Photography

When Jason was growing up, someone in his family seemed to always have a camera around during family events. His great Aunt has worked in the camera department for a well known camera store for many years, and always had a camera ready to shoot pictures of the family.

As an adult, his interest in photography was like many others, simple shots of family members or pictures of the locations he and his wife hiked to. In early 2001 he came upon high resolution digital panoramas and mosaics displayed on the Internet. The technique of blending images to form one, while not a new idea, intrigued him and provided a simple means to extend the resolution and width of images taken by his small 2MP point and shoot digital camera. Simply put, a means to get wide pictures of the places he'd been to.

After having some early success in creating panoramas, and with a sabbatical on the horizon, Jason purchased his first full featured digital camera, giving him the ability to control every aspect of the exposure. Hundreds of hours of reading and experimenting with literally thousands of pictures in the few short months before his sabbatical, Jason felt he was ready to take on a bigger adventure and challenge.

Travel

Jason's employer and work assignments offered him many opportunities to travel. While in college, he was content to stay within the United States and had no real burning desire to visit other countries. That changed after 1999-2000 when Jason took business trips to Denmark, England, France, Ireland and Israel. It was then that the travel bug hit him, and hasn't let up since. Since those trips, he's been to Israel again, Malaysia, Japan and India, with potentially more opportunities in the future. One thing he's learned on those trips is the great opportunities to see and experience the cultures of the world. So when his sabbatical in 2001 came up, naturally he and his wife decided to go one place that had interested them for a long time, New Zealand.

Backpacking

As a kid, Jason enjoyed getting outdoors and throughout college he and his wife would find a common interest in hiking. One thing they both always wanted to do was to go backpacking, but as poor college students, the investment in gear was too much. However in 2001, with the sabbatical planning in the works, Jason and his wife decided to do what they always wanted, go backpacking for the first time in New Zealand. After investing in the backpacking gear and new camera, Jason had little clue to the impact of what this trip to New Zealand would have on his life moving forward.

Backpacking through parts of New Zealand was a life changing experience. The sense of excitement and wonder brought about by back country, away from the lights and sounds of the cities is undescribable. Loading a 40-50 pound pack on ones back, packed with only the stuff you really need to survive, tramping miles per day creates a great sense of self accomplishment and understanding. Combining backpacking with his newly found interest in photography, Jason had found two things that gave him inspiration to seek out new places and locations to hike and photograph.

Landscape and Travel Photography

It was during that trip to New Zealand that Jason experienced one of those so called "life changing" events. The pure beauty and ruggedness of the country beckoned to be captured. Jason had then discovered a new passion in his life: Landscape and Travel Photography. Thus it's become Jason's passion to try to photograph his adventures and share his experiences, mostly through photographs, with his viewers. Since he's entirely self taught, it's been sometimes difficult to achieve that goal, but the sense of challenge only encourages him further.

This website is the result of Jason's own work to create a site that allows him to share those images and experiences. The title "Walkabout Galleries" was chosen as it represents the context and nature of how these photos were taken. The term "Walkabout" is defined as a walking trip, or in the Australian version, "A temporary return to traditional Aboriginal life, taken especially between periods of work or residence in white society and usually involving a period of travel through the bush." (source: Dictionary.com). Nearly all of Jason's photos were taken when travelling through the areas he's visited on foot. He may get to each location through other means, but exploring by foot, taking in sites, sounds and smells of the location is what draws him in. The backpacking trips are the pinnacle of those experiences, and really epitomize the Australian definition of the term.

Viewing the images and the prints

To enjoy the photographs located on this site, view them at their "full" size instead of the thumbnails. Each image has or will have a comment or story to go along with it explaining the motivations or events that inspired the image. However, to really fully realize the the beauty of these images, one must see the actual prints.

Jason currently prints all of his images himself, paying attention to each and every detail of the print and matting process. No image leaves his office unless he is 100% satisified with the print. Customers that see the prints will be pleased with the quality and attention to detail our products represent. Collectors will realize the quality of the materials used in our products and the value of their purchase.

So take your time to review the photos, and if you see something you like, be assured that the print will look only much better than what you'll see on your display.

We hope you enjoy this site and return often to see the photos and purchase prints from our future trips.

Thank you once again, and enjoy!