geometric patterns – Greg Urbano

Vertical Ascension: Modernist Form in Downtown St. Petersburg

The black and white photograph of the Signature Place high-rise in St. Petersburg captures its architectural monumentality through a minimalist lens. Stripping color emphasizes form and texture, while a dynamic composition highlights urban development. The work reflects the photographer’s evolving vision, merging documentary and artistic interpretation within contemporary architectural photography.

Black and white low‑angle photograph of the Signature Place condominium tower in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, showing strong geometric lines and modern architecture. — Black and white architectural study of the Signature Place high‑rise in downtown St. Petersburg.

In this striking image from Chapter 2 of the photographer’s Top 100 Journey, the Signature Place Condominium tower emerges as a study in architectural monumentality and photographic restraint. Shot in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, the photograph transforms a contemporary residential structure into something both documentary and abstract—a meditation on verticality, light, and the geometric language of modern urban development.

The decision to render this scene in black and white proves essential to the image’s success. By stripping away color, the photographer directs attention to the fundamental elements of architectural photography: form, texture, and tonal gradation. The building’s repetitive window pattern creates a rhythmic grid that draws the eye upward, while the dramatic contrast between the illuminated facade and the darkening sky suggests a specific moment of transition—likely the golden hour, when natural light rakes across surfaces to reveal dimension and depth.

Technical execution demonstrates thoughtful consideration of both optics and exposure. Working at 35mm on an 18-35mm lens mounted to a full-frame Nikon D610, he selected a narrow aperture of f/18 to maximize depth of field and ensure crisp detail throughout the frame. The resulting sharpness allows the viewer to appreciate the building’s material qualities—the interplay of glass, concrete, and steel that defines contemporary high-rise construction. A shutter speed of 1/8 second at ISO 100 suggests the use of a tripod, essential for maintaining clarity at this exposure length while preserving clean shadow detail.

The composition employs a low vantage point that accentuates the tower’s dramatic thrust skyward. This perspective, common in architectural photography but executed here with particular effectiveness, creates a sense of imposing scale while maintaining architectural integrity. The building’s angular crown punctures the upper portion of the frame, while a lower podium structure grounds the composition and provides contextual anchoring in the urban landscape.

Within the broader framework of Chapter 2—Florida Landscapes & Cityscapes—this photograph represents an important counterpoint to the state’s more commonly photographed natural environments. Rather than beaches, wetlands, or subtropical flora, the photographer turns his lens toward Florida’s built environment, acknowledging the contemporary reality of rapid urban development along the Gulf Coast. St. Petersburg’s downtown skyline, transformed dramatically over recent decades, serves as a compelling subject for examining how modern architecture reshapes regional identity.

The image also speaks to the photographer’s evolving vision throughout the Top 100 Journey. Where other selections might emphasize natural wonder or environmental preservation, this work demonstrates equal comfort with urban subject matter. The modernist aesthetic—clean lines, geometric precision, monochromatic palette—suggests an appreciation for architectural form as a legitimate subject for serious photographic inquiry.

What elevates this photograph beyond mere documentation is its atmospheric quality. The graduated sky, rendered in smooth tones from deep black to luminous gray, provides a canvas against which the building performs. The partially visible vegetation at the frame’s base hints at the subtropical context without overwhelming the primary subject. This careful balance between architectural documentation and artistic interpretation positions the work within a tradition extending from early twentieth-century modernist photography through contemporary fine art practice—a lineage that recognizes buildings not merely as structures to be recorded, but as forms to be interpreted.

Under Naples Pier at Sunset: Architecture Meets the Ethereal

Greg Urbano’s long exposure photograph beneath Naples Pier captures the interplay of human architecture and nature, highlighting time and impermanence. Shot with meticulous technique, the image transforms a familiar locale into a contemplative space where smooth Gulf waters contrast with weathered pilings, emphasizing Florida’s geography and the enduring power of the natural world.

Long exposure photograph taken beneath the Naples Pier in Florida, showing weathered support columns receding into the distance with smooth, blurred water and soft sunset light. — Long exposure view beneath the Naples Pier in Florida, captured with softened water and warm evening light.

In Greg Urbano’s exploration of Florida’s coastal landscapes, this long exposure beneath Naples Pier represents a masterful convergence of structural geometry and natural fluidity. The photograph transforms a familiar tourist destination into something altogether more contemplative—a meditation on time, permanence, and the quiet persistence of natural forces.

