Tag: salt marsh

  • 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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  • Look Down On It

    HDR landscape photograph taken at sunset over tide pools and marsh
    Look Down On It — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    I never thought pictures would happen yesterday. With Zombie Outbreak Build Day as the clear priority I put little thought into being able to do both. But thanks to fortuitous timing, some promising clouds, and the good sense (all luck) to actually pack my camera gear, I was able to travel direct from the Joseph A. Citta Scout Reservation—home to this weekend’s haunt—to my regular Dock Road stomping grounds. I had little time or desire to go elsewhere. In spite of feeling my age thanks to a good day of hard work, a rare moment of ambition settled upon me, prying me away from the Sirens’ call of a hot shower and comfortable couch. Not sure what was happening, pictures it was!

    Arriving with the sun nearly down my shot choices were limited. And so necessity mandate I line up where I had done many times before. Only this time I threw in a few compositional wrinkles: first, though less rare than what comes next, I extended the tripod to full height—typically being a low to the ground shooter; second I framed up a shot with the lower 2/3 occupying the lion-share of the frame, leaving the upper 1/3 for the sky alone. For those more familiar with my landscape work you’ll usually see no less than 1/2 the image being sky. None of this is to say I don’t appreciate the ratio of last night’s shot, it’s just that I’m not very good at it. I feel the same about vertically oriented photographs. Whereas my buddy and fellow south Jersey landscape photographer, Ben Wurst, excels in these areas.

    That’s all just a bunch of words to say that while peaking outside ye olde comfort zone yesterday, I managed to produce a solid result. The elevated 2/3 angle brings a perspective to the marsh I’ve struggled to extract. This vantage allows the viewer to better understand the depth and interconnectedness that endear New Jersey’s marshes to many—humans and birds alike.

    And finally a note about this website: this marks post number 200 since launch in January 2014. Woohoo! Obligatory round number dance.

  • A Toast to Autumn

    Wide angle HDR photograph of a vibrant golden hour over marsh
    A Toast to Autumn — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    This evening’s session along the marshes of Dock Road was a real treat. Cool yet comfortable temperatures made for ideal viewing of what was a perfect combination of rich golden light and piercingly clear autumn air. My vision seemed ten times better than usual the air was so pure. Everything was glowing. With the rich light pouring in and the sun setting fast, I popped the tripod into position and began making brackets. Fast forward another 40 minutes of shooting and a trip home to the computer only to realize that my first batch of bracketed exposures would wind up being the one. It’s always something when that winds up being the case.

    Compositionally I wanted to play off the main tidal pool and the cloud reflection therein. Tucking the near end of the pool off the edge to the bottom left allows the eye to enter the photo to then move up the clouds and over to the setting sun, finishing with the popcorn clouds in the sky. It’s good to have movement.

    Shooting tonight was tons of fun; would do it again. A strong reminder of why it’s worth getting out there and doing this. If nothing else it brings you closer to nature.

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  • Flood Plain

    Wide angle HDR photograph of sunset over remnants of Joaquin tidal flooding on the Dock Road salt marsh
    Flood Plain — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    Having returned from vacation just yesterday I was left on the outside looking in as days of rain, wind, and tidal surge battered New Jersey beaches and intracoastal ways. Even though our area was spared the brunt of Joaquin thanks to just missing a capture from an upper level low spinning over the southeastern United States, my home town and neighboring beaches and waterways had front row seating to extended onshore flow that wrought moderate tidal flooding and a deluge of rain.

    Sitting in Florida, a mere few hundred miles from the center of Joaquin’s cyclogenesis, I was crossing my fingers model run to model run as spaghetti plots meandered all over the eastern seaboard; many sending landfall to areas directly affected by Superstorm Sandy. Ultimately, after laying a beating on the Bahamas this turned into a fish storm and began its northeast march toward Bermuda and out to sea. But with a powerful blocking high pressure locked in around Maine and the low pressure of the storm off the coast of Florida, Mother Nature set up the physical mechanics of a pitching machine enabling a 72-96 hour period of onshore flow to fire streams of moisture and wind at much of the east coast; bringing devastating rain to South Carolina and beach erosion to many coastal areas. With the abrupt left hook of Sandy still fresh in all our minds, this was a little too close for comfort.

    Pictured above is my photograph of tonight’s sunset still showing off the tidal remains of all that water that was pushed up toward the coast thanks to that pitching machine effect. Despite being days after peak flooding you can get a sense of just how long it takes water to recede safely back whence it came.

