Greg Molyneux Photography

Category: Blog

Greg Molyneux’s latest photographs and words presented in reverse chronological order.

Scent to Delight
Scent to Delight — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/2500
As if summoned by the light of spring and carried upon the wind there came a smell so sweet. A crown of purple sat atop lilac bushes standing straight and proud about the marches of my backyard. A royal guard if there ever was one. Fresh as new life full of possibility and untainted by avarice and poor choice. A smell so sweet garbed in purple so pure on a bud so fleeting. It will only be a few short days that my yard will border in such well dressed, sweet smelling attendants. Oh most welcome of guests, it is my hope you do enjoy your stay.
But enough with the flowery language let’s get real. To start I am shocked that on this my 351 post to this website this marks the first lilac photograph. The first?! Suffice to say I would have lost this bet. Yet as I pored over empty archives reality set in. Better late than never, I guess. There are reasons. First, this is the best lilac bloom my yard has seen in years. Predating the January 2014 launch of this blog at least. Second, despite being one of my favorite flowers—both in look and smell—I find them a tough study. As a collective the buds grow to large size, while the flowers themselves remain quite small. This dichotomy has left me with many a mediocre photograph.
Yesterday busted the slump. Decent afternoon light was spilling in from the southwest as the lilacs neared peak bloom. I first made a picture with my iPhone. And how about portrait mode, huh? Silky smooth background fade for the win. Phones today, they make some pretty great photographs, you guys. With the cell shot as inspiration I went inside, strapped the 35mm on the rig, and set aperture wide open for some real deal bokeh action. This brings us here—my first shot of spring 2017. More to come.
To all my allergy suffers: I apologize on behalf of my friends.
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April 21, 2017
East Watch by the Sea
East Watch by the Sea — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
The Saturday night burn was long and sweet. Like a lasting goodbye to the one we hold most dear. Sunset came, it saw, it conquered. Anxiety fell still to a palette so bright and unmoving it was as though the hands of time ceased to be. Seconds turned to minutes. The minutes, hours. And the hours into untold epochs circling the wheel of time only to flow back on itself. As if under a spell I floated from one patch of sand to the next. Bounding from spot to spot under an endless curtain of rainbow color. So bright was the evening air, as if by some device pinkish hues worked to seep upward from the ground as a warm bog might do when met with a cold morning. When time startled back to work the world fell slow toward a purple hush.
For millennia at least three has been an auspicious number, and so it stands with a triumvirate symmetry that I walk away with no less than three photographs from my Saturday evening jaunt in Surf City. With the first and second already published, it is here I give you the third and perhaps final moment from an evening that will long rest in memory. As I was first learning my craft I was so consumed with photographing the scene that the moment itself was often lost on me. It was an honest greed that consumed me. A singular desire for one great shot, and often little else. Now with more seasoning to my tenure I am back to take on the moment as a means to its own end. The photographs cast as a supporting role to bolster the memory of the mind.
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April 11, 2017
Fortify
Fortify — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
I’m always quick to notice the berm every time I hit the beach. After the sound of the ocean it’s immediately the next thing that calls my attention. It’d be easy to chalk this up to proximity. The berm is the first thing you walk through, but I suspect there’s more to it than that. It’s the form of the mound, the pattern of the sand and grasses, bound together through works of sand fence. Once a bit of time and weather has done its work it lends a hallmark look to Mid-Atlantic beaches. Unencumbered by boardwalk, this adds to the natural feel of Long Beach Island. One of many reasons I am overfond with my geographic neighbor, the slender barrier island to the east.
Built up over the past decade, LBI dunes have gone under a bit of a transformation. Large swaths of berm have gone from modest bumps to a deep running wavelength; added height and depth have fortified the island’s defenses and appeal. Perhaps it’s infringed on a favored view, but I for one find the look far more appealing. A firm separation between innumerable residences spanning the shore and the natural beach. In some sections the dunes shoulder up high enough to block out any semblance of settlement. Beyond the aesthetic this lends a tangible benefit: Protection from the next big surge.
As for this photograph, Saturday night on the beaches of Surf City was something special. This marks the second of three photographs I plan to publish from the session. If you haven’t already check out the first offering. While not made last night this shot reminds me of a bayside photograph I made in Holgate back in 2015. Both the colors and the balance of the composition have a strong likeness.
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April 10, 2017
It Starts My Mind Flowing
It Starts My Mind Flowing — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/25
The day broke clear. Northwest winds funneling crisp air across the coastal plain. One last battle in the fight between winter and spring. Unseen as it was. Sleeping late as usual the day made off with a quick start. Catch up after a long night redeeming Hyrule. I bounded about from laundry to bill pay, then started out to break my fast. Pinched between a Yankee game and a scheduled jog the clock ticking.
After a modest meal I folded some laundry and made for the park. Headphones in, feet moving in time. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot, left foot. Paced to the audible sounds of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. As Black Riders closed in on Weathertop I could feel the pain of Middle-Earth circling. With a slip of the ring and the pierce of a dagger, Angmar draws first blood. An already long journey has somehow only begun.
Chapter ends and my run is over. Breathless from worry yet rejuvenated in my own realm I took note of cirrus wisps dancing above. Shy and coy upon a blue stage. With a strange speed they moved, and I stood for a moment upon a crest to look again. And again. A cloud dance, I thought. How quaint. Yet it was here I knew sunset would prove worthy this night. For the fiery eye in the land where shadows lie may never rest nor ever die.
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April 9, 2017
Daily Distraction
Daily Distraction — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
