June 2026 • Nebraskaland 87
ANOTHER LEVEL
Fowler's seemingly tough exterior quickly disappears
when he gets the opportunity to share images from a shoot
or has ideas for another one.
Recently, Fowler walked in my office and said, "Look at
this." In the image was of one of his trail cameras on the
edge of an extinguished wildfire. "I can't wait to see what's
on this card," he announced excitedly. That attitude is at
the heart of why this publication continues to excel. Fowler
has uploaded nearly 77,000 images to the magazine's online
database, and has a few hundred thousand more to caption
and upload — if he could ever quit shooting.
A few days later, his focus was on photos of people
holding fish. "I'm just not very good at those," he said
self-deprecatingly, as though a quarter-century worth of
knowledge could be diminished by this. But in that fleeting
moment, you could also see the light bulb clicking on —
some new idea he has yet to try.
In his mind, that's what he's supposed to do. Because
that's what his predecessors did: constantly strive to tell
outdoor stories in new, visually stunning ways — because
they lived the conservation mission, hoped Nebraskaland
readers would stick around for another 100 years, and ...
they loved their jobs.
N
A bald eagle flies above the spillway on Lake Ogallala
below Kingsley Dam.
This camping photo at Indian Cave took three trips: one to scout,
another to cut down a dead tree and some invasive trees in the
prairie uphill from the campsite and the one for the shot.
OPPOSITE TOP: An arched doorway
marks the entrance to McDowell's
Tomb in the cliff at Rose Creek Wildlife
Management Area in Jefferson County.