  • Back Home in the Comfort Zone

    Back Home in the Comfort Zone

    Golden hour wide angle HDR landscape photograph of clouds and marsh
    Back Home in the Comfort Zone — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    First off I hope at least one intrepid New Jersey photographer was out making time lapse and/or long exposure photographs considering the most excellent cloudage we had on deck today. All day. Short on intervalometers and neutral density filters I did neither. But I did get out there to at least make this one photo—my first in a while.

    Having just returned from a 9-day left coast swing today marks my lone day in Manahawkin before I pivot to a weeklong jaunt at Walt Disney World. I spent the past week plus in California sans camera (not counting the cellphone, of course) so I wanted to get in one session of shooting in my old stomping grounds before I takeoff once again. Feeling good among the creature comforts of home it seemed only fitting that I make for Dock Road to fire off my first frames in weeks. For a creature of habit like myself I can’t express enough how much familiarity is important to me. There’s only so much external stimuli I can take before I must retreat to the physical and mental comfort zones that ease and normalize my body and mind.

    I look forward to more photo sessions upon my return. Be well.

  • The Things We See

    Wide angle photograph of blue skies, cumulus clouds, estuary and marsh
    The Things We See — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/40

    Is that an oversized chocolate bunny drifting into the right of the frame? Or is it just the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man all dressed up for Halloween? Of course it could be just a cloud. But what’s the fun in taking things so literal?

    It’s funny what we see, and what we don’t see. As I was making this shot I was going through my usual mental checks: capture cool cumulus clouds; get the bend in the estuary to create movement; and finally, to get the wind blown marsh grass in the foreground. Pretty technical, pretty straightforward. Rote process aside it wasn’t until I was reviewing my shots in post processing that I took note of what is clearly a bunny shaped cloud momma cutting across the sky to herd her little bunny-cloud clan. I may not have the greatest imagination, but this what my mind has gone and done.

    I’d like to give a special shout-out to the lunar cycle for allowing this to time up with a fortuitous low tide. The reduced water table gave me access to a low spot on the marsh that is otherwise submerged. That said walking around marsh muck in flip-flops isn’t exactly a good time, but remember, whatever it takes to get the shot!

  • Those Summer Nights

    Vibrant color wide angle HDR sunset photograph
    Those Summer Nights — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    Not a bad way to wrap a weekend, eh? Summer’s in full swing here in southern Ocean County—revelers abound, commerce is pumping, and the traffic? Well it’s been something . . . Good for business and that’s what counts!

    For those keeping score at home my sunset light chasing has been seriously lacking. Sure, Summer’s typically a down season for my wide angle work, giving way to more time spent with my macro lens and some good old fashion handheld shooting. But that doesn’t mean I’m still not keen on hunting one down when conditions are right. Last night offered the perfect combination of temperature, sea breeze, and cloud deck. All the ingredients for a good time on the salt marsh. With my mind in the tank for the better part of the week the fresh air was just what the doctor ordered, and fortunately my trusted camera was happy to oblige. Hands down my best sunset endeavor since I hunted down this all-timer back in late May. Keep the A+ clouds and color coming, please.

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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.

  • In Morning

    HDR photograph of sunrise over the green marsh of Cedar Run Dock Road.
    In Morning — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures

    Wake up for sunrise, they said. It’ll be worth it, they said. Who cares if you’re tired? They said. Well score one for the they said internet meme crowd.

    I’ve been on a photo making tear these past 24 hours; racking up just over 300 exposures between my iPhone and DSLR. I’ve been shutter pressing, Instagram square formatting, Snapchat story making, Periscope broadcasting content creating machine—a legend in my own mind—or something like that.

    Mother Nature brought the goods—a unique northwest facing blue hour last night that I’ll be sure to post in all the usual places over the next few days, as well as some sights from the Seaside Heights boardwalk; finally ending with the sunrise photograph that you see above, taken just after 5:30 this morning. Summer’s in full swing, New Jersey, and I could not be happier.

    As far as this shot goes, it just so happened that after returning from Seaside and waking in a friend’s basement at 4:30 a.m. that the perfect confluence of timing brought me to Dock Road and to this sunrise. I’m not a morning person. This is well documented. But as I was driving home during the wee hours of the morning—just as first light was marking the sky in an ominous kind of deep purple—I knew the camera work would be worth my time. Besides, I could always nap it out after. And that’s exactly what I did.

    Dock Road was perfect this morning. I spent a good hour roadside taking in the sights, the sounds, and the bugs. But even those blasted no-see-ums couldn’t cramp my style. It was Greg Molyneux’s very own version of Sunrise Earth out there. And while I can’t say when my next sunrise will be, I’m sure glad serendipity worked out in my favor this time around.

    Now if you’ll excuse I’m off to spend the rest of the afternoon at the beach.

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