The technical execution reveals deliberate artistic choices that elevate the image beyond documentary. Shot at a 30-second exposure with an aperture of ƒ/10, Urbano allows the Gulf waters to smooth into an almost supernatural plane of silk, while the pier’s wooden pilings remain sharply rendered, their weathered surfaces recording years of salt spray and tidal rhythms. The ISO 100 setting preserves exceptional clarity in both the concrete deck overhead and the barnacle-encrusted bases of each column, where marine life has claimed the structure as its own.

What distinguishes this photograph within the Florida Landscapes & Cityscapes chapter is its unique vantage point. Rather than capturing the pier from the beach or along its walkway—the conventional approaches—Urbano positions himself in the liminal space beneath, where human architecture and marine environment intersect. This perspective creates a vanishing point that draws the eye through the repetitive columns, suggesting infinity while simultaneously framing the horizon in measured increments. The composition speaks to Florida’s essential character: a place where human development exists in constant negotiation with water, weather, and an environment that ultimately cannot be controlled.

The color palette captures that transitional moment when day surrenders to evening. Soft blues dominate the frame, punctuated by warmer tones filtering through the gaps between pilings where the setting sun still reaches. The long exposure has rendered a handful of beachgoers as ghostly presences, barely perceptible in the distance—a reminder that even in this serene moment, human activity continues, though made insignificant by the photograph’s emphasis on timelessness over immediacy.

The textural contrasts throughout the frame reward sustained viewing. The smooth, almost liquid sand in the foreground shows subtle patterns from receding water, while the pier pilings display years of weathering—concrete cracking and staining, wooden supports silvered by sun and salt. Most striking are the organic clusters clinging to each column where water regularly submerges them, dark masses of mussels and barnacles that testify to the structure’s dual existence above and below the tideline.

This image exemplifies why Urbano selected Naples Pier for inclusion in his exploration of Florida’s diverse landscapes. The state’s geography is defined by its relationship with water—the Atlantic, the Gulf, the Everglades, countless rivers and springs. Here, that relationship is made architectural, structured, yet the photograph ultimately reveals nature’s quiet supremacy. The pier may impose order with its regular spacing and engineered strength, but the barnacles reclaim it, the water smooths away footprints, and time—made visible through long exposure—reveals the impermanence of even our most solid constructions.

Within the broader context of the Top 100 Journey, this photograph demonstrates Urbano’s ability to find fresh perspectives on familiar subjects, transforming a popular sunset location into a study of geometry, time, and the persistent dialogue between built and natural environments that defines Florida’s coastal identity.

Stacked Chrome Muscle: The Architecture of American Power

In a 2014 throwback photo, Greg Urbano captures a chrome muscle car engine at a car show, transforming it into a sculptural testament of American automotive culture. The monochrome composition highlights its intricate details and engineering philosophy, transcending typical automotive photography into fine art, reflecting power and craftsmanship.

Black‑and‑white close‑up photograph of a chrome muscle car engine with multiple intake stacks, polished components, and detailed mechanical parts, taken with a Nikon D7100 at 24mm. — A 2014 black‑and‑white close‑up of a stacked chrome muscle car engine captured at a car show.

In this striking image from Greg Urbano’s early photographic explorations, the viewer encounters not merely an engine, but a sculptural monument to American automotive culture. Shot at a car show in 2014, this photograph demonstrates how technical documentation can transcend its utilitarian origins to become a meditation on form, texture, and cultural identity.

The composition centers on a magnificent array of individual throttle bodies—eight polished chrome velocity stacks rising like organ pipes from the engine block below. Urbano’s decision to shoot at f/8.0 provides exceptional depth of field, rendering every fluted trumpet in sharp detail while maintaining visual coherence across the crowded mechanical landscape. The MSD Digital 6AL ignition box in the upper left corner grounds the image in specificity, reminding us this is a real machine, not an abstract study.

What elevates this work beyond conventional automotive photography is the photographer’s masterful use of monochrome. The conversion to black and white strips away distraction and reveals the essential geometry of performance engineering. Chrome becomes a study in gradation—from brilliant highlights on the velocity stack lips to the deep blacks of the engine valley below. The ribbed valve covers create rhythmic patterns that echo throughout the frame, establishing a visual cadence that draws the eye deeper into the mechanical complexity.

