Greg Molyneux Photography

Category: Blog

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

  • Let’s Talk About the Weather

    Let’s Talk About the Weather

    Photograph of a double rainbow arching over power lines and Dock Road at sunset
    A Sign of the Times — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 0.8 sec

    I’ve been sitting on these two photos for days; sulking in my own prison, shackled by the nonsense sentencing of my own perfectionist imposition. In some kind of martyred protest for the way events unfolded this past Tuesday, June 23rd. In other words acting like a petulant child.

    I’ll spare the minutia but Tuesday started off all sorts of wrong thanks to an internet connectivity outage that interrupted much of coastal New Jersey for the better part of a day. A nightmare for Facebookers everywhere. This laid waste to my plans and sent me into the office on a day I was prepared to work from home. Just as importantly on a day I was prepared to shoot. Was prepared being the operative words here. You see, the best thunderstorm threat of 2015 thus far was becoming quite likely 24 hours out, and that the weather event would coincide with the golden and twilight hours. All the ingredients, man.

    Connectivity issues be damned I put on my big boy pants, packed my things, and went to work. Accepting fate through self-deprecating laughter it was at this time I struck storm chasing from the day’s to-do’s and instead shifted focus to my deliverables. Yadda, yadda, yadda a day’s work and hit fast forward to leaving the office: the line of storms was about 30 miles to my south and west, moving due east at roughly 45 MPH. Could it be true? A chance for a well-timed rendezvous? Based on RadarScope positioning, I estimated the clock would afford enough time to get to my house to grab my gear. Everything looked great until I hit the light at County Road 539 and NJ-70 (~23minutes from my house); the already impressive line was expanding from the middle out into a bonafide bow segment driving across Salem, Gloucester, Burlington, and into Ocean and Atlantic Counties at an accelerated rate. By the time I made it to NJ-72 and turned eastward, the veil of black dominating my rearview said it all: getting to Dock Road for photos in time for the storm was simply out of the question. At this point it was simply get home, Greg.

    Insert a rain, wind, and light show and you have what was a 15 minute raucous ride out at my house. Immediately afterwards text from friends and look to the west let me in on a little secret: the sun was going to get under these impressive cloud formations and roving lightning strikes just in time for sunset. Everything was in play—lightning, rainbows, a palette of intense color, dogs and cats living together? Without a second thought I loaded the car and made for Dock Road.

    Posted up at my usual spot the scene was something. Storm clouds rolling, strong wind shipping, thunder clapping mere seconds after spokes of lightning splayed across the sky, pouring rain, and one rapidly developing sunset. Car bound thanks to rain and lightning I was missing out. If I could have kept my lenses dry I would have said to hell with the lightning and risked it, but the rain was too strong to get more than one clear shot off at any one time. At this point I was lamenting (re: complaining) to Twitter that I was 5 miles too far to the south. A few minutes into my pity party the rapidly intensifying light at my back (to the west) mixed with falling rain put me on instant rainbow alert. Seconds later there it was: bold and beautiful straddling Dock Road in full double rainbow regalia. Thunder was booming, lightning was cracking, the sun was shining, and this rainbow was saying hey, what’s up armchair photographer man? It was glorious.

    It was then my mind downshifted into the hell with everything mode. I grabbed my tripod and set it up in the middle of a kaleidoscopic Dock Road. I fixed my camera, pressed the shutter, and proceeded to make a huge mistake. After the first shutter press I realized I didn’t have my two second timer enabled—I always use this to prevent any camera shake as the shutter is depressed and the mirror flips. Except this time it screwed me. Royally. I quickly enabled the timer, pressed said shutter, and immediately witnessed one very bad ass lightning strike sprawl throughout the sky, originating from dead smack in the middle of the rainbow. As the two second wait for eternity was up, the lightning was gone and the picture was taken. With nothing but the rainbow you see above. I blew my chance. I made a mistake and it was all www.nooooooooooooooo.com from there. Three and a half years into photography and I fold like a tent in the midst the best lighting/environment/sky conditions I’ve yet to encounter. Maybe next time I won’t choke so hard. Whenever that is.

