Ethan started at PBT as a production intern in 2015. After completing his undergraduate degrees at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Fisheries and Wildlife and Grassland Ecology and Management, Ethan started a Master’s of Applied Science project at UNL, which he completed in August 2020. Growing up, Ethan's summers were spent exploring the prairies and waterways of South-eastern Nebraska and hiking with his family in Rocky Mountain National Park. Ethan has developed a deep appreciation for the prairies of Nebraska and he hopes to use the power of photography to show others the beauty and importance of these undervalued ecosystems.
Ethan's Work
Posted on January 31, 2022
Managed by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Center for Grassland Studies, Nine-Mile Prairie is one of the last remnants of the once expansive tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Throughout eastern Nebraska, a dedicated group of people are working to conserve and restore prairies like Nine-Mile Prairie. This video was produced by Ethan Freese of Platte Basin Timelapse […]
Posted on May 20, 2021
Grasslands once spanned across Nebraska in waves, from the tallgrass prairies in the east to the shortgrass prairie in the west and all the mixed-grass prairies in between. The history of Nebraska’s grasslands are deeply intertwined with the history of its people. Indigenous peoples across the Great Plains possess diverse and intimate knowledge about the […]
Posted on January 11, 2019
On the night of September 1, 2018, I was in downtown Lincoln, enthusiastically waiting to watch the first Cornhusker football game of the Scott Frost era. Right around kickoff, a large thunderstorm moved into Lincoln and lingered. After a nearly three hour delay, the game was canceled, a first since 1943. The rain continued for […]
Posted on May 8, 2018
I first became interested in photography during my senior year of high school. For as long as I can remember I’ve been interested in the outdoors, and photography seemed like the perfect outlet to express that interest to others. My parents gifted me a point-and-shoot camera as a Christmas present, and I had slowly […]
Posted on October 19, 2017
In June, a small team of PBT interns set out for the highest point in the Platte Basin watershed. We had big intentions of catching 5-star media to fill in cracks for the Grays Peak scene in the upcoming PBT documentary featuring Mike and Pete’s 55-day, 1,300-mile journey across the watershed. Grays Peak is the highest point in the Platte Basin […]
Posted on April 6, 2017
For thousands of years sandhill cranes have flocked to the Platte River Valley to replenish their energy reserves before they head north to their breeding grounds in the Arctic. The last two years I have been fortunate enough to regularly observe and photograph these prehistoric birds during their time in Nebraska. However photographing cranes comes […]
Posted on May 18, 2016
Photography has been a hobby of mine for several years. During that time, some of my favorite subjects to photograph have been wildlife. When I first started photographing wildlife, I would often go out to prairies and wetlands and hope that I would stumble across something interesting to photograph. I have learned that this is […]
Posted on November 6, 2015
During the long weekend of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s fall break, I decided to take a short trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. The park and the surrounding areas have always had a soft spot in my heart. I’ve spent countless days during my summer vacations exploring the alpine tundra and meadows of the park, […]