*Stand Up Paddle Boarding in Kenai Fjords National Park*

Unexpectedly coming face-to-face with a mother grizzly bear in the middle of the woods. Rappelling 40 feet deep into a glacier moulin. Seeing a rainbow over a waterfall during the midnight sun in Iceland. Swimming with whale sharks in Mexico. Being in Hawaii for one of the most active volcano events of the century. White water rafting with friends in the lush rain forest of Costa Rica. Paddling through icebergs in Alaska. Waking up at sunrise with the animals in Yellowstone. Encountering a bull moose in Montana. Snorkeling with huge manta rays in the Pacific Ocean. Going 400 feet deep inside a magma chamber. Exploring slot canyons in Arizona.

For Eric Ethridge, some of these moments just happened by chance because he was in an amazing place. But many happened because of detailed trip planning. “I have been on trips that took over a year to plan. For me, the planning and researching that has to be done to put myself in the most ideal situations is almost as fun as the trip itself,” he admits. “In 2018, when I traveled the ring road of Iceland, I made over 20 different reservations for a 12-day trip so that I could see and do as much as possible and be at the perfect location for sunrise and sunset.”

*Moonrise over the Ace of Clubs House in Texarkana, Texas*

Born and raised in Fouke, Arkansas, Eric attended college at Texarkana College and Texas A&M University-Texarkana, where he earned a degree in Mass Communications. He worked at a machine shop in his college years until he became the media manager for the City of Texarkana, Arkansas. He admits that several subtle things led him down his career path and sparked his interest in his hobbies: videography and photography. “It has been a very gradual evolution that has led me to the point that I am now, in regards to my profession and hobby. The videography aspect is more of a profession and something that I have been doing much longer,” he says. “The nature photography is more of a recent passion, but both skills are so closely intertwined that it’s sometimes hard to separate them.”

Eric originally began doing wedding videography for friends and family. That eventually turned into a side job. Although weddings are not his passion, it is work that comes easily to him. “I have enjoyed all the people I have met throughout the years in the wedding business and the amazing couples I have worked with,” he acknowledges. “As of now, I have kept all my photography ventures separated from any kind of profit purpose. My nature photography is 100% passion-driven.”

Eric has always enjoyed travelling. He is very grateful that his parents took him and his sister on vacations when they were kids. In 2014, he went on the biggest trip of his life where he rafted 100 miles on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. “This incredible experience was my ‘ah ha’ moment. I was hooked. It made me feel like a kid again. Ever since that trip, I have been addicted to adventure and nature travel,” he explains. Although this trip ignited his desire for adventure, it also led to his great appreciation for our National Parks, where some of the greatest landscape photography in the world takes place. “I think that it’s great that an average person like myself can live a pretty normal routine life in a small town and then travel to exotic destinations and experience incredible things a few times a year.”

For Eric, videography and photography are all about trial and error. “I don’t think you can learn photography or videography in a classroom, just like you can’t learn to be a good gardener from reading a book; it’s all about getting out there and doing it,” he says. “I also don’t think it’s a talent. Not everybody has a beautiful voice or is a naturally-gifted athlete. To me, that is what talent looks like. Anybody that has the passion and desire to become good at photography can do it. That’s part of what makes it so great.”

Influenced by photographers across the world, Eric watches for places that look amazing so he can start planning the logistics of what it would take for him to get to that location. He says that many people say they have a bucket list but many times, they are just daydreaming because they never put a real timetable on their trip. “It’s really just an imaginary idea until you start to actually plan. ‘Someday’ is not on a calendar,” he says. “I put these ideas on paper, and then start planning.”

Photographing wildlife is the most thrilling for Eric because it is the most original. With no two encounters the same, it is very unpredictable. He enjoys shooting waterfalls, glaciers, mountains, storms, volcanoes, and any natural setting that is dramatic. “I also enjoy other worldly environments that don’t even look like they belong on this planet,” he confirms. “I want people to look at the photos I take and say ‘WOW! Is that real?’”

*Bobby Ferguson Park in Texarkana, Arkansas*

The serenity of being out in the wild of an epic landscape is one of the greatest feelings in the world to Eric. He compares nature photography to hunting and fishing. People do it because they love it. “Just like hunting and fishing, it takes preparation, effort, and the right tools to get the job done. Travelling to get to these special locations also takes me out of my comfort zone of my daily routine life, and I think that is very important,” he explains. “I have no intentions of making any kind of profit off of my landscape work. I have given away more photos than I can even count. I am just grateful to have such a great hobby that I enjoy and others appreciate. Maybe someday it will lead to some other kind of venture, but right now I’m just enjoying it. I am amazed at this world that God has made. If he can make this within six days, it’s hard to imagine how amazing heaven will be.

“I really hope that my adventure photography trips are just scratching the surface of the places I will go and things that I will do. I am already working on plans to cruise the Galapagos Islands, photograph the great migration in the Serengeti, hike in Patagonia and Norway, photograph the Northern Lights, see polar bears in the Arctic, cage dive with great white sharks in the Guadalupe, track wolves in the winter of Yellowstone, raft Cataract Canyon, and revisit Iceland in the winter,” he concludes. “My ultimate bucket list trip is to do a multi-week expedition to Antarctica. This is a trip I plan to do shortly after I pay my house off. I do not know what God’s plan is for my future, but right now I am single with no kids, and I plan on taking full advantage of my situation.”

For Eric Ethridge, it’s not where you go; it’s what you do when you get there that makes a place memorable. It is the special moments that matter more than the destination. And that advice comes from somebody who knows. After all, at 36 years old, Eric has been on more remarkable adventures than most people can claim during their lifetime.

Feature Stories

Have Camera, Will Travel