    Photograph of stunning clouds, pastel skies and a rainbow appear over the marsh at sunset
    Kaleidoscopic — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/30

  • Keep Left

    Vibrant road signs photographed at sunrise
    Keep Left — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/30

    Mid-frenzy and flanked by powerful light during Sunday morning’s sunrise shoot I broke rank, disengaged camera from tripod, and went handheld to make some more spontaneous frames of my immediate surroundings. Rich golden light was pouring in from the northeast, and I wanted more than anything to capture the vibrant strength of the sun’s first light. Stronger than usual, just as I was experiencing it.

    The signs seen here sit right at my go-to Dock Road photo spot. They always draw my attention—especially the quirky homemade TURTLE X-ING sign. It gets serious points for character, and the turtles need our vigilance! Since I’m almost always at the spot for sunset, the change in light source direction illuminated the signs in a way I just don’t get to see on the regular. Enchanted, I kept creeping closer and closer and closer with my wide angle lens—bringing the scene tighter and tight together.

    I’m pleased with this vertical orientation photograph. I’m particularly pleased with the signage pointing off to all the sunrise light drama happening to the northeast (left) side of the photograph.

  • Easy Going

    HDR photograph of pastel sky colors at blue hour overlooking a marsh
    Easy Going — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    This photograph is from this past Saturday night—13 June—and kicked off what turned into a great 24 hours of shooting. A span that even included a sunrise! This photograph is also a reminder that your shooting plans—and, uh, success, failure, etc.—can change on a dime. I was in total laid back cruise mode on Saturday with no plans to shoot whatsoever. The thought never even crossed my mind. For me it’s a none too common experience to forgo even the slightest consideration for shooting in my agenda; it’s just that sometimes in summer, with sunset happening so late, it’s best to just let it go.

    This is all just a long way of saying that with one quick glance out the window revealing a variably cloudy sky full of potential, even the most ardent of planners can yield to spontaneity. One quick dash about the house to gather my things and I was off to Dock Road. I arrived at my usual spot and immediately noted a characteristic unique to this sky. With a well positioned low-level cloud deck about the westward horizon, the light was being direct such that all the coloration happened in the north-northwest direction. To explain this better, I used nearly the same position here—in a photograph taken just after sunset—that I used to photograph a sunrise a mere 9 hours later. Pretty neat.

  • In Morning

    HDR photograph of sunrise over the green marsh of Cedar Run Dock Road.
    In Morning — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    Wake up for sunrise, they said. It’ll be worth it, they said. Who cares if you’re tired? They said. Well score one for the they said internet meme crowd.

    I’ve been on a photo making tear these past 24 hours; racking up just over 300 exposures between my iPhone and DSLR. I’ve been shutter pressing, Instagram square formatting, Snapchat story making, Periscope broadcasting content creating machine—a legend in my own mind—or something like that.

    Mother Nature brought the goods—a unique northwest facing blue hour last night that I’ll be sure to post in all the usual places over the next few days, as well as some sights from the Seaside Heights boardwalk; finally ending with the sunrise photograph that you see above, taken just after 5:30 this morning. Summer’s in full swing, New Jersey, and I could not be happier.

    As far as this shot goes, it just so happened that after returning from Seaside and waking in a friend’s basement at 4:30 a.m. that the perfect confluence of timing brought me to Dock Road and to this sunrise. I’m not a morning person. This is well documented. But as I was driving home during the wee hours of the morning—just as first light was marking the sky in an ominous kind of deep purple—I knew the camera work would be worth my time. Besides, I could always nap it out after. And that’s exactly what I did.

    Dock Road was perfect this morning. I spent a good hour roadside taking in the sights, the sounds, and the bugs. But even those blasted no-see-ums couldn’t cramp my style. It was Greg Molyneux’s very own version of Sunrise Earth out there. And while I can’t say when my next sunrise will be, I’m sure glad serendipity worked out in my favor this time around.