The lighting deserves particular attention. Working with the ambient conditions of a car show—notoriously challenging for photographers—Urbano has captured specular highlights that accentuate the three-dimensional quality of each component. The reflections dancing across polished surfaces create a sense of movement and life in what is, paradoxically, a static object. One can almost hear the anticipated roar of this engine, feel the vibration of its operation.

From a curatorial perspective, this image belongs firmly within the “Beginnings” chapter of Urbano’s journey. It reveals a photographer discovering his eye, learning to see beyond the obvious. Car shows present a particular challenge: everything is designed to be spectacular, yet the very abundance of visual stimulus can overwhelm. Here, the photographer has exercised editorial judgment, finding a perspective that isolates and celebrates a single element of automotive excess.

The stacked throttle bodies themselves represent a specific philosophy in performance engineering—individual runners for each cylinder, optimized airflow, uncompromising dedication to power over practicality. This photograph captures that ethos perfectly. There is nothing subtle about this engine, and Urbano wisely chooses not to apologize for its maximalism. Instead, he leans into the drama, using his technical choices to amplify the subject’s inherent theatricality.

The 24mm focal length on his Nikon D7100 provides just enough wide-angle perspective to encompass the scene without introducing distortion that would undermine the precision of these machined components. Shot at 1/30th of a second—relatively slow for handheld work—the image’s sharpness suggests careful technique, perhaps braced against the engine bay or shot with controlled breathing.

This photograph documents more than machinery; it captures a particular strain of American automotive culture that values power, craftsmanship, and conspicuous performance. In rendering it so beautifully, Urbano elevates the vernacular tradition of car photography into something approaching fine art—a promising beginning indeed for a photographer learning to find extraordinary subjects in ordinary places.

Night at the Dali: Architecture as Teacher

In 2013, Greg Urbano’s photography evolved, particularly with architecture and HDR techniques. His night photograph of the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg showcases his technical growth and artistic maturity. Through careful exposure settings and HDR processing, he captures dramatic contrasts, reflecting his continuous exploration and adaptability in night photography.

HDR nighttime photograph of the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, showing its illuminated geodesic glass facade and surrounding landscaping, taken with a Nikon D7100 at 14mm. — A 2013 HDR nighttime photograph of the Dali Museum’s geodesic glass structure in St. Petersburg, Florida.

In this 2013 photograph of St. Petersburg’s Dalí Museum, Greg Urbano captures far more than an architectural landmark—he documents a photographer in the act of discovery, using his camera to decode the visual language of light, structure, and time. The image stands as a testament to what the Chapter 1 — Beginnings theme celebrates: the transformative power of experimentation and the artistic maturity that emerges from technical curiosity.

The composition immediately announces ambition. Shot with a 14mm ultra-wide lens, the perspective tilts upward to embrace the museum’s extraordinary geodesic glass bubble, that surrealist flourish erupting from an otherwise rectilinear concrete structure. The ultra-wide focal length creates dramatic spatial distortion—the glass sphere appears to swell toward the viewer while the building’s mass recedes at impossible angles. This is deliberate visual exaggeration, the photographer using optical characteristics as expressive tools rather than merely recording what stands before him.

Urbano’s fifteen-second exposure at ƒ/11 reveals careful consideration of night photography’s particular demands. The narrow aperture ensures front-to-back sharpness across the complex geometric planes, while the extended shutter speed gathers sufficient light to render both the illuminated interior spaces and the textured concrete exterior. At ISO 250, he maintained image quality while managing the sensor’s heat buildup during long exposures—a technical balancing act that night photography ruthlessly exposes when miscalculated.

The HDR processing, which Urbano identifies as a focus of his 2013 work, serves the subject’s inherent drama without overwhelming it. High Dynamic Range imaging compresses the vast tonal range between the glowing glass panels and the deep purple-gray twilight sky into a single viewable image. Here, the technique preserves detail in both the brightest interior lights and the shadowed architectural framework—the black steel triangles that form the geodesic pattern remain visible and textured rather than silhouetted into flat darkness.

What distinguishes this image within the Beginnings chapter is its transparency about process. The HDR treatment shows characteristic traces of learning—slight luminous halos around high-contrast edges, enhanced local contrast that gives surfaces an almost tactile presence, color saturation pushed just beyond naturalism. These are not flaws but evidence of active experimentation, a photographer testing the boundaries of technique to understand where effectiveness ends and excess begins.

