Interview: Jim Eckstrand
March 30th, 2007 by Menachem Wecker
According to his site, Jim Ekstrand’s photography “is dedicated to capturing landscape and nature images that reveal the glories of God’s creation.” Eckstrand began his career as a landscape and nature photographer, but switched to the more lucrative fields of technology and marketing.
“However, Jim never lost his passion for landscape and nature photography, and during the past year, he’s decided to re-dedicate himself to landscape photography. He’s done this in part because he’s seen a need in the Christian art market for high quality fine art photographic prints celebrating God’s creation.” Here is what Eckstrand had to say in an exclusive interview with Iconia.
MW: I see on your site that people can add a Bible verse to your works. Do you create works that are compatible with any biblical verse? If so, how does that impact your photography?
JE: I leave it up to the viewer to decide if a particular work is compatible with a specific Bible verse. I do find that as my work matures I am very conscious of visual metaphors that we find in nature that frequently connect directly with a specific Bible verse. The Bible is full of these etaphors: rocks speak of salvation and sanctuary, pathways speak of guidance, water speaks of life, and so on. I find that viewers frequently have the same response to a scene that I did, but I also let them have their own response.
Many people visiting my Web site already have a favorite Bible verse in mind, so their quest for a photo starts with a Bible verse. In much the same way, I find my photography being impacted. I now set out on photo shoots with a specific Bible verse (or verses) in mind and try to capture something in nature that reminds me of that verse.
MW: When you create work with “an inspirational Christian theme,” do you view your art as religious? As about religion? Both? If so, does the religion come from the viewer who chooses to include it, or is that something that you as a photographer infuse within the work?
JE: I actually don’t see myself as creating the work. I am merely a recorder of God’s creation. In other words, it is God who is the creator of the image, not me. I am not deliberately attempting to infuse religion into my work, but I do hope that the work inspires a spiritual response or at least a moment of thoughtfulness in the viewer.
MW: Do you create any figurative work? Does any of your work have religious content to it?
JE: It depends on your definition of figurative work. I believe there are visual metaphors in nature that remind us of different aspects of God. So, from the perspective that some of my work captures those metaphors, it is figurative. If your definition of figurative work is a visual metaphor that I would create by altering an image, then my work is not figurative. Again, I don’t really see myself as creating the work. My role as the photographer is to record a moment and a place in God’s creation.
I don’t consider my work to have religious content in it. It may evoke a
spiritual response in a viewer, but I’m not attempting to deliberately place any religious content in it.
MW: I’m very intrigued by your quote “Some moments in nature can be so inspiring, so breathtaking, that one has no choice but to be still and consider God.” Can you elaborate upon that?
JE: Nature has many spectacular moments - it can be a beam of light, a clearing cloud, a raging storm, a ripple on the water, a peaceful sunset - it can be anything that makes us stop and consider the beauty and majesty of creation.
I think in these moments, many people feel an instinctive spiritual response. Some people suppress that response, but for many people it leaves them feeling inspired. I believe that these moments can also challenge us to consider some important questions. Did all this [nature] occur by chance? Are the order, unity and beauty we see in nature just the random result of natural selection and evolution? Or, is there an unimaginably powerful God who designed and created all of this?
The goal of my work is not to answer all of those questions. It’s merely to inspire a spiritual response. For those who are seeking answers, I believe those answers can be found in the Bible. While God certainly does reveal aspects of himself to us through his creation, it is the Bible that ultimately provides the answers.
MW: Is there a religious component to your push for environmental
consciousness?
JE: There is a religious component to my push for environmental consciousness.
God enjoins us to be good stewards of his creation. There are a lot of things that we’re doing to the environment that are irresponsible and I think it’s important that we come to grips with that. There has been undue politicization of environmental issues. Extreme viewpoints on both sides of the debate have clouded the situation. I’m hoping there can be a positive, constructive dialog on the issues, and I hope that my work can help foster that in some small way. Development and resource usage are inevitable so we can’t stop it completely, but let’s be responsible stewards of the land.
MW: Do you see a tradition for this sort of religious landscape art (Inness perhaps)? What new perspective, if any, do you think you bring to your work?
JE: As an artist, I have always appreciated the art that came out of the Hudson River School landscape art movement, which I believe was an influence to Inness. Many of the artists that were members of this movement believed, as I do, that God manifests aspects of himself to us through nature. So, I do believe there is a tradition of landscape art that attempts to capture this.
However, some of these artists, such as Inness, went much further than I would go. They attempted to infuse deep spiritual meaning into every conceivable observation of nature. God does use his creation to make us take notice of him, but we should go to the Bible for ultimate meaning.
MW: Do you as an artist envision particular biblical verses that you’d attach to your photographs? Are there verses in your mind that wouldn’t make sensewith certain photos?
JE: Yes, I do generally envision a specific Bible verse I would attach to a photograph. However, I think that both creation and the Bible are so full of meaning that the viewer may have a different response than I do. So, what I feel about a specific verse or photo isn’t really valid. It’s about what type of response it evokes in the individual viewer. This is why I let the viewer attach any verse to any photo. In the future I may indicate on my Web site which verse I was considering when I made certain photos, but the viewer will always have the option to attach their own verse.