Greg Molyneux Photography

New Jersey landscape and nature photography

It doesn’t always have to be a show

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Blue hour in HDR. Taken over Dock Road's southern marsh just after sunset, this photograph features soft tones, cool blues, and understated clouds

It doesn’t always have to be a show — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

Tonight, like other nights before it, was all about the ultimate sunset. No matter how many times I get out and shoot a sunset I’m always hoping my next one will be the one; explosive colors, textbook composition, interesting foreground, leading lines, unicorns. Come 120 minutes before sundown and there’s some interesting cloud play marking the sky, and this is exactly where my mind is going. Sunset mecca. It’s this drive that has kept me from falling bored with sunset photography. At least up until now.

Tonight though, it became readily clear that it wasn’t going to be one of those nights. One where I’m tweeting like a maniac and standing roadside doing a shimmy. No, tonight was not one of those nights. But you know what? It’s all good. I rather enjoyed the simplicity and softness of an understated blue hour. Tranquil and serene it put me in the right place.

Tomorrow the quest for the Ultimate Sunset™ continues.

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Photos from the archives

A cross processed wide angle landscape photograph taken during golden hour at Stafford Forge Wildlife Management Area. The purple hues and single solitary pine at the end of a meadow grass ensconced dirt road create a whimsical, almost melancholy mood in the scene.
A brooding 35mm low key blue hour abstraction with pan shot motion blur stretching the Stafford Forge Wildlife Management Area lakeside landscape into the look of a painting.
HDR sunset photo with beaming crepuscular rays.
Cross processed golden hour photo of clouds, marsh, and reflective water.
Nestled in the heart of the New Jersey Pinelands. fresh snow blankets the fire trails and pine trees of Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area in this black and white wide angle photograph.