Greg Molyneux Photography

Tag: lightning

  • Tumultuous Sky

    Tumultuous Sky

    Storm photograph of a sunset thunderstorm over Manahawkin Bay with lightning bolt.
    Tumultuous Sky — 35mm | f/5.6 | ISO 100 | EXP 25 sec

    Saturday, August 6, 2016, the unexpected came to pass. Mrs. and Mr. Weather NJ came by to scoop me for a little weekend dinner action on Long Beach Island. We brought along the camera equipment just in case the sunset would pop. We were cutting it close on time and originally decided that Cedar Run Dock Road would be our best photo destination considering the time crunch. Instead—and in true Jon Carr fashion—the turn for Route 9 South was completely missed and with it so too was Dock Road. Insert audible. With what appeared to be a cloud out at our back we made for Surf City Sunset Park. Crossing the new Manahawkin Bay Bridge my expectations were low.

    Upon arrival at the park the place was loaded with revelers and cellphone cameras. I always feel good when I see folks out taking in the sights and taking their shot at landscape photography. The more the merrier, I say. To the south a crescent moon could be seen, while to the west a mean shelf cloud was barreling eastward. We had known a line of storms was heading to the area, but honestly the radar was not all that impressive. Are you noticing a theme of underselling the evening yet? Eager to capture the shelfie, I took out the camera and swapped my 100mm lens for the ultra wide 14mm. It seemed like the prudent move except the humidity had a better idea. Instant fog problems—my lens was immediately coated in moisture. That quickly put the kibosh on my shooting—or so I thought.

    As the clocked ticked away the initial line of thunderstorms moved through. Aside from a solid gust front and some dramatic clouds, it didn’t produce any lightning or rainfall at our location. Just a few bolts of lightning to the north. A few minutes later things started to get interesting. About 30 miles to our west, over Hammonton, New Jersey, a storm cell began to redevelop. Radar proof need not apply as its growth was betrayed by a towering cumulonimbus cloud growing before our eyes. Like something off the set of Ghostbusters this monolith of water vapor and energy grew larger and closer. Its cloud tops reaching high enough to begin sheering off into an anvil. It was awesome. The gust front, it seems, provided just enough of a trigger to ignite the latent storm growth. As a shooter this presented the perfect opportunity: an isolated cell from the perfect vantage point with no rain to mess up the shot. Also, by now enough time had passed to free my lenses from their foggy prison. I was back in the game.

    From there on it was all about finding the optimal frame to capture the Manahawkin Bay Bridge; the impressive cumulonimbus tower; and the pastel glow that reignited at dusk thanks to the angle afford by the high cloud tops. It was the perfect storm—from no expectations came the best storm setup I have encountered to date. From there on out I put my 35mm lens to work, making long exposure after long exposure, hoping to time up a shot just right with a lightning strike. Fortunately I got some cloud to ground action mixed in with a truly dramatic sky. I couldn’t be happier with how things panned out. I now have in my possession my best storm photograph to date.

    Oh, and as for food—an LBI dinner never happened. That, too, was an audible to Element on account of large crowds. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

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  • Land Bridge

    Land Bridge

    Long exposure photograph of Great Bay Boulevard's first bridge backlit by lightning.
    Land Bridge — 35mm | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | EXP 20 sec

    Friday evening I hitched a ride with Jon Carr and we made our way to Great Bay Boulevard. The hope was twofold: 1) outside shot at a well timed break in the clouds for sunset ignition; and 2) with a segment of thunderstorms approaching from the west, lightning captures were on the table. While neither outcome panned out in the ideal the night wasn’t a total wash. Under the gun of days of stiff west by northwest winds, a blowout tide exposed a land bridge and thereby allowed me to shoot from a sand plain that’s far more often than not under the cover of brackish water. Advantage: Greg. This afforded me a rare angle on Great Bay Boulevard’s first bridge, and I did my best to exploit the opportunity.

    Surely I wanted some high drama cloud to ground lightning from this vantage point, but considering we were about 20 miles south of the real action that simply wasn’t in the cards. Instead I tried to make the most of the cloud level flashes coupled with the low cloud deck that was bouncing the light pollution in a cool array of orange, pink, and purple hues. One of the reasons I added a 35mm lens to my bag was for some better lightning photography. More often than not the 14mm is just too wide, and unless you have the fortitude to let the lightning get right over your head the bolts are oft too far in the distance. My hope is the 35mm while bring in the right amount of intimacy while remaining wide enough to still capture a good piece of the sky.

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  • The purpling storm

    The purpling storm

    Long exposure lightning photography taken from Cedar Run Dock Road. Cloud to cloud lightning ignites the sky in an electrified purple glow.
    The purpling storm — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 800 | EXP 30 sec

    With Summer winding down last night offered what may turn out to be a last chance storm chasing session for the season—not that I’ve had any storm chasing sessions this season, but I digress…

    As the clock passed 10 with a line of thunderstorms approaching, I had the opportunity to head out to Dock Road to take some photographs. I went out with a buddy (storm chasing is much better with a friend) and set up ye olde trusty tripod facing toward the south. With lightning firing 360 degrees around us it didn’t take long for the spookiness to set in. Maybe it’s just me, but it’s a bit scary holding a metal object in the middle of a marsh plain surrounded by storms.

    As we were out of the car shooting from the road’s shoulder, nervous about all the electricity, we began negotiating how minutes we had before we absolutely had to bail and get back in the car. As we were down to about two minutes left, with cloud to cloud lightning crackling all around, we heard the loud drone of what sounded like a boat. Get the hell out of here, we thought. But sure enough, there it was, a small outboard motoring down the marsh, racing to get back to dock. As bugged out as we were, I can’t imagine what those steaming in on the water were thinking. Oh, and the boat had no light’s either, so there’s that.