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Category: Blog
Greg Molyneux’s latest photographs and words presented in reverse chronological order.
On Peonies
On Peonies — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/800 Abundant spring rain paired with seasonably cool conditions gave us things to gripe about and a quality spring bloom. I’ve been slacking with posting them, but I have made some photographs as the flowers about my yard come and go.
As far as favorites go, peonies are up there. Probably top five. Their pink blossom is about as ephemeral as they come; felling themselves by any combination of weight, weather, or a Planck length of time. Nevertheless it’s a stunner. Much like its partner in pink, the cherry blossom, its blooming met with such anticipation of its coming, yet throttled back by the anxiety of its going. A mental push pull with good lessons to unpack for sure.
As for the goods: I present you with a 100mm macro photograph of a fresh opened pink peony blossom. Enjoy.
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Make It Home
Make It Home — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/80 Seldom seen stirrings have set about my abode. Flowers are blooming amidst a rejuvenated yard; and indoors, far strangers things are afoot. An inspired streak of home making has left behind a proper office. No more work from home days set upon a wooden kitchen chair, flanked by hoarded boxes and a litter box. No more.
Now I’ve a proper space, replete with curated wall art, solid lighting, a growing brood of house plants, a proper office chair, and a rug that really ties the room together. Driving it all is the record player and fretless bass sentries to the sonic element. This minor bit of self care transformed the entire vibe of the house. From worst to first it is now the best room in the house.
And this relates to this neglect web site how? I’m not at all sure, but I can say it has my creative urge shifting out of groggy, why the hell did you wake me up? To rested and ready to go. It is with this preface that I noted my best clematis bloom in a decade so I set about making some macros.
Fast forward to file transfer and scanning through my frames I landed on this, the last shot. And for the first time in years lost to clear memory I made a photograph that hit that heart swelling of unlocked inspiritation and pride. A chasing the unicorn type feeling my friends and I quip as the ‘h chord’. The resonant buzz of flow in pure spirit.
Wherever this goes I am happy to be here. I missed this place. Cheers to the weekend.
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Best Photographs of 2023
When the Night is Over — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures When the Night is Over | Captured: March 23, 2023 | Location: Cedar Run Dock Road, Cedar Run, New Jersey
A Look Back — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 800 | EXP 1/100 A Look Back | Captured: May 18, 2023 | Location: Ocean Acres, Stafford, New Jersey
Fish On — 35mm | f/5.6 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/15 sec Fish On | Captured: November 12, 2023 | Location: Ship Bottom, New Jersey
Retrospective
Hi, Biscus
Hi, Biscus — 100mm | ISO 100 | f/3.5 | EXP 1/200 It is 31 December and I am out of days. It looks like this will be the last backlog photograph I get to post in 2023. So let’s roll back to 5 September and my backyard hibiscus. Not a ton of floral macro work this year, so it feels good to close out the year with this low key, cross process shot.
2024 is mere hours away. Let’s get after it. Be excellent to each other.
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Time Marches On
Time Marches On — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/4 sec 2024 coming in hot! At this point years flip about as fast as single pages on a tear away calendar. It’s a gift to grow old. An opportunity to experience the relativity of time mounting years speed ever swifter.
Continuing my quest to rip through my 2023 backlog. I made this photograph at Dock Road on 30 November 2023. Happy to have another motion blur shot. I’m developing quite a gallery in this style, and it is a trend I will continue.
How are we feeling heading into 2024, friends?
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Path of Gold
Path of Gold — 35mm | f/1.8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/80 All my years making photographs in southern Ocean County, and I never before tread at Cloverdale Farm County Park. All this time a wonderful bit of landscape has sat in wooded hiding mere miles from my home. I had no idea. The park itself is an old cranberry bog, and it features wooded trails, duck blinds, and numerous shallow pools full of bramble and sedge. I wish I had this in my spot rotation years ago.
Here we have another blurry pan shot photograph. Only this time the camera motion is top to bottom vertical, instead of left to right horizontal. While we have an out of focus image, we know where we are, what we are doing; walking along a golden sun lit wooded trail at golden hour.
We are but a few days away from 2024 and I still I try to work through my 2023 photography backlog. With luck I will get a few more pictures posted before year end. Right in time for the best of 2023 year in photos retrospective. For reference, I made this shot on 2 December 2023.
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The Morning Look
The Morning Look — 35mm | f/5.6 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/30 In my last post I talked fishing. Fishing and photos. Here I offer another sunrise photograph made on 12 November 2023. A simple left to right pan shot to pull the colors across the frame. And what wonderful dawn colors were pulled that day.
For a few years now I have been near all in on panning my landscape frames. And if anything, its personal appeal only grows with time. I often think of ways to articulate my fondness but stumble with awkward, poorly expressed thoughts. An art critic I am not. That said, I’ll stick to basics.
First is color. By moving the camera during shutter depress lines blur, details merge, and color is most of what remains. It breaks down form into little more than moving color. And this color shines best at sunrise and sunset.
Second is movement. The blurred streaks come from panning the camera left to right, level to the horizon. Motion blur. Simple as that. Through this technique the movement of your hand during the exposure works as the hand of the painter brushed upon their oils. Moving the eye, moving the heart.
Third is line work. Sharp line work. At first blush this statement may read contradictory and absurd, but hear me out. By keeping a level camera plane throughout your pan, flat horizons become a razor’s edge. Sharp and defined. This grounds the viewer, placing visual queues of where and how to look. Amid the blur and soft focus it reveals the scene, which brings me to. . .
Abstraction. Fourth is abstraction. Through color, movement, and sharp line work our blurry puzzle is near completion. Even though the often crucial presence of sharpness and detail is missing, the photographer yet conveys the scene with a full, albeit distilled effect. You know this photograph, despite its blur and motion, you know this a beach glowing in the splendor of dawn.
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Fish On
Fish On — 35mm | f/5.6 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/15 sec The mid-Atlantic fall run has brought big smiles and tight lines to striped bass enthusiasts up and down the New Jersey coast. Whether by boat or by surf, the 2023 fall bite has been certifiable. So far this season I have made it out thrice—once by boat, and twice by Ship Bottom surf. Naturally I have zero fish to show for it. My cousin, however, photographed here, had himself a banner day by center console. Too bad I was not there with my camera.
One thing we did catch, however, cold hands aside, was a fantastic 12 November sunrise. During a brief pause in pre-dawn plugging I made this exposure with my 35mm. Given the excitement of fishing, a fiery sunrise, and frozen fingers, I missed precise execution on this frame. Given the sluggish shutter speed the focus is softer than I planned. The good news is that I rather enjoy the effect it’s laid over the final image. It lends a painter’s touch and the 1/15 second exposure gives the foreground sea wash a sense of motion, grounding the sense of place. This is fall run surf fishing at its finest. If only there was fish on.
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