Ekkens began his 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, Ekkens has published in magazines and brochures, on albums and book covers, and at local exhibits. With the advent of high-definition, single lens reflex (SLR) digital photography, and computer programs, Ekkens takes his photos into another realm of visual experience. Originator of “parsal” photography, in which a single photo is parsed into multiple elements of that picture, individually framed, and displayed as a larger image of itself, he has created a new way to experience photography. 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.