Greg Molyneux Photography

Tag: landscape

  • Fade Out

    Fade Out

    Blue hour HDR photograph overlooking dune fence and calm bay water
    Fade Out — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    For those of you following my photos on the regular—thank you!—you know I like vibrant, contrasty colors for my landscapes. The more color the better. But in processing last night’s shot (today) I wanted to produce a kinder, gentler final image. A more subtle hand to photograph and capture the calm, soothing blues that crept out over Ship Bottom’s bay beach as the final fading moments of light packed up their things for the daily migration west.

    In spite of a promising cloud deck sunset never fully fired yesterday, and in this case I’m not even a trifle bit upset by that. After the world class light that’s been pumping in of late it was nice to take a breather to sit back and appreciate a true blue hour. This shot was made a good 25–30 minutes after full sundown, and coupled with the unseasonably mild temperatures (it’s cracked 70 the past two days across New Jersey) it was a real treat to make December photographs in short sleeves. Many rejuvenated revelers were out and about with their cameras, pets, and bicycles, while couples went walking hand-in-hand. It was just all so nice to see.

    Compositionally I’ll go as far as to say I did the best I could. Until I arrived I was forgetful of the fact that at this time of year, with the winter sun setting in the southwest, angles get a little tough on many of LBI’s westward exposures. Sunset Point in Ship Bottom is surely no different. With the Point itself completely out of the the picture, I made my way about 200 feet south along the bay beach and decided to make my final stand at this little section of dune fence. Forever fond of said dune fence from my days of yore maintaining the public spaces with Ship Bottom Public Works, it was this or just an open expense of heavily traveled beach sand. The fence seemed the better play.

  • Revisit

    Revisit

    HDR landscape photograph of sunset fading to blue hour over the salt marsh
    Revisit — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    Familiarity sure is comforting. A place of positive past experience lends confidence if only in having been there before. I revisit spots constantly. More often than not trying to take a different angle to compose the frame in a new way so as to change the perspective—you know, so as not be completely repetitive. Subtle shifts in angle—side-to-side or up-and-down—coupled with a height change in camera body elevation relative to the ground can make all the difference in your final shot. This paired with ever changing cloudscapes and light play, and you’re likely seldom if ever to encounter identical shooting conditions even if you are one to revisit the friendly confines familiar ground.

    This was certainly me today. I’ve got a bunch of photographs made from this little spot of roadside—seen here, here, here, here, and here—and even still it’s always worth a retread. This creates an iterative anthology over time documenting how a place both does and does not change. For me, here on Cedar Run Dock Road, it drives home just how much the marsh does change as it cycles through the time, the season and the tide. It’s certainly brought me to a place of greater appreciation for the diverse environmental sensitivities in my own community.

    While the shot above is from a different spot entirely, its color cast reminds of a wintertime sunset I captured back in February of 2014. Very similar pink, yellow, and blue tones in these two pictures. Pretty cool to see that glow come back around. To spin off into a little bit of a tangent I may start making these kind of connections as part of my blogging; marrying current photographs with past shots where appropriate. It may help to better connect the narrative as I journey down the photographer’s path—what exactly that path is? I do not know.

  • We Face the Path of Time

    We Face the Path of Time

    HDR photograph of an abandoned dock set afire by intense sunset color
    We Face the Path of Time — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    I’m still basking in the glow of last night’s awesomesauce. And as much as I like the photograph posted last night, this one beats it out ever so slightly as far as I’m concerned. I realize we’re splitting hairs here and traipsing into the realm of subjectivity. But that’s all part of the fun—it doesn’t matter what I like, all that matters is what you like. While we’re all in this together we get to bring our own experience and thought into each and every photograph. And that’s p kool as far as I’m concerned.

    In my previous post I talked about how I was all over the place trying to lockdown an ideal composition worthy of a killer sunset. The spot above is where the lion share of hemming and hawing went down. I just couldn’t get locked in. Do I get low? Do I go high? How many poles should I incorporate from the dock in my foreground? How much marsh should I capture along the right side of the frame? Is it balanced with the water to the left? On it went. Ultimately I settled in at a spot straddling a missing piece of board along the gangway. It wasn’t quite as precarious as it sounds, but when you’ve got camera equipment you care about riding the edge of no tomorrow there’s always pause for concern. But remember the mantra: you do what it takes to make the shot. That’s especially true when you’ve got light on a level that only happens a handful of times a year. Of course the fact that I bailed on this position to make last night’s shot, which at the moment I thought of as a last ditch effort to make a better image, speaks to trusting your instincts. The upshot to this indecision? I’ve got two damn fine photographs to add to my stockpile.

