Greg Molyneux Photography

New Jersey landscape and nature photography

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Home Again

April 26, 2020 by Greg Molyneux

100mm macro photo of six pink hyacinth blossoms on a single plant. The image is cross processed and features soft focus and bokeh.

Home Again — 100mm | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/100

No one needs me to explain how COVID-19 has left us homebound and siloed throughout much of 2020. Whether in isolation like me or hunkered down others, we’re riding things out void of the communal comings and goings we took for granted. Who would have thought sitting in cafe sipping on a fresh cuppa would no longer be a thing? Yet here we are. Chastened and changed, and I sincerely hope for the better.

All this time home has brought with it both new and familiar things. Each appreciated in their own special way. The principle return to past glory is coming in the form of macro photography. I’ve discussed here before how formative macro photography was to learning The Way of the Camera back in 2012. I unloaded thousands—tens of thousands of exposures on the plants and flowers hanging about my yard. Sure hope they signed those consent forms. Anyway…

All this time at the 2020 homestead is reconnecting me to my roots and my local plot of earth. I’ve lived in this home since July 1993 (bought it off my parents in 2009), and I am back exploring every inch of the property. If for no other reason than my own sanity. I use the term property loosely as it’s not a big yard by any stretch. Yet my parents being the hobbyist green thumb enthusiasts they are had this place teeming with extensive flora exquisitely maintained. I let it go over the years (understatement), but this year, banked by Covid time, I’ve been putting in work about the place. Setting to rights a decade of neglect. It’s still unworthy of its prime, but it’s no longer an unmitigated disaster and that is something!

With the cleanup has come better conditions for flower and plant life to thrive. Giving me ample opportunity to make beautiful photos without having to break any kind of social distance mores. Insert win-win corporate jargon complete with stilted laughter here. It’s been years since I have spent this kind of time with my trusted macro lens. The 100 millimeters that have been there with me since the beginning. This old friend helped see me out of a heinous depression, and I will never forget how she’s here for me once again in my time of isolation. Thanks so much for teaching me patience, peace of mind, and self-reliance. And of course the ultimate thanks for gifting me a passion that keeps on exploring.

Yet I cannot wait for my first real chase of a smoldering sunset out on the marsh. In its own way that, too, will be a trip home again.

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: 100mm bokeh COVID-19 cross processing flora hyacinth macro

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Love and Lilacs »

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  1. Love and Lilacs — Greg Molyneux Photography says:
    April 27, 2020 at 8:12 pm

    […] and loving, and belly laughs with friends? Also yes. I wrote yesterday how all this time home has reconnected me to my macro flower photography roots. A blessing in all the isolated madness. Well this weekend my lilacs took their first step out onto […]

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Photos from the archives

HDR photograph of pastel sky colors at blue hour overlooking a marsh
14mm winter sunset photo made over frozen and snowy salt marsh.
An HDR photograph taken just before sunset from the north end of the bay beach in Ship Bottom, New Jersey. The protruding jetty rock creates a natural leading line toward the drama off on the horizon.
In this low key macro photograph of a Black-eyed Susan (yellow daisy), miniature insects are working in unison under the cover of the illuminated yellow flower petals and rich bokeh fades out the background.
Fiery sunset ignites with stunning marsh tributary reflection.

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