Nebraskaland

84 Nebraskaland • June 2026 THE GROUNDWORK Fowler's dad, Dave, gave him his first 35 mm camera in 1989, and and soon after he had gotten the journalism bug at Chadron State College. He shot for the student newspaper, took on internships and did freelance gigs. He considered going into business with his dad, a studio photographer, but decided it would be more fun to go to ball games instead. He worked for newspapers in Chadron and Scottsbluff, hoping to get to Sports Illustrated someday, before landing a job with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission's publications department in 1998. Because Fowler had also been writing and shooting outdoor stories for these papers, becoming a staffer for Nebraskaland Magazine was the new goal. His chance came three years later when Michael Forsberg left the magazine to freelance full time. From there, Fowler continued to excel, penning impactful conservation stories on fire and water, natural histories on river otters, elk, and other species, and countless human-interest pieces of people experiencing the outdoors. But in many ways, Fowler was just picking up the baton. I was terrified, and I didn't even know Nebraskaland photographer Eric Fowler yet. It was the spring of 2002, and I was driving with a good friend Matthew Marx on the way to Verdon State Recreation Area to be photographed for my first Nebraskaland story. As a freelance writer, I had submitted an article to the magazine and, to my extreme happiness, the story had been accepted. The next step, then-editor Tom White informed me, was that the magazine would send a photographer to shoot photos of Matt and me fishing our favorite lake in the state. A reader of the magazine, I knew the work of the staff, including the photographer assigned to my story — Eric Fowler. When his truck arrived, pulling a small, flat-bottom boat behind it, my heart immediately sped up. For the first time in my life, I had to catch fish. We did the customary introductions and then he gave very specific instructions: "Just go fish." Matt and I dropped in our little john boat and tried to do what we normally do, but it was nearly impossible. We simply couldn't take our eyes off the photographer, who effortlessly switched between telephoto and wide-angle lenses while standing on the lake's west jetty as we cast toward him in the water. When the light became oh-so-perfect, he shared his one wish: "Now all we need is a fish." Luckily, I hooked up with a largemouth — seemingly on command — which was the starting point for one of our most memorable fishing trips ever. "I still remember that day," Fowler has told me through the years, excitement always in his voice. "The light just kept changing." After the day, we parted ways, but Matt and I couldn't stop talking about the way he worked — how a "Nebraskaland" photographer does things. Fowler's efforts did pay off. The spread, with its variety of composition and light, appeared in June 2003. I was proud of that story and showed it to everyone. We even got the cover — a highly sought-after cherry on top of the most wonderful dessert. And it was all because of Fowler's work. TOP: A marbled orb weaver spider in a rare orange phase, also known as a pumpkin spider, hangs from its web. BOTTOM: A bull elk makes his way through the bottomland forest along the North Platte River near Lewellen.

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