PHOTOGRAPHY    I began my photography at age 10 with a birthday gift of a Brownie box camera. Everything became a subject of focus—flowers, bugs, birds, rocks, unusual shapes, natural and manmade patterns, people (particularly candid shots), and landscapes. Whatever a box camera could do became the challenge.

Since those early days, I have published in magazines and brochures and on album covers, and exhibit regularly at local and regional venues. With the advent of high-definition, single lens reflex (SLR) digital photography, and computer programs, I have taken my photos into another realm of visual experience, culminating in the parsal photography series. This format divides (or "parses") the photo into multiple elements of that picture, which are individually framed and displayed as a larger image of itself. This new parsal photo takes on an abstract quality that was not apparent in the original image. Detail normally overlooked now becomes obvious and interesting.

Throughout 2001 and 2002, I enrolled at the Seattle Filmworks Photography School to reinforce my intuitive skills. This included instruction in film-based photography, which I had been doing for many years. With the popularity of 35mm digital, at high resolutions, I changed from film to digital in 2003. Previously, I used a number of filters for film camera lenses to achieve a variety of artistic photo renderings. Now, with the advent of computer digital processing programs, I use filters in a completely new way.

ARTWORK    As an artist, I work in watercolor, acrylic, pen & ink, color pencil, pastel, and combinations of each. As a calligrapher, I am able to use these materials to help illustrate the words on a page. As a photographer, I am compelled by the artistic images that enter the lens and then play out on the computer. I feel that my photographs are now on a par with other fine art techniques.

My work displayed on the TAE GALLERY e-walls spans a lifetime of artistic pursuit. I, like all artists, need to express ideas in visual ways using multiple tools. Enjoy the visit.

POETRY    I have been writing poetry throughout my life. I had poems read to me as a child and I loved the rhyme, the imagery. I grew up in a musical family, where singing was natural and fun. I began writing poems and songs early on, eventually earning a Billboard award for a special song, Bubblegum Bees, written for my niece.

My first book, Collected Poetry of Thomas A. Ekkens—Early Works, was published in 1986 by BACKSPACE INK, and has been followed by numerous poetry chapbooks.

I authored a new poetry form, Ekkensian verse (coined by Pacifica Poet Laureate Rod Clark), and am proud to share these poems as well as those written by other poets.