Escape to the Cape - 6 guys, one chick, 290 miles in 36 hours

A friend of Sue and I, Jeff Morris, was telling us last year how he was going to put together a team of people to run and bike from Mahwah, NJ to Cape Cod, MA. The reason was simple, to raise money to help in finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease. When we heard this we both said SIGN US UP!!! Both Sue and I live for stuff like this and what better reason then to do it for than for a great cause. As the time drew close to our departure date the talk became reality and then on midnight Thursday, August 20, we all assembled at Jeff’s house for our departure. 6 crazy guys, one little blonde with a ponytail, a 25 foot RV and enough water, Gatorade and nutrition supplements to open up a store took off with Rich Gandon from the Ramapo Times filming us. We broke the trip down into a total of 5 legs, three 10 mile running legs and 2 bike legs one a 20 miler and the other a 10 miler. When it was all said and done everyone covered close to 70 miles each total in distance.

We had 5 people running and biking, Jeff Morris, Dan Meyer, Glenn Haber, Susan Levy and myself. Our support crew was Don Morris, “the Silver Fox”, and Andrew Yorke who both drove, helped with navigation and moral support. Everyone came from different fitness backgrounds, but the goal was always the same: “get to the finish as a team. Dan started us off at a blistering pace in the total darkness wearing a headlamp, a reflective vest and some running clothes. Not much protection against all the wildlife we were thinking about on our way through Harriman and Bear Mountain. Jeff was the second man out in the relay and he had to conquer the hills, again, in darkness. The only thing you could se when you shined the headlamp into the woods were the eyes of the unseen animals looking back at you. Glenn was out next, again, running at such a pace we were ahead of our schedule from these first legs. My leg was 4^th and I got to run out of the darkness and into the sunrise. Sue had the early morning run with all the rush hour commuters. We rotated in that order through Friday and into Saturday as we approached our goal.

What I found amazing was how everyone was able to recover so quickly and was able to get into their next leg with less than a couple hours sleep, muscle cramping, soreness and what we hoped was enough food in our system. We all averaged about 4 hours sleep total for the trip. I’d like to say the human body is amazing but it’s not so much the body as it is the mind. The brain is an incredible tool and is more than 75% of the fight. When the brain says “NO” so does the body and one’s attitude.

At some point every member on the team had to step up to the plate and help another member in one way or another. What I learned from this was that it’s really easy to be inspiring, motivating and happy when everything is going great but a true person’s character comes through when things go south and emotions start to come through. I was amazed how everybody put the team first and didn’t let any of that negative stuff set in and take over. I think Don may have gotten the least the sleep of everyone but always made sure the RV was ready for whichever athlete needed it. Andrew took “support crew” to a whole new level as he rode two 20 miles legs of the journey. One with Sue to make sure she was ok in traffic and the other 20 mile leg with me at 4am in the morning. Dan ran to a point of dedication that is inspiring. This guy has some speed and I don’t think he ever slowed down. Glenn, on only his 3^rd bike ride of the season, rode like a seasoned pro, undeterred by flat tires, darkness and exhaustion. Jeff, well, I have no words for a guy who organized all of this, had encouragement for everyone all along the way and then busted out a half marathon to make up for a detour.

I’ve always knew this, but this trip confirmed for me that Sue is not only my wife but also my best friend. She stood by me the whole trip, gave me the Susan Levy smile when I needed it and even helped me at the end with the last running leg. I rode her bike leg because I didn’t want her out on the road at 4am riding all alone. 5 hours later Sue and I had the last 10 mile leg to run. I got out there with her and did the first 4 1/2 miles with her and then started to feel lightheaded and dizzy. I jumped back into the RV to get more water and food in my system while Sue stayed out there and just tore up the last 6 miles up hill to the finish line where we all jumped out and did the last 1/2 with her to be greeted by everyone’s family screaming and cheering us on at the end.

In closing I’d like to thank everyone who I spent this journey with. Next to the NY Marathon and my Black Belt test this was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. I couldn’t have done it without the support of everyone involved. All that positive energy that was created by all of us made me realize that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!!!

Here are a couple of links, the first is a video taken by Rich Gandon from the Ramapo times at our departure and the second is a write up and interview with Jeff Morris from the Herald Chronicle newspaper from ape Cod.

The Ramapo Times

Newspaper Interview

Alto Music Airmont, New York

Went back to Alto Music to shoot some other locations in their new store that weren't done when I was there last time. I remember going to the old location as a kid to but new guitar strings. The new location is bigger, better and state of the art with an awesome staff. I'm also going to be shooting their first event at the new location in September, Gibson Day. Gonna be fun, live music, great food and some of the best guitars around to checkout and play.