Since Friday, March 3, I have spent far too much time playing in digital worlds. In a long awaited departure from the real world The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has consumed me. Total entrenchment. I even bring real world proclivities to Hyrule. Whiling away the hours making landscape photographs during Hyrule’s luxurious sunsets. Dutifully documenting every being (friend or foe), item, weapon, and morsel of food. Even in make believe I am still meant to make photos. It’s almost as if Kyoto made the Sheikah Slate camera app for me alone.
It’d be wrong to call myself a gamer, but video games have been a part of my life since the 80s. As something of a Nintendo fanboy I’ve stayed close to my beloved Zelda, Mario, and Metroid franchises. Relishing in each installment. Jonesing in anticipation for each release. I’ve played some great games of the years, but few have grabbed me like this. And none this strong in over a decade. It’s something to find yourself at 34 head over heels in good old fashion escapism.
I put down the controller this weekend to do some actual adulting. Things like filing taxes, visiting a bierhalle, partaking of brunch, and watching the Yankees. It was a strange, albeit welcome change of pace. I even closed out the weekend visiting the old Dock Road stomping grounds. I made this photo at an oxbow section, a replicate of a shot I made last June. As for tonight? Well after a spot of dinner I’ll be dashing back to Hyrule for more photographs and conquest—there be Rito to find. May we meet upon the mountain, and may we dance upon the shore.
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April 3, 2017
Clear View
Clear View — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/10
Life comes in moments. The best are calm, soft, unpredictable moments. Moments where past and future fall quiet before the present. Moments of awareness proving what the relaxed mind can be. A mind free of worry and regret. Free of what was and what may still come.
Such a moment hit me looking out over Barnegat Bay last week. On the boards I stood transfixed by a sublime gradient of light passing on from sunset to dusk. Its tempo put to time by subtle undulating movement upon an otherwise still sheen of water. Daylight’s last burn playing soft tricks upon its surface. An elemental merger of fire and water.
At one with the moment I stood synchronous with slow, steady breathing. In perfect time with a relaxed heart. A moment where time fell still and the world stopped turning. Sans camera I stood. Breathing. Watching. Observing. The moment and I, together as one.
Back to the real world I looked back toward my trunk and thought, I better make a picture.
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March 29, 2017
From Stone to Sand
From Stone to Sand — 14mm | f/2.8 | ISO 400 | EXP 1/60
The wheel of time pays little mind to the trappings of ephemeral life. Its burden is the long game. Tireless at work upon the great mill of the universe grinding all back to the stardust from whence we came. The wheel’s is a blind justice—never to grant favor, never put off its task—the laws of physics its only master. As the arrow of time points forward the blossom of our creation journeys back to dust, and onward the mill turns. On and on; working, grinding, rounding. Bringing wear to young life as it works stone to pebble to sand to dust. A spinning wheel of entropy eroding us back to our most basic of constituent parts. This is the game to which we have been cast. Forever turning. Forever worked upon at the cosmic millstone until we are cast back together shone in new light.
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March 26, 2017
Archive Oversight
Archive Oversight — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
Join me if you will as we travel back through our internet time machine to revisit January 20, 2014. A rather cold day if I recall. Tonight I broke off from my normal photo workflow to take a stab at reprocessing an old shot from the early days of this website. It’s something I’ve never done before—up until now I have not looked back when it comes to my photography. And while I clearly remember my enthusiasm about this Dock Road photo back in the day, it has become clear to me over time that my processing game has improved. Eager to tone down the bombastic HDR I had thought I’d go ahead and apply my current techniques to make a better, more realistic image. Instead I found something even better.
Somehow I found this photo, which not only is stronger compositionally than its counterpart, it also has better colors igniting the sky. I mean just look at those purples. Before I even went about reprocessing the photo I went through all my online archives to see if I had posted this shot. I assumed it had to be online someplace. I even had this marked with five stars in Lightroom, something I rarely do. Yet everywhere I looked this shot didn’t show up. Inexplicably I missed it. Now, I had originally processed this photo using my old bad habits and that was sitting in Lightroom. Reborn I ran it through my current workflow to render this new found firestorm. What a pleasant find.
There are a few lessons to unpack here: 1) With enough practice you’re going to improve over time making it worth revisiting some old favorites you’ve already made; and 2) Sometimes, when we’re caught up in the moment of going through a day’s photographs we may overlook something. Don’t be afraid to retread and old crossing to see what treasures may be hiding in plain sight. One thing’s for sure, this has me wondering what other photographs I’ve “missed” over the years? Worthwhile shots left to sit around collecting digital dust bunnies in my Lightroom catalog. Of course sifting through tens of thousands of photographs isn’t exactly an afternoon’s work.
Something I am now chewing on is whether to revisit some old shots occasionally on this website. Perhaps start up a redux series? It wouldn’t be too often, but there are some images I’d like to take another crack at. Not to mention it can show how my work has evolved over the years. Besides, in looking through old folders I may uncover a few more gems that never saw the light of day.
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March 14, 2017
Turn Around
Turn Around — 35mm | f/5.6 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/160
Brittle fingers frozen from too much time holding a metal camera body in stiff winter winds did their worst to keep me from making this final photograph during the snow squalls last Friday. Two fistfuls of immovable digits was begging me to quit, but after making this shot I turned around toward the east only to spy a bank of pastel cumulus squall clouds and I knew my day wasn’t done—even if my hands were. With movement that would have made a rusted Tin Man seem spry I opened my trunk and painstakingly swapped my 14mm lens with my 35mm. For a moment I was worried I’d drop my equipment on account of lack of feeling. Carefully I made due.
It was only when I got into position to make my frame that I took note of the full moon rising over sunset clouds. Bonus, I thought. Chilled to the bone, I made two final shots. Oh, perhaps of some interest to my cold hand complaints: it turns out I was in position of gloves the whole time. Another thing, this is another check in the box of pros when it comes to using a tripod for landscape photography; less time holding the camera.
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March 13, 2017