myXJ.net Archive

In case you haven't noticed, I haven't posted to this blog in almost three years now. It's essentially closed. I will be keeping this old site up since there is a lot of good information in it, but I will no longer be adding anything new here. All of my

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/rlngstrt/8364589633/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8081/8364589633_a87fe157c8_z.jpg[/img][/url] I recently got my hands on a copy of the latest Colorado Life Magazine. I've been looking forward to reading this issue since it features one of my images taken last February at the Colorado National Monument when fog filled the canyons after a light snow. I really think

I received my copy of the March issue of Backpacker Magazine in the mail today and wanted to share this short section about about my first backpacking trip from last year. As you may recall, I decided to [url=https://adventr.co/2012/04/backpacking-big-dominguez-canyon/]try my hand at backpacking for the very first time[/url] last year

It's that time of the year again. I've had an amazing year as far as my adventures and photography go, so it's time to look back and select my ten favorite photos. As usual, it was very difficult for me to choose just ten, but I did manage to narrow

I went on quite a few awesome adventures this year, and have posted many trip reports and photos from them over on [url=https://adventr.co]ADVENTR.CO[/url]. It was difficult to choose just ten, but these are my favorite ten trip reports from the last year. You might notice a common theme among some

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/rlngstrt/8041606604/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8449/8041606604_9ee42c5748_z.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/rlngstrt/8041606604/]Fresh Snow[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/rlngstrt/]IntrepidXJ[/url], on Flickr

The 2013 City of Grand Junction calendar has been out for a little while now, so I thought I'd make a quick post to show off my photos that were chosen. Each year the City of Grand Junction creates a calendar that they send out to everyone in the city.

Since I'm pretty sure my camping season is over for this year, I thought it would be fun to share photos of some of my campsites. I ended up camping 41 nights this year which is well over a month spent sleeping out in the backcountry. I'm looking forward to

Concurrent by Randy Langstraat Reflected light, lines and sandstone; some of my favorite subjects to photograph. When I first arrived at this interesting alcove on Saturday the reflected light was spectacular. I searched for a nice composition until I found this one, but as soon as I did the sun

Second Wave Storm by Randy Langstraat A snowstorm in the distance over the Second Wave formation in Coyote Buttes North. Just a little preview of my weekend down on the Paria Plateau.

[i]Warm evening light bathes the unique formation known as 'The Swirl' at The White Pocket on the Paria Plateau.[/i] A La Mode by Randy Langstraat

Over the past few years I'd been using a Manfrotto ballhead and carbon fiber tripod combination that had really begun to frustrate me in the field. Earlier this year I decided to invest in a new tripod and ballhead that would hopefully work much better for me, without the frustration.

Chaos and a little order among a grove of aspen trees on the Grand Mesa in Colorado this fall season. Chaos by Randy Langstraat

I headed up on top of the Grand Mesa this evening to catch some of the fall colors. I was hoping to photograph the sunset from this location, but as you can see from the photo above, there wasn't much of a view this evening. The very to of the

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/rlngstrt/7926185160/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8177/7926185160_7a61636c6e_z.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/rlngstrt/7926185160/]Getting Out[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/rlngstrt/]IntrepidXJ[/url], on Flickr The continuation of the previous post... The only plant big enough to winch to nearby happened to be behind the Jeep, but I had no other options, so I tried it. I was really worried that since the tree was right next to

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/rlngstrt/7926044186/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8320/7926044186_c5f0e19f33_z.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/rlngstrt/7926044186/]Quicksand![/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/rlngstrt/]IntrepidXJ[/url], on Flickr This was the first time I've ever been stuck in quicksand. To be honest, I didn't give quicksand the proper respect it deserves before since I've always been able to just drive right through it. I've now learned my lesson and will be a

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/rlngstrt/7868286422/][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7127/7868286422_1feba58027_z.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/rlngstrt/7868286422/]Colorado River Under the Stars[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/rlngstrt/]IntrepidXJ[/url], on Flickr Here's a photo from my campsite last night along the Colorado River in Ruby Canyon. The full trip report will hopefully be done in a few days.

