Greg Molyneux Photography

Tag: blue hour

  • Moonlight Tonight

    Wide angle landscape photograph of a Full Moon over marsh at blue hour
    Moonlight Tonight — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 10 sec

    Peering through my driver side mirror at 7:02 a.m., having just crossed the Delaware River—Turnpike Toll Bridge into Pennsylvania ,I saw what I thought would be my best shot of the day. My mirror showed the truth: sunrise was gorgeous, and there I was stuck in my car en route from my home state of New Jersey to facilitate a training session for work. The fiery sky was remarkable, grade A stuff, and I had little recourse but to chuckle at my misfortune of missing a sunrise I was actually awake for. Alas bills must be paid, and this guy must digress.

    Home in time for a sunset I assumed I’d bag a good one at the usual stomping grounds. Upon arrival I immediately noticed what appeared to be a Full Moon breaching the northeastern horizon. Content to ignore our natural satellite I set up for sunset. Unfortunately sunset never came. Well, it did—it just happened to be a total letdown. What I could have sworn was an ideal cloud deck resulted in colorless vapor. I was giddy thinking the end of day would watch this morning’s glory but #nope.

    Well into blue hour and hoping to salvage the shoot, I moved my tripod to the other side of the road and made for the Moon. In hindsight I’m pretty damn pleased I did. I don’t have many Moon shots—in fact I don’t think there’s a single one on this website—so it’s nice to add a nice new wrinkle to the cache. I hope you enjoy.

    Related: October has been a good month for photos, and it was needed after a slow September.

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  • The Pink Purple Blues

    Wide angle photograph of ocean jetty rock captured at blue hour
    The Pink Purple Blues — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/4

    For the first time in weeks, if not months, I made it to the beach today. Conditions were so good I made it to the beach twice today. Continuing with the trend of spectacular light and air quality experienced yesterday, the Atlantic Ocean threw in a cool environmental wrinkle of its own: dead calm seas. I’m talking bathtub waves of no more than six inches calm. Not since my public works days when I was working on the beach daily have I seen the water tame; and even then it only happened less than one hand is needed to count.

    Happy just to be out there I was content simply to hang out and enjoy the vibe in its totality. But with the sun comfortably set and a standout blue hour taking hold, I made my way for a bit of jetty rock that I had scoped out earlier in the day—during the aforementioned first trip to the beach—Harvey Cedars if you’re scoring at home. With an impressive pastel gradient stretched across the sky I waited for it to get dark enough such that my shutter could get sluggish enough. Lazy shutters for the win. Once you’re inside one tenth of a second, motion from ocean wave action usually takes hold. Of course things had to be a bit more sluggish than normal due to the unusually calm water. Tonight I needed to get down to a quarter of a second. And opposite to last night’s photograph where I went with my first shot, this evening it was the last.

  • Where the Wonderment Goes

    Square format HDR photograph of marsh grass and lake at blue hour
    Where the Wonderment Goes — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    Sometimes you need your friends to stop by just to get yourself out the door. Despite promising late day sunset conditions, yesterday evening I found myself home from work and passed out on the couch. It was 7 p.m. With the startle of a doorbell I was up and weary, rubbing the sand out of my eyes to open the door. It wasn’t a long visit—maybe ten minutes—but it afforded me the opportunity to get my butt in gear to hop down to the Forge. In retrospect photo making was greater than nap taking—at least for one day.

    Still reeling from my post nap haze at my location some 10 minutes later than what would have been ideal, I didn’t have much time to scan the scene and properly scout my spot. Short on seconds I went to the closest open spot to my position. As you can see the grasses have grown quite unwieldily, but with that came an opportunity. A chance to set my camera right in the scene a, amidst the grasses, to bring a bit of mystery and whim to the photo. Perhaps cliché, but my mind went to right to Thoreau and Walden. A little hidden spot of paradise where the mind can unfurl and set out on a path of wonder.

    Thanks for stopping by, Jackie and Joe!

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  • 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.

  • Heightwise

    Portrait orientation HDR photograph of NJ Pinelands pygmy pine trees at blue hour
    Heightwise — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    With evening onshore flow winning the atmospheric battle for the second day in a row heading west was the lone option for sunset photos. To the Top of the World we go.

    Upon reaching said destination I began mentally framing my shot. Take a few 360° head scans across the pygmy pines. Look up. Kneel down. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Let’s hear it for #process. From this vantage point there are two pitch pines that always command my attention. Each standing twice the height of the almost comically small pitch pines running out the entire landscape in all directions. It’s a neat place. A place Gulliver might recognize.

    As far as the photo making goes—I want to work more on portrait (vertical) orientation photographs. I have always found them difficult to make, fortunately there are others who produce the most wonderful images from this perspective. While I’ve had a few successes it’s a blindspot in my wide angle landscape game I hope to address with time and practice. Failure and success.

