Greg Molyneux Photography

Tag: 35mm

All photographs tagged here have been taken with a Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM Lens

Marsh Brush
Marsh Brush— 35mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/13
Take camera and lens. Set yourself a suitable focal length. (35mm demonstrated here.) Stand astride the salt marsh feet shoulder width apart. Pretend you’re the Colossus of Rhodes. Wait for sunset. As you depress the shutter, pan side-to-side in a smooth, steady motion—left to right is my go-to; sluggish shutter speeds work best. (I’m rolling with a lolling 1/13 of a second on my shutter in the photo above.)
Follow the steps outlined above and a blurred photo will zero and one its way onto your memory card. And if you’re somehow still reading you may be wondering why written steps to produce an out of focus photo is a thing—let alone a purposeful one. Enter the subjectivity of the three letter word that starts with A—art. I may be an n of one but I do love me some motion blur by design in photographs. If you have been following this blog over the years you may now recall seeing a few photographs cut from this cloth.
So what’s the rub? For me it is simple: executing intentional motion blur gets the viewer to the heart of an image. It cuts away the sharp focus, high resolution detail that can clutter and shroud the soul of a photograph. With forced motion blur we deconstruct down to basic movement, color, tone, and form. This allows the image to land on each viewer on a conscious level. Expectation breaks down and the photograph can exist as it is with no preconceived notions.
Of course even with sharp focus tabled for another day we still know exactly what we are viewing. The elements of the photo are clearly discerned as we look upon a salt marsh at sunset with clouds, tide pools, and grasses. Who needs sharp focus when a little bit of motion helps us see clear?
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November 11, 2019
Double Down
Double Down — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/160
Yoga, photography, and the sun all went down on Cedar Run Dock Road last night. I sprinkled in some comfort zone stretching people shooting with the familiar task of landscape marsh photography. In need of fresh content for a forthcoming issue of Bay Magazine, friend and entrepreneur, Adam Binder of Aperion Yoga, sought assistance from my girlfriend Rose and me. Rose would provide the modeling and yoga talent and I the camera.
With good natural light, a fresh breeze, and warm temperatures we had ideal conditions for what amounted to a near 45 minute photo shoot. We wasted little time and worked through a dozen or so different partner poses, and I made a total of 162 frames all with my 35mm lens. I was shooting wide open at f/1.4 to shorten depth of field and bring the sharper focus to our yogis. I’m satisfied with how this strategy played out. Of course my inexperience was showing when Adam requested coaching and direction on posing, facial expressions, hand position, etc. Being a novice to photographing people I had little to offer, but things still worked out well enough.
Adam’s basic requirements consisted of producing a vertical photograph with an 8.5 x 11 crop factor, his yoga mat visible—they are beautiful, by the way—and “pop.” With that, I did my best. Tonight, I am posting what is easily the most abstract of the poses photographed. All credit to Rose and her creative inclination to line the mat up along the double yellow road lines, where she entered an L shaped handstand while Adam was in downward facing dog behind her. While in the pose Rose rested her feet upon Adam’s hips. It is fascinating to look into this pose low to the ground and head on, it’s difficult to puzzle out the positioning. The presence of hands and feet leaves the viewer curious, wanting more. It brings interest into further exploring the photograph to piece together how their shared alignments works.
Beyond the mystery of the partner pose there are things to discuss about composition. Dominating the frame, Rose’s asana creates a tall isosceles triangle. This mirrors the Aperion logo, an equilateral triangle, seen along her black waistband. More than that, however, is the sense of place framing our models. The road surface, its double yellow lines moving through the pose and jogging ever so gently to the left, flanked on each side by marsh grasses grounds the yogis in nature. Further backdropped by late day light moments before sunset. Rose’s pastel pants atop the frame make a perfect counterbalance to the well matched pastel yoga mat at the bottom of the picture. Rose’s array of tattoos build another layer, with the Sanskrit tattoo running vertical down her back connected to the top of the photo to the bottom. Despite everything going on here simplicity and balance still somehow win the day. This is the kind of paradox that makes art so fascinating and enigmatic.