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  • Ruinous Splendor

    Ruinous Splendor

    HDR photograph of a fiery sunset mirrored over reflective water
    Ruinous Splendor — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    I — II — II — X . . . if roman numerals are your thing.

    How about tonight’s sunset, New Jersey? Conditions from Great Bay Boulevard were just about as good as it gets—30+ minutes of standout light play working off intricate cloud structures overtop reflective bay water. If air guitar’s your thing, now would be the time.

    Normally in this situation I settle into my composition quite naturally. It’s a rare area of decisiveness for me, and I almost wholly rely on my first instinct and ride out that whim compositionally. Usually a quick walkthrough of my target location—stopping occasionally to just look down the viewfinder from at most a handful of positions and angles. Once that’s locked in I grab my tripod, dial in, and wait. Wait for the big time color that comes after the sun goes down. Free and easy, just how I like it.

    This afternoon on the other hand I was all out sorts, bouncing around from spot to spot struggling to find the ideal angle to shoot. At first I thought I had it  only to be moments later second guessing myself. This process repeated several times over. For the next twenty minutes or so. Down to the end, really. This photograph here came seconds after full sprint running, camera still fixed to tripod from the spot I thought I was going to ultimately choose—I will share its photograph here tomorrow.

    Suffice to say today I was fated to work for it. And that’s OK, because you know what? That sky tonight was incredible and it was good to feel the pressure of wanting to make the absolute most of a rare opportunity before it fades. Or maybe this was just an ill-timed dance with perfection questioning my best? Even so, I’m choosing to take this experience as an overwhelming positive. Start to finish tonight’s shoot was just awesome. Easily the best of the year. Would do it again.

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  • I can still see clear but I dare not feel

    I can still see clear but I dare not feel

    Landscape HDR photograph of pastel color cirrus clouds at sunset
    I can still see clear but I dare not feel — 14mm | f/8 | ISO | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    I’ve been sitting on this photograph for a few hours now reluctant to process. With my mind getting the better of me these past two days I was keen to not turn this picture and its subsequent post into one giant window to my struggle. So I’ll just leave it here with the statement that I wasn’t occupying the best headspace out on the Dock Road marsh in spite of this beautiful sunset Mother Nature brought before me. Most always picture making lifts my spirit. Today I was tied down in chains.

    Frankly all credit for this shot goes to the fellas at SunsetWx. They nailed today’s forecast. Under a dome of clear skies and seasonally warm temperatures all day I put zero thought toward any kind of photography today. But then during another tedious experience watching football I saw this tweet roll through my stream and if nothing else was at least offered an escape from witnessing another Giants’ loss. Once again their model was right on the money.

    Compositionally I played it safe tonight, unabashedly borrowing the setup from Look Down On It. Chalk it up to moodiness, lack of inspiration, or the simple fact that I think well of the meandering run of water that carries the eye in a slight switchback up the middle of the photograph and out into the sky.

    Here’s to tomorrow.

  • On Second Thought

    Square format landscape photograph of phragmites and Barnegat Bay at blue hour
    On Second Thought — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 0.6 sec

    Sometimes your shoot won’t go exactly as planned. This is OK. This afternoon my buddy Jon and I were hoping for some sunset drama. As it does the big time boom or bust sunsets ride a razor’s edge of yay or nay. Today it missed. It happens.

    Walking back to the car and at peace with said miss, my eyes quickly looked north to find sweeping blue clouds. Then downward to the illuminated houses out on the horizon; finally setting on the phragmites up in the foreground. The blue hour tones were soothing and the contour line of the jetty rock perfectly aligned with the left to right swoop up in the clouds. With a few clicks of the tripod this entire process was over and done with within a span of 20 seconds. Sometimes shots happen fast. At home in post processing I opted on the square format display ratio, deciding it tightened the overall composition.