    Now if you’ll excuse I’m off to spend the rest of the afternoon at the beach.

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  • See to the real you

    High key black and white macro photograph of a clematis flower
    See to the real you — 100mm | f/2.8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/250

    It wasn’t until showering this morning—OK. OK. This afternoon. So what if I like to sleep a little late?—that I realized I totally forgot about this photo. Taken in my backyard all the way back on May 24th I processed this baby up and apparently moved on to other things. Cripes. Memorial Day parties to host, work to pay the bills and exercise the mind, and naps. But mostly naps.

    So here it is, mid-June and my clematis is finally getting its due. It’s certainly not my typical macro, but every now and then a high key black and white treatment on a flower photograph is just what the doctor ordered. And while this exposure doesn’t reach the heights of I’d love to see you in that dress, it does slot in nicely among my past work.

  • Lift the Veil

    Low key photograph of the Cedar Run Dock Road Octagon House
    Lift the Veil — 100mm | f/2.8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/160

    The Weather Gods hath decide to play a cold grey trick on we the residents of coastal New Jersey. After what was a perfect Memorial Day Weekend, the cold, the grey, and the rains have set in. Of course on a macro level while this precipitation is most welcome—drought has been creeping in—it does cramp anyone’s weekend warrior status.

    I made this photograph was made 5 days ago, and we still haven’t seen a reprieve in the weather. (I have a canceled flight to Austin Texas and a weeks worth of fireplace ignition to show for it). I imagine we all like to think of the Jersey Shore come June as a magical place of sandy beaches and warm sunshine. Too bad we’re just not there yet.

    Here’s to the summer warmth that inevitably awaits.

    For the Birders: can I get a little bird help? Is that a cormorant chilling on that post?

  • Petey Piranha?

    Shallow depth of field macro photograph of a purple peony
    Petey Piranha? — 100mm | f/2.8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/640

    No, it’s not the goop spitting Petey Piranha of Bianco Hills’ Super Mario Sunshine fame, ready to chomp your day. But it is my front yard’s lone purple peony. After it went all last season without a single blossom I was most pleased to see a solo bloom make open for business this past Memorial Day Weekend. While I have several pink peonies scattered about my property, its purple shade is hands down my favorite.

    Now that it’s made an appearance, who’s ready to play some Mario?

  • Bayside Living

    High drama at sunset befalls a lone house sitting along the bayfront of Little Egg Harbor in this HDR sunset photograph
    Bayside Living — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    Made just last night, I can assure you the light chasing on Long Beach Island’s southern tip was spectacular. A+ conditions, really. With pockets of haze and roiling cumulus clouds rolling west to east the setup was spectacular; late day light was creating all kinds of unique effects rendering ideal conditions for what’s easily the best photograph I’ve made in months—at least as far as I’m concerned.

    After bouncing around from spot to spot, we ultimately settled on this Holgate bayside locale to make photographs. This little hideaway Holgate park on the eastern shore of Little Egg Harbor, coupled with the hallmark cedar siding and the sharp lines on the edifice of this bayfront property seen above, provided a spot on composition as far as I’m concerned. The intense light bouncing off the clouds created an intense gradient of yellow to blue as you let your eyes move from left to right across the photograph. I think it might be a while before I make another shot that trumps last night’s drama.

    Last night was easily the most fun I’ve had behind the camera in months.

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  • You got a Piece of Heart!

    Cross processed macro photograph of bleeding heart flowers
    You got a Piece of Heart! — 100mm | f/2.8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/500

    I’ve been sitting on this photograph for just over two weeks now. It’s been processed up and ready to go and everything, I’ve just been slacking. Anyway, here’s one of my backyard bleeding heart flowers just after it hit full bloom this past May 1st. Later that very day I scored this fine sunset at Stafford Forge; always a bonus when you walk away with two keepers in one day.

    Even before my macro days began—and all the way back to my time as a youngster—I always enjoyed the company of these early season plants. Harbingers of good times, and a fun reminder of my all-time favorite video game franchise. Yes, that’s a hint toward the title I chose.