Eric Cheng (born January 9, 1975) is a

Taiwanese American Taiwanese Americans () are Americans who carry full or partial ancestry from Taiwan. This includes American-born citizens who descend from migrants from Taiwan. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, 49% of Taiwanese Americans lived in the state of Califo ...

entrepreneur, professional photographer, and Emmy-nominated executive producer specializing in

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), edu ...

, underwater photography, and aerial imaging. He is Head of Immersive Media at

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

Reality Labs. Eric frequently gives talks about drones, photography, marine ecosystems, and technology, and has spoken internationally at events including: TEDxBerkeley, the Churchill Club, LeWeb, Photoshelter Luminance, CES, and

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...

and others. In 2016, Eric appeared in the Australian television series ''

Tales by Light ''Tales by Light'' is an Australian documentary reality television series airing on National Geographic. The program is branded content and a joint venture between National Geographic and Canon which follows a number of professional photograph ...

'', which is available on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

for international distribution. On February 3, 2015, Eric piloted a DJI Inspire 1

drone Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...

into the

Holuhraun Holuhraun () is a lava field just north of the Vatnajökull ice cap, in the Highlands of Iceland, Icelandic Highlands, in Suður-Þingeyjarsýsla, Northeastern Region (Iceland), Northeastern Region, Iceland. The lava field was created by fissure ...

volcano eruption in the

Bárðarbunga Bárðarbunga (), is a stratovolcano located under Vatnajökull in Vatnajökull National Park which is Iceland's most extensive glacier. The second highest mountain in Iceland, above sea level, Bárðarbunga is also part of a volcanic system th ...

volcanic system in Iceland, broadcasting live for ABC's

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. ...

. Eric started Wetpixel, an

underwater photography Underwater photography is the process of taking photographs while under water. It is usually done while scuba diving, but can be done while diving on surface supply, snorkeling, swimming, from a submersible or remotely operated underwater ...

community website, and is active as a marine conservationist. He previously served on the Board of Directors of Shark Savers (a Program of

WildAid WildAid is an environmental organization based in San Francisco, California, United States. WildAid focuses on reducing the demand for wildlife products. WildAid works with Asian and Western celebrities and business leaders to dissuade people fr ...

), and on the Board of Advisors of

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is a non-profit, marine conservation activism organization based in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Washington, in the United States. Sea Shepherd employs direct action tactics to achieve its ...

. He was head photographer for '' Operation Musashi'', Sea Shepherd's campaign against the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctica in late 2008 / early 2009, which was also documented by

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily ...

for Whale Wars Season 2. Aside from lecturing and writing about photography, he is a concert cellist and software engineer. Eric has been seen on stage with

Vienna Teng Cynthia Yih Shih (born October 3, 1978, Saratoga, California), better known by her stage name Vienna Teng, is an American pianist and singer-songwriter who was based in Detroit, Michigan and now lives in Washington, DC. Teng has released five ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

, San Jose,

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

, and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Previously, Eric was Director of Aerial Imaging at DJI and Director of Photography at

Lytro Lytro, Inc. was an American company founded in 2006 by Ren Ng which developed some of the first commercially available light-field cameras. Lytro began shipping its first generation pocket-sized camera, capable of refocusing images after being t ...

. Eric was born in 1975 in Madison, Wisconsin, to immigrant parents from

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in computer science from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

References

The Next Eco-Warriors: Eco-Warrior Profile: Eric Cheng
Retrieved June. 18, 2009.
Nature's Best Photography Awards Winners
(Fall, 2005). Nature's Best Magazine. * Sea & Sea Underwater Photography

Retrieved May. 9, 2006.

(2006). DiveFilm.

Notes

External links

*Eric Cheng'
photography portfolioEric Cheng on IMDbTEDxBerkeley talk about flashlight fish, sperm whales and giant squid
video {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Eric Aerial photographers American photographers American people of Chinese descent American people of Taiwanese descent Stanford University alumni Living people Underwater photographers 1975 births