We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ben and Ashlee Jacobi. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ben and Ashlee below.
Alright, Ben and Ashlee thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?
Thank you for having us! That is a good question—one that we often consider and the answer to which evolves. Legacy, to us, means bridging a connection between folks and nature. In modern society, a lot of us feel a disconnect with the natural world, and as a result, we lose a piece of ourselves and our connection with what should be our collective environment. We believe that being good stewards of the land is rooted in the idea that we must be a part of nature to respect it. What we hope to achieve is that we plant a seed in the hearts of others to simply explore and appreciate nature for all that it offers: sustenance, shelter, and every item that we so heavily rely upon to get through our day-to-day lives. Most of all, we want to use our photography to urge others to consider the impact of their actions. Although all of these listed items that are born in nature are helpful, they also aren’t always sustainably harvested or safe to leave in the environment. It is our hope that this appreciation leads to a deeper understanding of resources and encourages conservation-minded behaviors, such as: leaving no trace when being outside, or reducing general consumption of everything from food to electricity to material possessions. But, even if none of that last stuff happens, we want for people to see the beauty of nature for what it is—the solace that it can offer. There has never been a day that we have gone outside and haven’t come back without feeling completely at peace and happy. We want to remind others of the healing powers of the outdoors because of what it has done for us: it renews, recharges, and inspires.
Ben and Ashlee, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Hi there! We’re Ben and Ashlee of Jacobi Creations, LLC! It’s nice to meet you all! We are a husband-and-wife nature photography duo based out of North Texas. Growing up within the city limits, neither of us can say that we experienced much nature at all. It wasn’t until Ben was 15 that he felt a strong urge to explore. Even though he did not have a vehicle at the time and was limited to shooting subjects at the local park, this proved to be a formative time in his life. Ashlee, on the other hand, found nature after a serendipitous nomination landed her in Australia when she was 16 years old. The three weeks spent in Australia was mostly spent in nature in beautiful places like Darwin, Eva Valley, Kakadu National Park, or Fitzroy Island. The lasting impact of nature rested well enough for Ashlee to carry it with her to today. Even though our progression into nature exploration and subsequent nature photography was different, one thing was the same for the two of us: the immeasurable impact that the great outdoors had on our lives. One thing that is also different is our photographic styles; for example, Ben tends to shoot large-scale subjects like dramatic landscapes, violent thunderstorms, and expansive night skies. Whereas Ashlee gravitates toward single subjects such as the little world, wildlife, and scenes of an abstract nature. As fate would have it, the two of us met in 2018 because of our mutual interest in photography and nature. It was not much longer before we began dating, and realizing how special it was to get to appreciate nature together, we were married in 2021. A year into our marriage, we felt like the time had come to merge our photography hobbies into a full-fledged business. Jacobi Creations, LLC, was founded on three pillars: inspiration, education, and conservation. Our business venture is helping to bring nature to many people while also helping to ignite a stronger understanding of the natural world. We do this by offering for sale high-quality artwork to individuals and businesses, by providing photography workshops and education, and by informing people about leave no trace and eco-friendly principles.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect, to us, of being a duo who creates art is seeing people’s eyes light up when they view a piece of our art. There is not a day that goes by that we don’t receive an email or personal message on social media that tells us how our art has impacted someone. We can both agree about how special it is to us when someone feels an emotional reaction to a certain subject or location in one of our photographs and begins to open up about their own experiences. More than that, though, we love to see the connections that people make with the natural world through our photography. It gives us great pride as artists to know that our art can evoke feelings of nostalgia or a deep consideration of getting out and setting off on their own exploration. In keeping with our audience’s connection to our work, we also deeply cherish the connection that we develop with our followers. One of the magical ingredients that keeps us doing what we do is that sharing our work allows us to connect with so many people from so many different backgrounds, many of whom become good friends. It is a privilege to capture nature in a way that makes people feel a connection to, well, nature.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
We would like to point out that the amount of work and effort that go into creating a piece of art is not in vain. Sometimes it takes months of research, planning, and patiently waiting for all the elements to come together. Other times, it can be a spontaneous or unexpected knee-jerk reaction. It takes dedication to be successful. We can drive five hours on backcountry roads pursuing dramatic supercell thunderstorms and only use our cameras for a fraction of that time. We hike hours ahead to arrive in time to capture sunsets over spectacular landscapes. We can sit quietly and watch birds flitter by until they land on that “perfect” perch in good light. We can gaze at the heavens all through the night to document a meteor shower or capture star trails. We get dirty, battered, bruised, fatigued, and uncomfortable sometimes, but the results speak for themselves, and to us, they are totally worth it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jacobi-creations.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/jacobicreations1
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/JacobiCreations
Image Credits
Ben Jacobi Ashlee Madden-Jacobi