"When I began shooting my book Last Places on Earth,
I wanted to break through the barrier of 'personal space' between
myself as an outsider and the worlds I was photographing in far-off
corners of the planet.
I've always been amused at how we see indigenous people, at how we
immediately put a camera up to our eyes and then feel put off when
someone doesn't want to be photographed. I respect the culture and the
religion of where I am; it makes me feel a part of what is happening
around me, and to feel comfortable making images I might not otherwise
be able to make.
Wherever I am, I walk the streets because it's often on the back
roads, the hidden alleys, where there's that magical beam of light that
changes the way things look."
Eric Meola has always specialized in not specializing. His
award-winning advertising assignments have ranged from photographing
campaigns for Timberland and Johnnie Walker to photographing the cover of Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run.Over the past 20 years, Eric
has worked with some major clients and agencies including Canon,
I.B.M., Kodak, American Express, AT&T, United Technologies, Jeep,
Rollerblades, and BMW.
Among the many awards he has received, in 1989 Eric was named the
only photographer in Adweek magazine's national "Creative All-Star
Team" and in the same year he received a "Clio" for photographing the
"Timberland" campaign.
During much of the last decade he photographed his book "Last Places on Earth" in some of the world's most remote areas.
