Welcome to the Rocky Mountain Journal!
My name is Jonathan Ingraham
One day before school started while in the 4th grade at Beacon Country Day School in Greenwood Village in the library, I was rifling through old magazines – the old school version of DOOM scrolling – to read before the bell rang.
I vividly remember picking up a copy of the June 1985 National Geographic Magazine – the one featuring the famous Afghan Girl on the cover.
To this day I still don’t fully understand what drew me to the photo.
Perhaps it was Sharbat Gula’s expression on her face, those piercing green green eyes. Perhaps it was Steve McCurry’s framing of the portrait. Perhaps it was because Gula and I were about the same age, and I was looking for answers about this person on the other side of the world.
But it made we wonder something though. I was living in suburbia Colorado, attending a private school. Was Gula’s story similar to mine? Was she attending private school in Peshawar too?
Whatever the reason was, experiencing that magazine cover, in that moment, I knew I wanted to be when I grew up – a photojournalist.
For the last 15 years, I’ve sought after people’s stories, emotions, thoughts, feelings about their lives, and attempted to create an image of their story through my writing and photography.
After dabbling in what felt like too many beats over the last six years, I found wanting to tell Coloradans stories about their environment, their climate, their outdoor recreation, their science was what I needed to do.
For those simple reasons, Rocky Mountain Journal was born.
Rocky Mountain Journal is going to be a news site focusing on Colorado.
We are going to tell stories through text, images and videos, and generate interactions and experiences for our readers.
We will find you stories about science, technology, climate, and outdoor recreation, lifestyle and sport.
Enjoy our content and visit often!
Jonathan Ingraham, Founder & Editor, Rocky Mountain Journal