The photograph’s context enriches its meaning considerably. This museum stood a brief walk from the photographer’s residence, close enough for repeated visits, for returning under different conditions, for the kind of sustained engagement that transforms casual documentation into genuine study. This proximity allowed Urbano to approach the subject with evolving sophistication, each attempt building on lessons from the previous one.

The wet pavement in the foreground adds an unexpected grace note—evidence of recent rain creating reflective surfaces that double the architectural lighting, adding visual complexity without cluttering the composition. Whether intentional or opportunistic, this detail demonstrates the photographer’s developing awareness of how environmental conditions can enhance rather than merely complicate a scene.

Viewed within the arc of artistic development, this photograph captures a crucial transition point: technical capability catching up with visual ambition, the gap between conception and execution narrowing with each frame. It is the work of a photographer actively becoming, embracing complexity as the necessary path toward mastery.

Under Golden Gate Bridge, 2010: Engineering as Art

In this 2010 photograph, Greg Urbano captures the underside of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Point, showcasing its geometric elegance and structural beauty. This early work signifies Urbano’s evolving artistic vision, highlighting unique perspectives and the interplay of architecture and art, while demonstrating the potential of innovative photography tools.

Top 100 Journey – Early Vision

Upward view through the geometric steel framework beneath the Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Point, showing symmetrical orange-red trusses, concrete support pillars, and San Francisco Bay visible through the structure. — Beneath the Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Point, San Francisco – Architectural Photography 2010. Unique upward perspective capturing the intricate steel framework, geometric patterns, and engineering details of San Francisco’s iconic suspension bridge. View of San Francisco Bay through the International Orange structural beams and trusses.

This striking composition from 2010 captures the underside of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Point, revealing an intricate world of geometric patterns and structural elegance that most visitors never encounter. The photograph represents a pivotal moment in Greg Urbano’s photographic journey—an early work that demonstrates his emerging ability to transform industrial architecture into compelling visual poetry.

Shot with a Samsung NX100 at 22mm, the image presents a masterclass in symmetry and depth. The famous International Orange paint transforms the steel framework into a chromatic study, its warm coral-red tones contrasting beautifully against the cool concrete of the bridge’s support piers. Through the latticed structure, fragments of turquoise water and distant mountains create a layered composition that draws the eye through multiple planes of depth.

What distinguishes this photograph is its unconventional perspective. Rather than capturing the Golden Gate Bridge from the typical vantage points—across the bay or from the Marin Headlands—Urbano positions himself directly beneath the structure, looking upward through its architectural skeleton. This choice reveals the bridge not as an icon but as an engineering marvel, a cathedral of steel where form and function merge into unexpected beauty.

The technical execution shows thoughtful consideration of exposure and composition. At ƒ/4.5 and 1/250s, the photographer maintains sharpness throughout the frame while preserving detail in both the shadowed steel and the bright sky beyond. The ISO 100 setting ensures clean image quality, allowing the intricate patterns of rivets, crossbeams, and diagonal bracing to remain crisp and legible. The 22mm focal length provides enough width to capture the structure’s overwhelming scale while maintaining proper perspective control.

The geometric complexity invites prolonged viewing. X-patterns and triangular forms repeat throughout the composition, creating a rhythm that feels almost musical. The vertical piers anchor the image, while the diagonal members create dynamic tension. This interplay between stability and movement, between the monumental and the intricate, gives the photograph its visual power.

Within the context of Urbano’s early photographic development, this image reveals an artist learning to see beyond the obvious. The decision to climb Fort Point, to look upward rather than outward, demonstrates curiosity and willingness to explore unconventional viewpoints. These qualities—the search for fresh perspectives, the appreciation of overlooked details, the ability to find abstraction within reality—would become hallmarks of his mature work.

The photograph also captures a specific moment in technological transition. The Samsung NX100, one of the early mirrorless cameras, represented new possibilities in digital photography. This image proves that vision matters more than equipment—that a photographer’s eye can create compelling work with whatever tools are available.

Ultimately, “Under Golden Gate Bridge, 2010” succeeds because it transforms a familiar landmark into something unfamiliar and wondrous. It asks viewers to reconsider what they think they know, to look more carefully at the structures around them, and to appreciate the unexpected beauty hiding in plain sight. For a photographer still finding his voice, it represents an important early statement: architecture can be abstraction, engineering can be art, and poetry can be found in steel.

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