RUSHFORD, Minn. — As humble followers of Jesus Christ, Roger and Sue Ekern graciously agreed to share their faith devotion in a photograph.

The photo, a recreation of

Minnesota’s state photograph “Grace,”

has circled through Southeast Minnesota on Facebook and nestled into the Ekerns’ daughter’s cafe in Peterson, Minnesota.

The timeless original photo shows peddler Charles Wilden bowing his head to pray at a table with a book, bread and glass of water beside him. Years after the photo became recognizable, bookstore owner Jack Garren captured the thankful heart of his grandmother in “Gratitude,” seemingly facing the opposite end of the table as Wilden.

The meaning captured within the photos drew Rochester photographer Erin Young to place the photo in modern times. She came face-to-face with her idea when the Ekerns stopped by their granddaughter’s senior portrait session. As Eric Enstrom remarked of the peddler’s “kind face” in his 1918 photograph, Young said the faith of the Ekerns impressed her.

“They emulate such a good Christian life. They are big on helping others, going to church. They’re deep into their faith,” Young said, describing the Ekerns, who are from her hometown of Rushford, Minnesota. “It kind of was a perfect match because so many people admire them in their church.”

The modern photo shows them dressed in their favorite flannels as they pause to pray, or say grace. The elements of a small meal between them, the two converse with God. Young also created a set of photos with the couple praying together and by themselves to model both the “Grace” and “Gratitude” photos.

Young said her family joins in the tradition of prayer before dinner and bedtime. They hope “to teach our (two) kids to be grateful and gracious.”

“I think it’s just a matter of being thankful for everything God has given us, no matter how rich or how poor we are,” Young said. “Every day I’m like it could be worse and I thank God for everything that we have and just continue to pray for others that need more.”

While glancing up at a large print of her own Grace and Gratitude photo, Young noted the two Bibles set on either side of the farm table, and the bread, apples, grapes, flowers and cup of coffee. She described the items as “simple things that are just really good so it still shows that we’re grateful for everything we have.” Adding items like a cell phone or newspaper just didn’t fit the long-held depiction of prayer.

“The original picture was taken in 1918, so we’re 100 years past so I was like, ‘We have to show our modern life.’ And I just kept thinking about it, I’m like it’s going to look silly with a cell phone,” Young said. “I just couldn’t picture what it was going to be and I finally was like I don’t need anything else. If you are still a follower of Jesus and a Christian, nothing has really changed in these hundred some years.”

Young admired the original “Grace” photograph in her great-grandmother’s home, adding the photo to her own dining room. While the Enstrom website says the photo was

popular from the start in Bovey, Minnesota,

where it was taken, the mass production by the Augsburg Publishing House in Minneapolis transformed it into the “dining room” photo.

From family portraits to landscape photos, Enstrom shared his love of photography with his daughter, Rhoda Nyberg, who added oil paints to the “Grace” photo before the start of color photography, her daughter Kris Mayerle shared with KARE 11 in 2012. It was the oil-painted photo that became the state photograph in 2002.

Garren was inspired by “Grace” to create the complementary “Gratitude” in the 1960s using his grandmother, Myrtle Copple, as the model. Families, churches and restaurants quickly added “Gratitude” alongside “Grace.”

Today, Young’s recreated photo set is making its way into homes in the Rushford area.

“It’s not even that it was a replica of the picture, it was more like it fits (the Ekerns) so well that if they had never seen the Minnesota state photo they would still love this because it’s just who they are,” Young said. “It’s crazy because I didn’t think people would be interested in having (the photos), but they have really good friends that are like, ‘Oh, I would love a picture of them in my home.’”

In Young’s studio, Erin Young Portrait Design, just up the hill from their house, a photo of her grandpa on his farm and a canine with a service medal lay on the kitchen counter.

“For me at this time in my career, creating images is not just a simple click of the camera,” Young said. “I want to create meaningful images that are heirloom images.”

She also meets with clients outside the studio at their favorite spots to create “something that’s very sentimental for them.” Like walking her grandpa’s acreage as he looked over the fields he once farmed, and capturing his grin. It’s about “(telling) a story of who their personality is,” Young said.

In her 23 years of photography, Young said, “I’m really trying to create art.” Each photo shares a moment in time, whether a newborn baby, Santa Claus experience or people praying before a meal.

“All of this has sparked me to creating a story for some of these people,” Young said. “They’ve lived their whole lives in a certain career or following Jesus, and it’s cool to create an image of who that person is.”