Eric Meola

Since 2013 Eric Meola has been storm-chasing on the Great Plains of the USA. He speaks to Steve Fairclough about his passion for extreme weather

In August 1977, photographer Eric Meola took a road trip with rock superstar Bruce Springsteen, during which they encountered an incredible storm. It inspired Springsteen – for whom Eric had shot the Born To Run LP cover – to write ‘The Promised Land’, which appeared on the 1978 LP Darkness On The Edge Of Town. It also sparked Eric’s long-held passion for storms.

Since 2013 he has cleared time in his annual schedule to photograph storms across the Great Plains of the US. The photographic fruits of his storm shoots are showcased in the new book Fierce Beauty.

What drove your interest in photography?

My Dad was a doctor – one of his patients was an engineer and his hobby was photography. I was 12 years old, getting in my Dad’s hair and driving him nuts. He wanted me to be a doctor, but I really had no idea what I wanted to do.

To get me involved in something else, he asked this friend if he’d show me how to develop film and print photographs. The very first time I saw a print come up in the developer was magic to me. That was it: I knew I wanted to study photography and become a photographer. It was instantaneous.

Did any other photographers inspire you?

I think all of the photojournalists of the time. There was a guy named Dan Kramer who photographed Bob Dylan, Eugene Smith, Elliott Erwitt… Back then it was primarily still black and white. Little by little I started to become much more aware of colour. I loved the contrasts and the look of black and white, and it was a lot easier to do in many ways, except having to make the prints.

Back then, making colour prints was fairly primitive, so it took me a long time to learn colour. But once I made that transition, I became really interested in the work of Art Kane, Pete Turner and Ernst Haas.