SELECTED TIMELINE
2025
- Born to Run at 50 , an exhibit of 25 prints from Eric's June 20, 1975 shoot for the Born to Run album cover opens at the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music.
2024
- BENDING LIGHT: The Moods of Color, a retrospective of Eric's personal and commercial photographs, and experiments in abstract color photography, is published in October.
- Attends XPOSURE 2024 in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, as a lecturer, and as a guest of his highness, Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed al Qasimi.
2023
- Receives the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) "Lifetime Achievement" Award in "recognition of a lifetime of service and innovation to the field of professional photography."
2022
- Co-executive producer of a documentary by filmmaker Phil Bertelsen, titled The Picture Taker, on the life and career of Memphis civil rights photographer Ernest C. Withers (see 2004 for first reference). Shown in October at the Woodstock Film Festival, and the Memphis Film Festival, and has a one-week run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Shown on PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) in 2023.
2021
- Cover photograph for Bruce Springsteen's album "Born to Run" displayed at the Museum of Art and Photography exhibition "Rock City," in Bengaluru, India.
2020
- CNN Online featured a portfolio of photographs from FIERCE BEAUTY: Storms of the Great Plains.
- Smithsonian magazine named FIERCE BEAUTY as one of the "Ten Best Travel Books of 2019."
- Cover photograph of a tornado featured on October 2020 Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
2019
- FIERCE BEAUTY: Storms of the Great Plains published by IMAGES Publishing Group, Australia.
- Photographs of storms exhibited in a group show at the Southampton Arts Center, Southampton, NY.
2018
- Portfolio of photographs featured in the Royal Photographic Society Journal, London.
2015
- "Storms of America's Heartland" appeared in Time magazine's online "Lightbox."
- The Wall Street Journal featured the exhibit "Storm Chaser" at the Bernarducci Meisel Gallery in NYC.
- Communication Arts Photography Annual published photographs of storms taken in "Tornado Alley."
- Bernarducci Meisel Gallery in NYC, solo exhibition "Storm Chaser" featured large-scale prints of tornadoes and weather phenomena.
2014
- Awarded the George Eastman "Power of the Image" medal in Beijing celebrating the work of twenty-two photographers.
2013
- Began work on a long-term project and book called FIERCE BEAUTY: Storms of the Great Plains.
- Welcome Books published the second, revised edition, of INDIA: In Word and Image.
2012
- HarperCollins published Streets of Fire, featuring photographs of Bruce Springsteen taken in the late 1970's.
- Included in photographer Tim Mantoani's book Behind Photographs: Archiving Photographic Legends, a collection of photographers holding 20 x 24" Polaroids of their favorite personal photograph.
2010
- Black-and-white photograph used on the cover of Bruce Springsteen's "The Promise".
2009
- Photographs of India exhibited at the Art Directors' Club Gallery in NYC.
2008
- Welcome Books published INDIA: In Word and Image
2007-8
- Traveled throughout India for seven months
2006
- Insight Editions published Born to Run: The Unseen Photos, a book of photographs of Bruce Springsteen.
2005
- Exhibited photographs of Bruce Springsteen and Clarence Clemons at SNAP Galleries in Birmingham, England.
2004
- Graphis published Last Places on Earth..
- Met civil rights photographer Ernest C. Withers on a trip to Memphis, Tennessee. Began work to get a film produced about his career (see 2022); and met with his agent, Tony Decaneas.
2002
- The Times Journal of Photography (Volume 2, Issue 2): "Showcasing 29 World Renowned Photographers," pgs.34-39.
1997
- The photograph "Coca Kid" is included in Life magazine's special 1997 issue "100 Magnificent Images."
1996
- Commissioned by The Eastman Kodak Company to photograph disappearing cultures for a project called "Last Places on Earth."
1995
- Traveled to Burma and photographed extensively.
- The Time Is Always Now gallery in New York City exhibited Eric Meola: A Retrospective.
1993
- Included in The Art of Persuasion, a book and traveling exhibition about the art of advertising photography by Robert Sobieszek, curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
1991
- Included in the American Society of Media Photographers traveling exhibition and book 10,000 Eyes.
- The International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York City acquired the photograph "Coca Kid" for its permanent collection.
1987
- Awarded a Clio for images made in Scotland for Timberland.
1986
- Received the American Society of Media Photographers' "Advertising Photographer of the Year" award.
1983-84
- Photographed helicopters in Dallas, Death Valley, Las Vegas, New York, and San Francisco for Sikorsky.
1981
- The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. acquired a portrait of opera singer Beverly Sills for its permanent collection.
- Communication Arts magazine published an article and a portfolio of photographs in its January/February issue.
1980
- The Space gallery at Carnegie Hall in New York City presented a solo exhibit "TOTEMS".
1978
- The George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York acquired a print of Promised Land for its permanent collection.
- Photograph of Masai taken in Amboseli, Kenya appeared in the first issue of American Photographer magazine.
1976
- Photographed an award-winning campaign for Porsche-Audi commissioned by the Doyle Dane Bernbach advertising agency.
1975
- Traveled to Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico to photograph coffee plantations for Sweden's "Gevalia" company
- Photographed Bruce Springsteen and Clarence Clemons for the cover of the breakthrough album, Born to Run.
1974
- Meets the writer John McPhee, and is included in his New Yorker article "Firewood," which becomes part of the book Pieces of the Frame.
1972
- Traveled to Haiti to photograph the country for a Time magazine article.
1971
- Photographed opera singer Beverly Sills for the November 22 cover of Time magazine.
1970
- Photographed a series of abstract nudes which appeared in the September 18, 1970 issue of Life magazine.
1969-70
- Worked with mentor Pete Turner at his New York studio in Carnegie Hall.
1968
- First published photograph, of a seagull, appeared on the back cover of the July/August issue of Audubon magazine.
1965-1968
- Studied color photography at Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Journalism, and graduated with a BA in English literature.