Malandra's Martial Arts Center Hiking Trip

This past Saturday we took a group of 7 adults and 10 children hiking up to Pine Meadow Lake in Harriman State Park in New York. The beautiful weather hanging with great people and exercise in the great outdoors made for an AWESOME day. Man, I love my job :)

Escape to the Cape Fundraiser

Sue and I are taking part in to help raise money for the Alzheimer's Foundation. We will be part of a 5 person team running and biking our way over 290 miles from NJ to Cape Cod in 40 hours. Each team member will run 3, 10 miles legs and a 30 mile bike to the finish. We have a fundraising page set up and a Facebook page where we will be putting up status updates, photos and GPS maps while we're on the journey. See the links below. Please join our FB page to help in supporting us. You can also make a donation by clicking the link below.

Mike & Sue's Escape to the Cape Fundraiser Page

Escape to the Cape Facebook Fan Page

Flowers and the Buddha in the Garden

On a hot, steamy but beautiful day I made my way up to Ringwood State Park in New Jersey in search of some beauty. I think I found some :)

Peter Shields Inn in Cape May, NJ

Friends of Sue and I just took over the Peter Shields Inn in Cape May, NJ. It's charming B&B right on the ocean with great food and a relaxing atmosphere. Here are the some of the photos I shot of the Inn and one of the local farms for there upcoming PR campaign.

New Logo & Website Design

Haven't written a blog in sometime due to being busy with other projects, but mainly out of pure laziness. Writing doesn't really come easy for me and for some reason in my head I make writing a simple blog seem like I’m trying to write a book so therefore I just keep putting it off. Well anyway, with the New Year I’m determined to keep up with this and write on at least one topic a month. Ok enough of that. One of the things I’ve been working on is updating and revamping my website. I wanted to give my site more of an "organic" feel with a new logo that would better represent my work and image. I also wanted to improve upon the gallery section as well at the shopping cart option for purchases. Even though this project is still a work in progress I have pretty much got the new layout down with what I think is a pretty cool logo and a much larger selection of photos to scroll through in the galleries section. Even if someone isn't looking to purchase a print, a set of folded cards or the digital rights to a photograph I would still like to keep people coming back to my site when they are looking to clear their heads by viewing some of the natural world around them. Check out the site let me know what you think! Until next month stay warm and remember, Spring is just around the corner!

www.michaelmalandra.com

Natures Palette

I didn’t get out this fall as much as I wanted to but, it’s not over yet! With all the rain we had this summer nature is really putting on a show with all the bright vibrant colors that are around us. I was able to get up to Harriman State Park in NY a handful of times so far and found myself engulfed in so much color I thought I was walking on a painter’s palette. When I get out in nature to shoot I’m lucky enough to be able to see things the way it will look through my camera lens. People say to me all the time “what beautiful pictures you take” and my reply is “thank you and I wish I could say I created them but all I did was capture what was in front of me”. The older I get the more amazed and mesmerized I become of the natural world around us and less mesmerized I become of all the materialism our society has created. I can truly say that when I’m out hiking, kayaking or shooting that I’m in a mindset that I could never feel when in an urban landscape. The photos in this blog post were shot this fall in the New York area. I hope viewing them stirs up your adventurous side and pulls you out into the wild for a hike with the family and friends. You’ll be surprised how taking some time away from our fast paced world will clear your head, help you to think more clearly and live a healthier lifestyle.

On another note I have some cool stuff going on right now. First off Jason Melendez, an instructor at Malandra’s Martial Arts Center, and I took group of 26 people including 16 children hiking last month and let me tell you, the kids are counting down the days until our next hike in November. We heard so many comments from the children stating they never realized how cool it is in the wilderness exploring, finding new places and viewing wildlife. The group photo in this blog was taken by Susan Magnano from Magnanimous Pictures. I hope to run hiking/photography workshops for children in the spring to show tomorrow’s generation that they too can capture the beautiful photos that I do.

Well, I’ve be talking about it for a while and it’s going to happen next month. I’m finally going to have my Elements of Nature gallery set up at the martial arts school. I'm looking at Thanksgiving weekend for a gallery opening with live music, food and beverages. I'll have 20 prints hanging in sizes from 18 x 24 to 20 x 30 inches and close to 100 prints that will be matted in print bins in sizes ranging from 5 x 7 to 11 x 18 inches. I will feature a variety of work, not only from this area but also the Southwest, Hawaii, St. John, California and Florida. As soon as I finish the details and confirm everything I’ll be posting a blog and sending out invites to everyone on my e mail list. If you’re not on my list and would like more information please shoot me an e mail at michaelmalandra@yahoo.com with your address and I’ll get you on the list. Till next time, I leave you with this quote by the world famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright : ‘Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you’.