  • Long Exposure Carnival Swings

    Long Exposure Carnival Swings

    A blue hour long exposure landscape orientation wide angle photograph of Wave Swinger; a carnival swing captured in motion at Casino Pier, Seaside Heights, New Jersey.
    On Saturn’s Rings — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1 sec

    When the nice weather comes you’ve gotta move. Yesterday was beautiful and revelers from all over descended upon a retooled Seaside Heights Boardwalk to soak in some sun, surf, boardwalk fare and top-notch people watching. Never having been one to sing odes to the virtues of a once beleaguered Seaside Boardwalk, I was beyond impressed to see the result of a double rebuild; first at the hands of Sandy and then by way of substantial fire. It’s been a rough few years along New Jersey’s shore but if appearances are any judge a bounce back is in the works.

    A blue hour long exposure portrait orientation wide angle photograph of Wave Swinger; a carnival swing captured in motion at Casino Pier, Seaside Heights, New Jersey.
    Circular Motion — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1.3 sec

    After some walking, eating and possible drinking we made for the car and the camera bags. After footing it back to Casino Pier the sun was making its final descent. With marine layer clouds blotting out the sunset we killed some time hitting the rides. First came Disko and then came Tilt-a-Whirl. Click the link, watch the video.

    Once that nonsense was out of the way we finally set up and made our long exposures. Back dropped by the bright lights and a soothing blue hour, conditions were ideal to make a photograph I’ve long since coveted: long exposure carnival swings. Without having to deal with swelling crowds, we were able to set up for a good ten minutes of uninterrupted shooting as day transitioned to night. For a first crack, I’m quite pleased with the result.

    A blue hour long exposure square format wide angle photograph of Wave Swinger; a carnival swing captured at rest at Casino Pier, Seaside Heights, New Jersey.
    The Suspended Spirit — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 3.2 sec

    Hoping for one more run of exposures, the ride called Wave Swinger was shut-down. The hopeful riders you see above were propped up for a handful of revolutions before being levied a premature return to solid ground in the cold form of diamond plate steel. Off they went left with little more than suspended spirit.

    For those interested in the physics behind carnival swings and circular motion.

  • Biding my time

    A serene blue hour befalls a calm Barnegat Bay in this wide angle HDR photograph taken from the secluded shores of High Bar Harbor, Long Beach Island, New Jersey.
    Biding my time — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    Shooting has been at a premium of late. More so it seems the few opportunities I’ve had to make photographs have been either clouded out or entirely uninteresting. Neither of which cultivate and atmosphere for good and/or interesting landscape photographs.

    Despite today’s near totally cloudless sky, my buddy Jon had the good notion to venture to Barnegat Light on Long Beach Island. He figured at the very least we could maybe make some golden hour frames of the fishing boats at Viking Village. No trespassing signs be damned, we couldn’t get anywhere that would produce a good shot with violating someone’s well-earned property rights. We made for the secluded High Bar Harbor as a timing killing Plan B.

    Upon reaching our destination the draw of pictures became little more than an afterthought. We killed the bulk of two hours talking through the world’s problems, making them worse, and watching the sun go down. Between the serpentine sand patterns sprinkled with a hint of cloudage that began marking the westward horizon, I figured I might as well grab my camera and tripod and make something out of nothing.

  • Never quite the same

    HDR photograph of Antoinetta's Restaurant backdropped by a stunning blue hour over frozen bay and shores.
    Never quite the same — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    Antoinetta’s Restaurant at the end of Cedar Run Dock Road in West Creek, New Jersey has been a go-to spot for years. Long before I even got into this photo taking thing—and long before Antoinetta’s was a thing—I used to take regular cruises down one of the most relaxing four mile drives in the whole of southern Ocean County. Sometimes alone. Sometimes with friends. Whomever came alone this place always hit the spot; even if it was with only myself that I was having conversations.

    Since I launched this website a little over a year ago, this photographs marks the third time I’ve formerly framed up this shot and published. And while on color alone (hey purple!) this could be looked at as the spiritual successor to Winter has its ways, the look still maintains its own essence and vitality. Between tide’s ebb and flow—frozen in this case—and a serendipitous sky palette rendered daily, each unique like the prints upon our fingertips. We photographers benefit insofar as we can visit the same spot time and time again with the excited expectation of a different, unpredictable and sometimes fantastic result.

    So get out there, scout your spots, check your gear, chase the light and shoot there over and over again.

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  • Let’s do this again sometime

    Snow covered trails and Pygmy Pines photographed from the Top of the World during blue hour
    Let’s do this again sometime — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    You’ve already seen the golden hour and sunset renditions, so here is the third and final photograph from my first ever visit to the Top of the World: a blazoned trail through snow covered Pygmy Pines at blue hour.

    There’s little need to burden you with more typed words about this locale as I think I’ve sufficiently covered that in the previous two posts; but as for this particular photograph, it’s a toss up between this and the first for which shot I like best. And while Fresh Tracks, Fresh Places probably sits in this series’ top spot, this one is just sets my mind at ease.

    Reflecting on the three photographs, it was a real treat to watch the late day light evolve with such drama over little more than a 60 minute span. Three shots: a potent golden hour, an ideal sunset, and a subdued blue hour conveyed the story just as my eyes and brain interpreted the surroundings upon which I found myself. A place I hope to surround myself again soon.