    In their own way I hold a fondness for shoots like tonight. It’s a good test for the eye to come up with something else when your plan falls through. It’s a useful exercise in staying open to new possibilities, and as an added benefit the time crunch of fading light gets you to work fast relying on instinct.

  • Lines in the Pines

    Wide angle landscape photograph of the Pinelands forest casting leading lines shadows during golden hour
    Lines in the Pine — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 250 | EXP 1/30

    Before settling in to make yesterday’s sunset photo I took a few minutes in admiration of the Pinelands of Stafford Forge set aglow by some pretty serious golden hour light. It’s an open secret that I want more forest shots in my photo stockpile, and considering I live on the southeastern border of the great, albeit unheralded Pinelands National Reserve I have little excuse. Coincidentally the bulk of woods shots I’ve managed to produce have come from right here at the Forge, where I’ve already professed my childhood love of the trees.

    Keeping it casual—which is to say making single exposure handheld shots—I’m able to get my eye in tight to the viewfinder focusing my wandering brain right on the action. Creatively intent on accentuating the vivid golden glow infusing life, warmth, and energy into the millions of felled pine needles; compositionally intent to play off the strong leading lines cast by the scrubby pine tree shadows—the angled left to right action lending a nice touch of directional movement drawing the eye toward the ridgeline up on the right, away from the left side path. Much of photography is about balance, distributing the weight of your subjects until you find equilibrium. Of course like all the rules this too can be broken.

  • Sunset Weather

    Wide angle HDR landscape photograph of a pastel color sunset over a mirrored lake at Stafford Forge
    Sunset Weather — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    Photographers: You Should Follow SunsetWx

    Information is good. Good information is better. Recently a significant offering was made to the information toolkit of sunset chasers plying their craft in the continental U.S.—or CONUS as you’ll see on their website. Little more than a week ago three meteorologists, inspired to pull together a ‘Sunset Model,’ unleashed maps output from a proprietary algorithm churning out regular reports to the general public based on data populated by the 4 km NAM weather model. In their own words factoring (emphasis my own):

    The model itself takes primary elements into account: Moisture, pressure, and cloud cover. Using our knowledge of the atmosphere, we started with a basic idea of what variables are important, and their relative importance to one another. . . We quickly realized that some things were more important than others, and decided on a weighting scheme. After many trial runs and verifications, we weighted moisture the most.

    Quick to buy in I didn’t even need to be shown proof of its accuracy, but after verifying sunsets the country over, including the two standout waves that hit the PHL-NYC corridor over the past two weeks, I was all in. So now when I see @sunset_wx tweets like the one below my sunset battle plan is armed with better, more scientific information than ever before; strengthening my decision making process on sunset spots to seek. Tonight, knowing the middle section of southern New Jersey was in the sweet spot, made choosing the western exposure of Stafford Forge the obvious choice.

    Sure enough the forecast verified with a solid to good sunset, let’s call it a B- and aligned with SunsetWx’s scale; and I, in turn, went home with some good exposures in the hopper to share with all of you. There’s no doubt I’ll be talking up the boon gifted to us by SunsetWx in the future, but for now you can find them on Facebook and Twitter. Slate’s already done a write-up. And as tweaks continue to hone their algorithm may we all someday benefit from a future ‘Sunrise Model’ soon?

  • Endless

    Wide angle landscape photograph of calm bay water and clear sky at blue hour
    Endless — 14mm | f/8 | ISO | EXP 1/60

    Immediately after I made yesterday’s sunset silhouette photograph I headed for the far east end of Cedar Run Dock Road. The benefits were two fold as it’s both a convenient vehicular turnaround and an ideal vantage point to look out on the whole of the bay. I’m glad I stopped.

    Sure it’s starting to cool down here in the northern mid-Atlantic but that doesn’t mean the outdoors can’t be the respite a weary soul requires, if only for a few moments. Immediately out of my car the sublime calm of the bay washed over me. Gentle rolling waves more at home in your bathtub floated along the water’s skin. The glow of the clear blue hour cast a scene so calming it took a few minutes before I broke from my trance to document the sight. First I made a quick video for Instagram. Then I figured I may as well bust out the tripod and pop off a shot. Here it is, in all its simplicity. One basic composition highlighting the still plainness of it all. No dramatic cloud structure; no definable foreground or feature. Only the peace in the nothingness that was somehow anything but.