The Summers End

The summer of 2009 brought the Northeast some wet and sometimes dreary weather. While the weather may have damped our summer plans it is going to bring us brilliant falls foliage colors. I plan on taking advantage of some trips into New York State and capture all the beauty as it unfolds.

Blackbelt Jason Melendez, photographer Susan Magnano and I will be taking students from Malandra’s Martial Arts Center for a hiking trip to Pine Meadow Lake in Harriman State Park. I am using this opportunity to reintroduce the young students to the beauty of nature as a break from their high tech lives or their rigid pre-organized activity schedule. As a forty-something year old I see parents carting their children from field to field or lesson to lesson. This lifestyle is stressful to parents and children. I want to offer children an opportunity to do and see something different and give the family dinner table a new conversation.

I hope that such an adventure will turn into a monthly which could expand into Landscape Photography workshops for children and parents. Call me old school, but I would like to inspire and see parents and children taking overnight camping trips to the various picturesque locations the tri-state area has to offer.

Understand that not everyone can take advantage of camping trips I will bring snapshots of our trips to you. My new gallery will located at Malandra’s Martial Arts Center in local Suffern, New York during the holiday season. I will add to the experience with an evening of live music and refreshments so be sure to check back for details. I leave you with photos from summer 2009 from Harriman State Park and the Catskills. I hope you enjoy the photos and they inspire you, as they have me, to get out there, hike and see the amazing Fall foliage which promises to be amazing this year!

Sam's Point Preserve - Ice Cave Mountain

On Friday I decided that on Saturday I should head up to Sam's Point Preserve which is the Ice Cave mountain area in Cragsmoor, NY. My goal was more toward hiking then a photography trip but, I could NEVER leave my camera home. Heading out around 9am the morning was already hot and humid. After grabbing coffee and some food I reached the Nature Conservatory around 10:15am paid for my parking permit and headed straight for the Ice Caves. WOW!!! Walking down the trail I could feel the cold air coming out of the many huge crevasses I passed. The Ice Caves are located in the heart of the northern Shawangunk Mountains just south of Minnewaska State Park. I finally reached the main opening to the cave and entered through an opening into a dark and cold environment that felt like something out of a JRR Tolkien book. Looking down at the cave floor about 30 feet below me I could see ice and snow still sitting on the stone floor. Once I made my way out I decided to hike over to Verkeerderkill Falls, a journey which took me across a ridge top of pine barrens through streams and blueberry bushes. This piece of wilderness is home to nearly 40 rare plant and animal species and represents one of the highest priorities for conservation in the Northeastern United States. The Falls were spectacular to say the least. Relaxing up there I ate lunch, hung my feet in the cool water for some needed relief from the heat and shot some photos. Due to the time of day the photography wasn't great but I was able to capture the essence of my trip. The whole trip weighed in at about 10 miles and not only gave me the workout I was looking for but some amazing views and a feeling of calmness that's has been so hard to find back home in our over achieving society. With all the hiking I do I still am amazed at all the new places I am still able to find that exist almost in my back yard. Finishing this blog I leave you with this. Children learn about the rain forests, animal life, plant life, ocean life, marine life and its importance to our planet and our existence. The question is in today’s world how many children are really getting out there to experience what they're being taught in the confines of the classroom and man-made zoos and gardens? How many children are taught that there's "natural" nature that exists an arms length from their back yard? This hands on education to our children is what's going to keep these precious places alive! Hope you enjoy the photos. Till next time, get out and experience nature for yourself - you won't be disappointed.