July 31, 2019
Open Season
Open Season — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/2500
It is still a bit soon to call the slump busted proper, but I am pleased my photography is getting back untracked. The past six weeks or so has me getting back to a more regular groove of shooting, blogging, and sharing my work. Aided big time by a high quality spring bloom, flowers aplenty have given me ample ready made subjects to shoot.
My front yard peonies are a favorite subject, and I was not going to miss out on their time in the sun this year. Captured about two weeks ago this photograph has been sitting in the hopper waiting for a proper unveiling. I am drawn to the simplicity of this photograph. 35mm lens, wide open aperture at f/1.4, a single peony blossom, low key lighting, and lots of white space above and around the peony. Propped up by the out of focus hint of a stem, the flower holds a singular focus a shade below frame center. It’s marked further with sharp focus holding fast to two petals closest to the viewer. It offers a ledge for your attention span to hang upon. From here the bulk of the photograph falls into nothingness, precisely the way I like it. It’s open season on flowers and photography once again, and I am damn sure happy to be back in business.
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June 5, 2019
Waiting on the Winds of Change
Waiting on the Winds of Change — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/8000
To weed, or not to weed, that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the lawn to suffer the blades and clippers of outrageous trimming…
OK, let’s bring it back. I am no Shakespeare (duh) and this sure is no Hamlet. But I would like to wax about on dandelions, perspective, and how it all changes. As a child, like many children I suspect, I partook of the cult of dandelion. I’d run about my grandparent’s lawn collecting the golden flower tops with aplomb. On my best day I may have even slapped a small bouquet together for eager delivery to Mom. On my worst day I’d roam the lawn with friends, pluck a dandelion or 12, and intone, “momma had a baby and its head popped off.” Yeah, the indignations of youth.
Of greater mystery, however, were dandelions in their gray puff ball evolution. Like the one I photographed above. These airy beauties offered the greatest fuel for play and imagination—and lacked an evil jingle. Countless hours spent holding up the cloud like seed heads into the wind watching the air carry them away. Little men holding umbrella parachutes they’d travel in unpredictable air currents toward parts unknown. The charms were boundless. When the air was still it was mouth powered air travel filling in for the wind’s absence. This was the first lesson in the power of breath.
Fast forward to adulthood and like all things once wondrous the cynical world soul crushed joy into avarice. In this case the greed for a perfect lawn. There is no place for dandelions in a perfect lawn, you see. And thus my childhood dandelion friends found bottomed out status as weeds. Weeds! Unwanted growing things to excise with fascist impunity. This world view held sway for years, until I learned a thing or two. On the one hand what is a perfect lawn and who needs it anyway? And on the other hand, our pollinator bee friends are fond of the dandelion. And bees need our help. And so, in my world, dandelions have regained proper status in the land of growing things. Oh, and they photograph and taste great, too.
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May 18, 2019
Lilac Boon
Lilac Boon — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/1000
Breathe. Slow yourself. Inhale. Find yourself. Take in the soul stirring scent of lilac. Exhale. Calm yourself. Let the burdens of the day fall from your lips. The lilac boon is a perfumed pathway to rest and rejuvenation. It’s an essence of spring and its annual promise of renewal. The sweet bouquet infuses our air and our soul with the essence of all this world can be. Let it be a balm to your weariness and a fragrance forging our fortitude. So let the lilac’s joy dance upon the air, sweeten our souls, and open our hearts. And as ever, breathe.
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May 15, 2019
Now Is the Time for Yoga
Partner X — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 800 | EXP 1/80
Or at least to photograph it. While I began my own yoga journey in November 2017—an asana out of my comfort zone—I took another pose out my safe space earlier this December. Before I further mix metaphors let me get to it. Adam Binder, entrepreneur and founder of Apeiron Yoga, after what I can only assume was some serious cajoling by Rose Dease, tapped me for a photo shoot. The goal was simple: show off his sweet line of yoga mats. Of course the showing off would spring from some well practiced and comely yogis modeling asanas atop said mats.
Followers of this blog may immediately recognize the incongruity here. I do not photograph much that is neither a bug, flower, or landscape, and I most certainly do not photograph people. I lack a flash, lighting equipment, and any kind of sense of how to use those tools. But most inhibiting, I lack ease or grace when it comes to being around people. The up close intimacy demanded in portrait work only exacerbates this limitation. I can feel my awkwardness in typing this. A smooth dude at ease in his own skin, I am not.
