The desert & some amazing athletes

I had the opportunity this month to head out to Nevada & Arizona to photo document 12, 4 person teams navigating, trekking, kayaking, mountain biking and climbing 300 miles through the desert.  When the word athlete is spoken it's this kind of person that fits the bill.  Every team member had all the ingredients that make up a true champion, perseverance, attitude, mental strength, physical strength and a caring and passionate attitude towards their teammates.  Take this kind of person out of the Adventure Race and put them in any other facet of life and they will succeed beyond all  expectations.

A big thank you to Robert Finlay for giving me this opportunity and exposing me to such an awesome group of amazing people.

 

  

In to the unknown - Desert Wind Adventure Race

Tomorrow I set out on a 5 day journey doing something that 3 years ago I would of found every reason why I logically shouldn't be doing this. Today I can find many reasons why I should be doing this. I'll be flying to Las Vegas, renting a car and driving to Arizona to meet my friend and world class adventure racer Robert Finlay to photograph his upcoming 300 mile Desert Wind Adventure Race through some of the most remote parts of the Mohave Desert in Arizona and around Lake Mead as well as near the Grand Canyon. Although I'm prepared; I have clothing packed for all kinds of weather, sleeping bag, laptop and of course all my camera equipment, I still am feeling that nervous feeling knowing I'm stepping into the unknown. I'll be photographing some of the best adventure racers in the country through some of the most amazing landscape in the southwest.  I have total confidence in my skills as a photographer and an outdoors person being able to deal with the many different kinds of elements but there's always the "what if" in the back of the head.  This is where I'll have to go with the mind set of "luck is when preparation meets opportunity". I'm prepared and the opportunity is in front of me, therefore I'll be very lucky this coming week.

Not sure what kind of cell reception I'll be getting but I'll try to post facebook status updates as well as some photos along the way.  When I get home I'll be writing a trip report with many photographs documenting the weeks adventure.  Stay tuned for updates. 

We are all born with the tools. Some use the tools while others complain that their tools don't work.

I'm reading the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho right now and am realizing that most of society is in such a hurry or always wanting to be in control that if someone randomly waved a lottery ticket in their face they would probably push the hand out of their way saying "get that out of my way I have to be somewhere!!!". Most never see the lottery ticket or their dream being presented to them because they're either too closed minded or are truly afraid of achieving what they set out to do. With the achievement of the dream comes a life change and the thought of "now what?" or "what will others think?" Most don't want to reach their dream, so instead they defeat themselves and use outside elements as the excuse of failure. I can say with confidence that I used to be one of those people, but, had my eyes opened a couple of years ago and will never defeat myself, therefore, no one or anything else can defeat me. 

Life is what one makes of it. There's NEVER anyone or anything holding a person back other than their own demons. Wake up everyday and face that fear, know it's there and that it will try to consume your every breathing moment but overcome it and use it to push forward toward the goal.  Once one opens up and can look past that fear they will see that the opportunities are endless. All you have to do is go along for the ride.  We are all born with the tools. Some use the tools while others complain that their tools don't work. Who do you want to be?

True happiness doesn't come from financial gain or materialistic status it comes from knowing that a person is not in fear of conquering their internal demon and can now be at peace with whatever choices they make.  When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.

Old School Hippies & Drums

Every Sunday from 4 to 6pm in the center of the town Woodstock, NY people of all ages and backgrounds come out of the woodwork to gather in what's called a Community Drum Circle. Resident's, Hippies and tourist's all get together and just start banging away with all kinds of rhythmic sounds lead by a couple of experienced drummers. The sound is amazing and the way people can come together with little or no talent to do this and make it work is just beautiful. Music is what makes the world go round and motivate the soul if one can just relax and let it take over you'll find out it can be very healing.

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!