best times of year to be there. I wanted to photograph people in a relaxed atmosphere, so I planned to attend ceremonies or special events when people would be festive and amiable. I was away a month or six weeks at a time, and the longest span was about 10 weeks.”

Eric traveled with two Canon EOS bodies and six lenses. He hired guides and translators. His wife, Joanna, also a fine photographer, was with him for many of the trips. “We were often in very remote places,” he explains, “where situations were intense and not always predictable.”

Near Bagan, Burma	Hamar Woman, Ethioopia	Pushkar, India

The book’s cover is dominated by an Ethiopian Karo tribesman with a painted face. Eric and several art directors planned the book for which, he confesses, the title just popped into his mind. Throughout are excerpts from Eric’s lyrical and revealing travel diary. Here are a few snippits:

• “You walk, you look, you wait. Of the three, the last is the most important, and the most elusive.”

• “That night, when the stars came falling from the sky, I watched the shadows of scorpions by candlelight, and as I stared at the flame, I remembered the cremation I had seen in Laos, the large cauldron glowing in sparks and embers. I woke in a dream in the middle of a sandstorm, listening to the wind. Though I had been born on the other side of the world, I was where I needed to be, with people who lived through birth and death in the same day. There was no more need for me to wait. I was there.”

	Monkeys, Bali

• “Luminescent saris, a courtyard filled with new brides, hands clutching branches of mango leaves… the streets [of India] are filled with dancing bears, dead camels, cars, pickpockets, cattle, snake charmers, elephants, motorcycles, monkeys, fakirs, Untouchables, and noise. Nine hundred million people moving in different directions, hurling themselves into the 21st century…”

• “In four hours we have passed six overturned trucks… on the back of the gasoline tanker, through the car window, written in script it says ‘Love is sweet poison.’”

I was moved by Eric’s warm and revealing four-page foreword to Last Places on Earth in which he declares his youthful aspiration to be a photographer after seeing David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia. He confesses, “Thirty years after David Lean took me across the Sahara, I was going there.”

In 1995 during a trip to Rangoon he witnessed a young boy’s head being shaved marking his initiation as a monk. “At that moment of his transformation, as a witness to this most sacred and intimate event, I felt that I, too, had crossed into another place and found the key to these other worlds I had imagined.” Eric lived then and now on personal exhilaration displayed in his exciting book.

Lou Jacobs Jr is the author of 28 how-to photography books, the latest of which is Studio Lighting (Amherst Media). He has taught at UCLA and Brooks, and his photographs and stories have been published in numerous magazines. He is a longtime member of ASMP and enjoys shooting stock, which is leased through several agencies, during his travels in the U.S. and abroad.