A beautiful sunrise over Clear Lake in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/rlngstrt/7799059514/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8448/7799059514_12d4e9d0b9_z.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/rlngstrt/7799059514/]Clear Lake[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/rlngstrt/]IntrepidXJ[/url], on Flickr

I was up early again yesterday morning to catch another sunrise from Marlboro Point.

This image from the Great Sand Dunes National Park is a few years old, but my post-processing skills have come a long way since the first time I processed this one...

I took this photo yesterday evening of Rim Rock Drive in the Colorado National Monument curving up a switchback. This image really has it all! Besides the nice curve in the road as it exits a tunnel, there is nice warm light on the tops of the cliffs and some

I just loved the light on Mount Baldy yesterday evening as we camped up on the Paradise Divide.

A rainbow hangs over the Grand Valley close to sunset while the Grand Mesa is lit up nicely in the distance.

Late yesterday evening I hiked out to Juniata Reservoir near the base of the Grand Mesa to photograph the sunset. I was hoping for some nice reflections off of the water, but the wind was blowing just enough to prevent that from happening. The clouds in the sky, on the

Here's another photo I took yesterday evening at the Colorado National Monument before the sunset light show started.

I went up to the Colorado National Monument this evening to try and capture the sunset as the monsoonal storms were breaking up. This is what I saw...

As I was hiking back from Bullion King Lake in Porphyry Basin on Saturday, I was treated to this view of a rainbow in front of Red Mountain #3.

Amanda and I headed up into the San Juan Mountains yesterday to try and photograph some wildflowers. They have appeared a few weeks earlier this year because of the dismal snowpack and dry spring. There was no shortage of precipitation yesterday, which is good. Here's a photo I took along

I've visited the Yankee Girl Mine many times in the past, yet I've never really taken a good photo of it. On Saturday evening Amanda and I decided to head over that direction to try and finally take a good photo. Because of the wildfire near Mancos there was a

I just picked up my copies of the 2013 Colorado National Monument Calendar this evening. One of my photos from this past winter was selected to be used for the month of January. So if you find yourself at the Monument or one of the local shops selling the calendar,

I wish I was hiking back to the Solstice Snake again this year, but unfortunately I just couldn't make it out there this year. Since I can't be there, here's a photo from last year's solstice.

Amanda and I spent the last weekend camping in Gray Copper Gulch, which reminded me of my visit there in 2009. I decided to go back and reprocess a few of those older photos including this one. This was one of my favorite photos from that day and I was

Just a little teaser from our camping trip to the San Juan Mountains this weekend. It was a nice relaxing weekend, so stay tuned for the trip report in the future.

This is a photo I took a few years back that I decided to reprocess recently. I never really liked the colors of this photo but I did like the light, so I decided to convert it to black and white and I really like it much better now. It's

Earlier this year I licensed a few of my photos to be used in this TV show. I finally got word that it will be airing this Sunday (June 17) on H2 (History 2) at 10:00pm ET. It looks like it will be on here in Grand Junction at 8pm

Here's three quick photos of the Transit of Venus from today...didn't have much time to process them, so I might revisit them when I have a chance (especially the sunset one). If I do, I'll post the new photos up here on the blog again. There was a lot of

Here's a photo I took on Saturday that I really like. It's a reflection of Sheep Mountain in Lizard Lake over by Marble, Colorado in the Elk Mountains.

Three stages of the Partial Eclipse of the Strawberry Moon early this morning. Click on the image for a larger view over at Flickr.

Here's a photo I took at North Coyote Buttes on Saturday in Sand Cove. I sure wish there had been some clouds in the sky, but I guess there's always next time! The white stripes in the sandstone were very prominent here.

Shiprock, New Mexico May 20, 2012 After spending Saturday exploring North Coyote Buttes and then Sunday morning with a short hike to Buckskin Gulch from Wire Pass we drove over to Shiprock in New Mexico so that we could watch and photograph the Annular Solar Eclipse. It was an amazing