Buried to its frame, a slurry of muddy sand arched skyward as the truck’s wheels spun helplessly. Shoving boards under the tires for traction didn’t help. Cell phone service – nope. Now regretting his decision to take a shortcut through a ranch he’d never been to before, photographer Erik Johnson began hoofing it through unknown hills.

Invited by one of his social media fans to photograph her family ranch north of Arthur, Johnson’s off-road adventure through the dunes went south, but not for long. He found the ranch house after walking 3 miles. “Hi, I’m Erik, and I am stuck in the middle of your pasture,” was his first embarrassed introduction. In no time the vehicle was yanked to studier ground.

That evening, after photographing his new friends, their livestock and the ranch, the Lincoln photographer aimed his camera skyward as the northern lights splashed rare waves of pink and green across the Nebraska sky.

Johnson races across Nebraska’s prairie sea, chasing the first and last light of the day in a quest for stunning landscape images.

Capturing photographic perfection is the result of being in the right place at the right time, often by coincidence. Johnson’s best images come by way of careful planning, long drives and sleeping in his truck or tent with his dog, Khloe, while waiting for the sun, moon or the Milky Way.

Nebraska’s expansive prairies are his favorite photography subjects. He is fascinated by the stark change in topography between Lincoln and the Bohemian Alps to the north. He said that the shorter, stubbier prairie to the west in the High Plains feels like a different world altogether. Whether he is staking out an old barn, crumbling homestead or a rock formation, Johnson finds himself wishing that the light were better, or that a dark thunderstorm or other dramatic element would appear overhead. Sometimes that wish unexpectedly comes true.

Johnson was driving County Road N in Colfax County when a retreating storm added just the right light over an old Catholic church. He had obsessively visited the location 15 times, a tactic he employs often to eventually get photos of favorite destinations in the most dramatic light. This time the sun came out, the sky turned pink and then a rainbow formed over the hilltop church. The resulting photograph taught Johnson the importance of using his camera as a tool for storytelling. He remembers the first time he saw the church.

“I was cruising backroads northwest of Schuyler when this white steeple and cross appeared on the landscape; it was magnificent,” Johnson said. While subsequently researching the history of the church, he met local residents who had been baptized, married and sang in the choir there.

Johnson received a call when the 103-year-old Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, better known as Wilson Church, was slated for demolition. He shot the rainbow photo the next morning. The church was demolished last January. Former parishioners have asked Johnson for prints.   

Having a tangible keepsake that preserves the memory of the church is important for the people who loved that building.

He regularly points his lens at another important Nebraska spire – Chimney Rock. One memorable visit has never left him.

Like sandhill cranes, prairie chickens and Niobrara River waterfalls, the Monolith near Bayard is a Nebraska photography icon. Johnson was checking the formation off his photography bucket list when the visit and a vital piece of photography equipment met an abrupt end.

The Western Nebraska wind was howling when his tripod blew over and the camera and lens smashed to the ground. When the dust cleared, the lens wouldn’t focus. With his photography hopes dashed for the day, Johnson made the nearly 400-mile-drive home back to Lincoln. That stinging experience still felt new two years later as he prepared to capture Chimney Rock under starry skies.

After working his day job as a salesman for the biotech company LI-COR, Johnson practiced astrophotography techniques during evening drives far away from Lincoln city lights. As comet Neowise approached Earth in 2020, Johnson packed up his gear for his return to Chimney Rock.

The early riser climbed out of his tent at 3:30 a.m. and began hiking through the darkness to the vantage point he scouted out the day before. The comet appeared motionless in the sky as he painted the ground with the beam of his flashlight to illuminate rattlesnakes. Johnson carefully attached the camera to his tripod, adjusted his ISO setting, dialed in an 8-second exposure and began firing. Johnson’s image of the comet crossing a starry blue night sky toward Chimney Rock went viral after he posted it online.

“When you’re shooting the night sky far from city lights, you get to focus on the same sky and star light that people saw thousands of years ago,” Johnson said. Wanderlust keeps him immersed in Nebraska’s grasslands day and night.

“Even if I’ve been there before, I always find something new. Every time I visit a favorite prairie place, I know the light will be different than the last time.”