St. John Journey

After taking a plane to St Thomas a taxi ride through some of the smallest one way streets on the island and then a ferry to St John we finally arrived at our destination. We picked up our jeep rental in the town of Cruz Bay and headed over to our tree house at Maho Bay where we would be spending the first 3 nights of our trip. Arriving at the Eco Lodge we realized that the heat and humidly was overtaking us and Sue was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. I swear they thought she was an Italian pastry from Arthur Avenue in the Bronx!! We checked in to what would be a very interesting 3 day stay. Our tent in the trees had electricity but no fan. With no breeze and 100 percent humidly the first night was a challenge. With the heat getting the best of us we decided to head back into town and grabbed a drink at our favorite ocean side bar on the island, the Beach Bar, and then some dinner. The next day felt even hotter and with a thick haze in the air that was a result of Africa’s weather pattern. We decided to bag hiking and hit the beaches for some snorkeling. It wasn’t until we reached the Coral Bay the following week that we hiked. Oh, and we did search out a local store to buy a floor fan which made our tree house a little more than tolerable at night. To improve the accommodations we also made sure we had plenty of beer from a local island brewery. Even with the heat, humidly and Sahara dust from Africa being in St. John is total paradise. The island has some of the most amazing beaches in the world, great local people that are by far some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met in America who take pride in their island. If you didn’t know, more than 3/4 of the island is a National Park with some amazing hiking trails. The three times Sue and I have been there we have hiked to some of the most secluded and pristine beaches that most people who visit the island don’t even realize exist. Most of our time on the Maho Bay side of the island was spent in the water snorkeling because of the heat and haze. It wasn’t until we arrived in Coral Bay 3 days later that the heat started to break a little and the haze was clearing up. The place we stayed at in Coral bay was called Concordia Estates, which is also an Eco Resort. Our eco tent cabin was built into the side of the mountain and was purely powered on solar energy! Our view from our porch and bedroom was of Ram’s Head which is a part of the island that over looks St. Croix more than 40 miles away and can be seen on a clear day. Being on this side of the island is much more laid back and life is taken at a much slower pace than the Cruz Bay side, if you can believe that. With the weather breaking a little we decided to do a hike out to Ram’s Head, check out some of the beaches and do some photography along the way. On our way we crossed a beach called Salt Pond Bay where a sail boat had been docked for 2 days. Being able to see the boat from our tent we were wondering “who are those people”? When we arrived to Salt Pond we met the couple who owned the boat. They docked there the night before took their dinghy from their sailboat to shore and hiked Ram’s Head for the day and snorkeled the bay. With no real plan they were sailing around St. John stopping where their adventurous souls would take them. By far my favorite beach on the island which happens to be on the way to Ram’s Head, called Blue Cobblestone Beach. The beach is made up of, what else but blue cobblestones and chunks of white coral. The contrast between the stones, white coral, teal green water and blue sky is so amazing that it almost puts me at a loss for words. The next day before sunrise Sue and I hiked out to Nanny Point which is off to the left of Ram’s Head and Drunk Bay to do some photography. This part of the island has some of the roughest sea due to the sea cliffs and rugged terrain. Walking on to this beach instantly reminded me of the movie the Planet of the Apes. It felt like we were on another planet or on earth thousands of years ago! The rock outcroppings and jagged cliff formations left me speechless. As I hiked around the beach taking photos and trying to set up the next “ultimate shot” I found myself climbing higher and higher into the massive rock formation that made the ocean so rough in this place. I started to climb through this vertical seam between two towering rock walls that took me through the center and out the other side to a view of the ocean that photographs or words could never explain. Sitting just outside of this crevasse, staring at the waves hitting the rocky terrain below made me feel as if I had reached the end of the world and it put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.

St. John is by far one of my favorite places in the Caribbean because of its little quaint towns, great people and untouched natural landscape that will stay like that forever due to its National Park status. One of our favorite things to do when we go away is to talk to the locals and people who relocate. We found so many people who were our age that had come to this little island, loved it so much that they never left or came back to work there and live the true meaning of paradise. They may never become millionaires but that have something that is far more important, and that something is called quality of life and a dream that is coming true for them. All the photos in this blog were shot on this trip. I’m hoping to have a good amount of stuff ready for purchase in my new gallery in Suffern this coming Fall along with stuff from my journey out West that will take place next month. I now find myself on a plane flying back to New Jersey on a flight that has been delayed more than 2 hours due to rain back in the New Jersey area. Rain in NJ this summer? Really? You’re kidding me right?

If you would like to see more photos I shot from this trip goto my facebook page by clicking here. Got photos then to the St. John gallery.

A wet spring but a good one for photography

So far for photography this spring has treated me pretty good. Yes the endless rainy days are testing my mental state but I'm thinking I'll be ok. At least this is what I tell myself everyday. Anyway I'm pretty happy with a lot of the stuff I was able to shoot so far this year. I'm getting some nice stuff that will make it into my gallery this summer as well as my next big show in the fall. Some cool stuff I have coming up is the trip to St. John Island in the Caribbean that Sue and I have planned for next week. We have rented at tree tent for the week at Maho Bay Eco Campground. I can't wait to sleep in the trees and listen to the ocean that will be less than 100 feet from our dwelling that we will call home for the week. I hope to post a couple of blogs as well as some of the daily photos I'll shoot while away. The other journey I have planned for the summer is my photography trip out to the Southwest in August. I've already booked my 3 night stay at the North Rim campground at the Grand Canyon. As this trip comes together I'll be posting all of the details as well as daily blogs and photos from each place I visit. Until my next blog post from St. John I hope everyone has a great weekend! The photos in this blog are some of the stuff I've shot so far this spring. I hope you enjoy the photographs. Please note, anyone looking to order prints from my website please be patient as I work out the final details on setting up my new online gallery. Once again thank you everyone for your continued support and belief in my work.