Eric Meola

Growing up in Syracuse, Meola was pressured by his family to study medicine.  One of his father's patients introduced the teenage Meola to his darkroom and he was smitten.  Meola said, "As soon as I saw that first print come up in the developer, I knew it was what I wanted to do."  
At Syracuse University Eric Meola majored in English and studied color theory and color printing.  His humanities training lead to his desire to tell stories with images.

His first big project was with TIme magazine.  Following this Time magazine Meloa got a deal with Porshe-Audi without a single shot of a car to his credit.  In 1972 Time sent Meloa to Haiti where he shot "coca-kid".
http://ericmeola.com/portfolio/photography/antarctica/

Eric Meola has won several awards including "Advertising Photographer of the Year" from the American Society of Media Photographers.  In 1972 he photographed Haiti for Time magazine resulting in one of his most famous image "Coca Kid". "Promise Land" was his signature red, white and blue image from his first major exhibit at Carnegie Hall in 1980. 

replication
f/8 1/320sec ISO 100 Canon 50mm

 His first black and white images were taken for Bruce Springsteen in the book Born to Run: The Unseen Photos which has released in 2006.  

In 1977 while on his way to photography Bruce Springsteen Eric took a photo of "Brenda's Cafe" one of the first black and whites taken by Eric.