Despite all that I gave it a shot. (Do you have any more puns?) And you know what? It wasn’t too bad. Situated at Bask Hot Yoga’s Brick location, we found ourselves in a beautiful space. An open space, bathed in warm white light, with a lattice work wall piece and altar at room center. Hot yoga is Bask’s thing, so the room was toasty. As soon as I walked through the front door I knew my choice of attire was bad: jeans, t-shirt, and dress shoes were a miss for a balmy room hanging in the mid-80s. This was great for our yogis to loosen up, but not great for my sweat stains. But glass half full this and a dark rainy day were the only drawbacks of an otherwise product power session that went on the better part of 3 hours. (We were hoping for some great, natural light to make up for my manual lighting limitation, but alas.)
The Warriors Five — 14mm | f/2.8 | ISO 800 | EXP 1/60
Here are some highlights from the session:
- I walked away with 755 exposures—and some weren’t half bad
- This style of shooting is physically demanding; no sitting around waiting for the sun to set while your camera rests atop a tripod
- Getting low worked out; much of the shoot had my lying prone with my camera and lens propped up on my elbows
- Good direction is key—I had knowledgable peeps calling out poses and keeping things moving
- My focus was too soft
- High key was a good choice
- We should have done more poses with my 14mm lens and the full group—the 35mm and 14mm primes worked better than I thought for this kind of work; Canon’s 24mm prime would have been money
- I need to learn to use a flash and lighting
- While you are only getting a small taste here, the photos came out better than I expected—though my expectations were admittedly low
Disclosure: Sweet Live Limitless hooded sweatshirt aside, this was an unpaid photo session and unpaid written endorsement. However, having used Aperion mats in hot yoga I can report they not only look and feel great, they provide excellent grip when the body and sweat starts flowing.
December 30, 2018
Remind Up Rewind
Remind Up Rewind — 35mm | f/5.6 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/500
Holy smokes Greg posted a photograph? In 2018? 2018, the year of slack, rages on, but here at least is a small reminder to myself and the world, I do, in fact, make photographs. From time to time.
I had the luxury to visit Wells Mills County Park and my wonderful Rose reminded me of a lesson no photographer should ever forget: look up. Look up and keeping looking up. Don’t settle for compositions that set literally in front of your face. Bend your neck back once in a while. It’s good for the spine and good for the mind.
Rose looked up and observed the sublime beauty of trees driving skyward. Coming together toward an invisible vanishing point somewhere in the great beyond. A dome of tranquility beneath which keen observers may take note while those oblivious can walk under in shelter. The world is full of many wonders whether we actually see them or note.
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November 15, 2018
Bright Spot
Bright Spot — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 400 | EXP 1/30
Flowers are but a bright spot in an otherwise darkening world. Acrimony, callousness, cynicism, and flagrant distrust envelope our better judgement as a plague. As corrosive distrust and patent injustice unfolds so too do the flowers. Impartial and ignorant to our schemes and machinations, spreading beauty with their grace. Too bad it not up to them to stand in judgement of our folly.
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June 28, 2018
In and Out
In and Out — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/2000
So I made this spirea photograph on May 11, 2018, and here I am blogging it up on June 22. Six weeks later is been than forever weeks later, right? Right!?
Last spring I made a spirea photo which served as a source of pride. I even printed, matted, and signed a few for Makers Fest, and it looked wonderful on photo paper. With a stout bloom thanks to ample rain, I was keen to get back in there to see I could conjure this year.
In this photograph I am executing soft focus and bokeh. Allowing the frame to sit largely out of focus. A pronounced shallow depth of field brings a sliver of sharpness on two narrow planes moving diagonally from left to right across the frame. Falling off in either direction, the spirea blossoms and its lush leaves fade quickly from focus, drifting off to whimsy. This lends a fantasy quality to the image. I can imagine faeries tucking away a touch out of sight, using esoteric magic to float clear from focus. Their secret hides in the bokeh. Drifting out of range of prying eyes and surreptitious lenses.
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June 22, 2018