This conversation with Jason Stemple — professional fishing and outdoor photographer, former Colorado fly fishing guide, and the guy who shoots for Saltwater Experience, Into the Blue, and Sweetwater — is the full story of how he went from sleeping in a tent in a ski town to becoming one of the best working photographers in the outdoor industry. I sat down with Jason in Blue Ridge, Georgia to talk about the path that got him here.
Press play in the YouTube player at the top of this page, or scroll back up to watch. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and iHeartRadio.
Jason Stemple is a professional outdoor and fishing photographer based in Charleston, South Carolina. He shoots for Saltwater Experience, Into the Blue, and Sweetwater, and his work appears across the outdoor industry at events like iCast and throughout social media. He grew up in a small farming town in Massachusetts, moved to Colorado for college and skiing, became a fly fishing guide on the Gunnison River, and eventually transitioned into full-time photography after relocating to Charleston.
Jason learned to fly fish from an eccentric Vietnam veteran sheetrocker who was helping him finish his house near Crested Butte, Colorado. The sheetrocker had built homemade Styrofoam boats he called "pookie boats" and took Jason out on the Gunnison River during a snowy May window before spring runoff. They caught eighteen- to twenty-inch rainbows all day, and Jason never picked up a spinning rod again. The full story of that day is in the episode.
After moving to Charleston, Jason took a photography job at Kiawah Island resort shooting real estate, golf courses, and wildlife. While out in the marsh shooting nature photography, he started photographing tailing redfish the same way he would photograph birds — as wildlife. That approach became his entry point into the fishing photography world. He eventually got published in magazines and built a website that led to his connection with Tom Rowland and the shows he shoots for today.
Yes. At around age 24, Jason bought a lot in Crested Butte South for $35,000 with help from his parents and hired a semi-contractor to teach him how to build. He served as the laborer on his own house, pouring concrete in November Colorado weather and building straight through one of the biggest snow years Crested Butte had ever seen. He moved in on plywood floors before the house was finished. The details of how that house got built — and what it led to — are worth hearing in his own words.
Jason emphasizes learning the basics, then getting thrown into real-world jobs where you have to figure things out or lose the paycheck. He credits much of his Photoshop skill to seminars and online classes he took after school, since digital editing did not exist when he was in college. He also talks about getting in over his head on jobs as one of the best teachers. His specific advice is in the episode.
Jason is one of my closest friends in this business. He is our photographer on Saltwater Experience, Into the Blue, and Sweetwater. He is my roommate on most of our shoots. I have seen thousands of his images, and when I look at his photography I think — that is exactly what I had pictured in my mind of what actually happened that day. I have always thought he was one of the best photographers working in the outdoor space, and I wanted to sit down and hear the full story of how he got here.
The other reason I wanted this conversation is that Jason and I have told each other a lot of stories over the years sharing hotel rooms and long days on the water. I actually got a couple of stories out of him in this interview that I had never heard before, even after all that time together. Press play in the YouTube player at the top of this page to hear the whole thing.
Jason grew up in a farming town of 3,000 people in Massachusetts. His parents told him to get out and see the world. He measured the distance between colleges he could get into and ski resorts with steep terrain, and that formula landed him in Gunnison, Colorado — thirty minutes from Crested Butte. What happened between arriving there with nobody and ending up sleeping in a tent with his dog between ski seasons is a story I had never heard him tell start to finish. Listen to that section.
Jason's solution to being homeless in an expensive resort town was not to leave. It was to build a house. He bought a lot for $35,000 and hired a guy who was sort of a contractor and sort of not. They poured concrete in November under plastic and kerosene heaters. I have my own version of this story — a lot I should have bought, a house I should have bought — and the contrast between what Jason did and what I did not do is a conversation I keep coming back to. Worth hearing in his own words.
A Vietnam veteran sheetrocker, homemade Styrofoam horseshoe boats, kick fins, waders, and a snowy May day on the Gunnison River. That is the combination that turned Jason into a fly fisherman. The description of what a pookie boat actually is — and how dangerously ridiculous the whole setup sounds — is one of those moments I cannot do justice to in text. Watch that part of the conversation in the YouTube player at the top of this page.
Jason learned photography on black and white film with a Pentax K1000. He developed color film in a closet with no running water at a rafting concession, racing to get contact sheets ready before the afternoon trip launched. I asked him whether the artistry of the darkroom is gone now. His answer surprised me, and it connects directly to how he thinks about Photoshop and why he spends sixty percent of his working day there. The full explanation is in the episode.
Jason moved to Charleston thinking he would become a saltwater fly fishing guide. He had never been skunked in five years of guiding in Colorado. The saltwater humbled him fast. The pivot from guiding to photography happened through a resort job, a canoe in the marsh, and tailing redfish he started shooting like wildlife. How that led to a phone call from me is a story that involves his wife, a marketing boss, and Instagram — which Jason wanted nothing to do with. Listen for what he said Instagram was when I first told him to get on it.
Jason Stemple is my friend and my roommate on the road. He goes to sleep while I am still awake, and I go to sleep while he is still editing in Photoshop. That is the kind of relationship you build doing this work together for years. I have always respected the way he got here — no shortcuts, no straight line, just a guy who kept solving the next problem in front of him.
The article gives you the arc. Jason gives you the stories — the pookie boats, the darkroom closet, the tent with the dog, the moment the saltwater broke him down and he had to rethink the whole plan. None of that translates to text the way it does in conversation.
Press play in the YouTube player at the top of this page, or scroll back up to watch. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and iHeartRadio.
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Jason Stemple is a professional outdoor and fishing photographer based in Charleston, South Carolina. He grew up in Massachusetts, earned an associate's degree in graphic design and photography, then moved to Colorado where he skied 120 days a year, built his own house near Crested Butte, and guided fly fishing trips on the Gunnison River for five years. After relocating to Charleston, he worked as a photographer at Kiawah Island resort before transitioning to full-time fishing and outdoor photography. He currently shoots for Saltwater Experience, Into the Blue, and Sweetwater.
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