Jason's Photo Collections

Please note that as of mid October only the Downtown Fort Smith collection has images in it. The others await my having time to do some more scanning, and alot of photo cropping, adjusting, etc. And if anyone knows how to eliminate the annoying "Netscape-gap" above where the image of the sky doesn't end flush with the client-rectangle of the browser window, please let me know. (Ways other than switching to MSIE or doing it as a background....)

Hint: Click the images below to see more!

My hometown has (had) some interesting turn-of-the-century brick buildings along main street. Some of these were destroyed by a tornado this spring. I've just developed a pre-tornado roll of film with some shots of the downtown area.

(Click me!)

Last fall I drove though the southwest to California. As countless other people before me, I was deeply impressed by the stark contrasts of the desert. The astoundingly beautiful yet bleak landscape exudes both timelessness and fragility an an unprecedented way. I'll assemble a few of my pictures from this trip (such as this shot of "Cliff Palace" at Mesa Verde) for your viewing pleasure.

Iona is a tiny (~1 sq.mile) island off the isle of Mull in western Scotland. Iona has been a religious hermitage for several thousand years and is of amazing significance for both Christian and Pagan history in Scotland and Northern England. I was there two years ago, and I've finally gotten around to scanning some of the photos. Especially interesting are the Celtic influences on early Christian art and architecture on the island. The pictured fragment is from one of the many large stone crosses that the early Celtic-Christians erected there roughly a thousand years ago.

Serpentine grassland is an unusual ecosystem found in parts of the bay area. In these places, soils composed of serpentine rock particles support the growth of only a few species of grass and other plants (for some reason, pH, perhaps). I've become fascinated with this greenish rock and the plants and animals which have adapted to live in its presence. Eventually I'll have photos and documentation about this unique habitat. (On a whim 2 weeks ago I decided to decorate one of my two bathrooms in serpentine grassland colors and photos eventually you'll see that here too.)