Hello everyone!
Besides being a photographer, one of my other hobbies is FPV (Drone) Racing. I am a staff member to a MultiGP chapter called "The Other Guys", a tier 1 racing chapter. We hold races every other weekend and have between 30-50 pilots in attendance with every race, making us one of the larges MultiGP chapters in the United States.
Last month, we held an annual "Drones in the Desert" race in Grand Junction. This event is extremely fun, held at a local modelers airfield and we get the chance to hang out and fly with our friends on the Western Slope.
Every time I am out in Grand Junction I camp at least one night at the Colorado National Monument. It sits atop a large mesa with neat rock formations, lots of hiking, climbing and photo opportunities. I arrived around 4 p.m. so that have me a little time for some hiking and picture taking.
I brought two cameras along on this trip, my Pentax 645D and my Fuji X-T1 (for IR photography and race photography).
Here's a few photos I took the first evening.
 Colorado National Monument 2 IR 8-31-18 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 Colorado National Monument IR 8-31-18 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 Colorado National Monument 2 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 Colorado National Monument 3 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 Colorado National Monument IR 2 8-31-18 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
Waking up the next morning, I took a single photo, packed up camp and it was off to the races!
 Morning on the Mesa - Rework by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
Next up, photos from the two day race event.
---------- Post added 10-10-18 at 08:52 AM ----------
Arriving at the airfield, we set up the track, met friends and started practicing. This race was a Regional Qualifier, so the track is an exact track that each region has to fly in order to qualify for regional finals. The top 100 pilots in each region gets to compete in the Regional Final to see who wins a spot at Nationals. Our Regional Final is being held this weekend in Dallas, Texas. I qualified for a place at Finals, but I own my own company, so it's hard to take time off.
 1 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 12 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 19 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 10 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 20 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 11 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 32 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 23 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 3 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 13 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 4 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 35 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 17 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 26 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 18 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
Towards the end of the event a huge Haboob blew in, the dust was extremely thick, covering everyone and everything with a layer of fine silt. It was an epic end to a weekend of racing.
 rob by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
---------- Post added 10-10-18 at 09:20 AM ----------
The next morning I broke camp and decided to take the long way back to Loveland. I wanted to do some more hiking and photography, so I decided to head over to Maroon Bells.
Weather didn't really cooperate, but I got some ok shots anyway. I hiked around 8 miles, took some photos and talked to a lot of people (the area was PACKED, I'll be glad for winter to arrive so the areas I like to hike will be less crowded.
I took a G690BL along with my other cameras for the hike. I have a huge problem with only hiking with a single camera. It seems I always hike with 50 lbs. of camera gear every time I go out.
At the first location, I took a photo with all three cameras. It's interesting to see the different rendering.
First shot is with the G690BL and Portra 160
 Maroon Bells Portra 160 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
Next a shot with the Fuji X-T1 and a 720nm IR Filter
 The Bells IR 1 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
And finally, with the Pentax 645D
 Maroon Bells - Rework by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 Maroon Bells 6 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 Maroon Bells 4 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 Maroon Bells 5 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 The Bells IR 2 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 Maroon Bells 2 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 Maroon Bells 3 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 The Bells IR 3 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
Leaving the Bells, I drove up over Independence Pass. It is a tight, narrow windy road, some places on the western side are single lane with a 1000 foot dropoff. That is fun when there are two vehicles traveling in opposite directions!
A couple of photos at the top of Independence Pass
 Independence Pass 1 by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
 Indepence Pass IR by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
And here is one last photo, looking back towards Twin Lakes while driving down to Buena Vista
 Twin Lakes by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr
Overall it was an extremely fun weekend of racing, hiking, camping and photography. I LOVE Colorado, not just for the scenery, but because in a single day, you can be in the in the desert, High Plains, Canyons and Alpine vistas. It is extremely nice to have a whim on what type of climate you want to be in and head there in just an hour or a few.
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