hiking – Greg Urbano

Savanah – A Study in Autumnal Light and Contemporary Portraiture

Savannah R. McCarthy’s portrait near a lake in Fort Collins, Colorado, exemplifies the intersection of technical skill and environmental awareness. Utilizing a Sony A7ii and hybrid lighting, the photographer achieves a balanced composition. The image captures both the subject’s essence and the surrounding autumn atmosphere, showcasing the challenges of outdoor location portraiture.

Woman in a floral dress stands by a calm lake with autumn trees reflected in the water behind her. — Savannah R. McCarthy stands near a lake in City Park, Fort Collins, Colorado.

This portrait, positioned within Chapter 4 of the photographer’s Top 100 Journey—dedicated to studio, outdoor, and workshop portraiture—demonstrates a refined synthesis of technical precision and environmental awareness. Captured at City Park in Fort Collins, Colorado, the image presents subject Savannah R. McCarthy against a backdrop of autumn foliage reflected in still water, creating a layered composition that balances human presence with seasonal atmosphere.

The technical approach reveals deliberate choices in both capture and illumination. Utilizing a Sony A7ii paired with an 85mm f/1.8 lens, the photographer achieves the classic compression and shallow depth of field characteristic of this focal length, allowing the subject to emerge distinctly from the softened background. The addition of off-camera flash—a Godox V1s modified with a shoot-through umbrella—introduces controlled fill light that counters the warm, golden-hour ambient illumination without overwhelming it. This hybrid lighting strategy creates dimensional modeling on the subject’s face while preserving the environmental context that gives the portrait its sense of place and time.

The compositional structure follows conventional portrait wisdom while incorporating subtle complexities. Savannah’s central placement and direct gaze establish immediate connection with the viewer, yet her hand position and slight body angle introduce movement and naturalism into what might otherwise read as overly formal. The floral-patterned dress, with its earth tones and botanical motifs, creates visual harmony with the autumn setting—a choice that feels intentional rather than coincidental, suggesting collaborative styling decisions between photographer and subject.

What distinguishes this work within the broader context of Chapter 4 is its demonstration of location portraiture as a distinct discipline requiring different considerations than studio work. The photographer must contend with uncontrolled elements—changing natural light, environmental distractions, weather conditions—while maintaining the polish and intentionality associated with studio practice. Here, these challenges have been successfully navigated, yielding an image that feels both spontaneous and carefully constructed.

The color palette deserves particular attention. The warm golds and oranges of the background foliage, reflected and doubled in the water’s surface, create an enveloping atmosphere that could easily overwhelm the subject. Yet the photographer’s lighting choices ensure Savannah remains the primary focal point, her cooler-toned skin and the cream base of her dress providing necessary contrast. The post-processing work in Luminar 4 appears restrained, enhancing rather than transforming the captured moment—a hallmark of mature digital darkroom practice.

Within the photographer’s evolving body of work, this image represents a confident handling of outdoor portrait challenges that likely stems from the workshop experiences referenced in the chapter title. The ability to work efficiently with supplemental lighting in natural settings, to read and respond to environmental conditions, and to direct subjects toward authentic yet flattering expressions—these are skills typically refined through repeated practice and instruction.

As part of the Top 100 Journey project, “Savanah 06” occupies a space between formal portraiture and environmental storytelling. It succeeds neither purely as character study nor as landscape with figure, but rather as an integration of both impulses—a portrait that acknowledges its moment in time and place, capturing not just a person but an experience of autumn light beside still water.

Long Exposure Dillon Reservoir: A Study in Temporal Meditation

The photograph from Dillon Reservoir near Silverthorne, Colorado, features a dock leading into tranquil waters, showcasing the photographer’s technical skill and evolving artistic vision. Utilizing long exposure, the image captures a balance of nature and human infrastructure, encouraging contemplation on time, landscape, and accessibility, while inviting viewers to engage further with their surroundings.

Long exposure view of a dock extending into Dillon Reservoir with mountains and blurred clouds in the background. — A dock extends into Dillon Reservoir near Silverthorne, Colorado, with mountains rising beyond the water.

In this carefully composed study from Dillon Reservoir, the photographer employs extended exposure to transform a commonplace mountain scene into something approaching the transcendent. The image stands as a compelling entry within Chapter 3 of his Top 100 Journey, demonstrating a technical maturity and conceptual clarity that marks his evolving engagement with Colorado’s diverse landscapes.

The composition centers on a weathered dock extending into the reservoir’s calm waters, its wooden walkway and metal railings leading the viewer’s eye toward distant figures positioned at the structure’s terminus. By utilizing a 10-stop neutral density filter with his Sony A7II, the photographer has rendered the water as a glassy, almost ethereal surface—its texture smoothed into gradations of subtle color that suggest movement while paradoxically conveying absolute stillness. This temporal compression transforms fleeting moments into something more permanent, inviting contemplation of how we perceive and record the passage of time.

The technical execution reveals a photographer comfortable with his equipment’s capabilities and limitations. Working with the camera’s kit lens, he has extracted remarkable clarity across the frame, from the sandy foreground through the architectural elements of the dock to the snow-capped peaks beyond. The slight motion blur in the clouds—streaked horizontally across an impeccable blue sky—provides visual rhythm and suggests the duration of the exposure without overwhelming the image’s serene character.

What distinguishes this photograph within the Colorado landscapes chapter is its successful marriage of the state’s iconic mountain scenery with human infrastructure. Rather than presenting wilderness in isolation, the image acknowledges recreational use and accessibility, grounding the sublime natural setting in contemporary experience. The dock becomes a metaphor for our relationship with landscape—a point of interface, an invitation to venture further, a structure that both facilitates and frames our encounter with nature.

Compositionally, the photographer demonstrates sophisticated understanding of visual weight and balance. The curved railing in the immediate foreground creates dynamic entry into the frame, while the horizontal platforms and vertical posts establish geometric order against the organic forms of mountains and clouds. The small human figures at the dock’s end provide crucial scale, reminding viewers of the landscape’s monumentality while suggesting contemplative communion with place.

The color palette rewards close examination. Warm sandy tones in the foreground transition to the cool grays and blues of water and sky, punctuated by the brilliant whites of snow and cloud. This chromatic progression creates depth while maintaining overall tonal harmony. The long exposure has also produced subtle color shifts in the water, where reflected sky and submerged earth combine into something neither purely blue nor brown but somewhere beautifully between.

Within the broader context of his Top 100 Journey, this image represents a photographer increasingly confident in his technical command and artistic vision. The decision to work near Silverthorne—accessible from Interstate 70 rather than requiring backcountry expedition—suggests a mature understanding that compelling photographs need not emerge solely from remote locations. Instead, seeing becomes the essential act, recognizing potential in familiar places and applying technique to reveal what casual observation might miss.

This photograph ultimately asks viewers to pause, to consider how we move through landscape and how landscape moves through time. It is work that respects both craft and subject, offering neither mere technical display nor sentimental postcard but something more considered: a meditation on place, presence, and the strange alchemy of photography itself.

Hidden Valley Hike: A Study in Atmospheric Depth and Winter Quietude

The photograph from Hidden Valley in Rocky Mountain National Park captures a snow-covered trail among dense trees, showcasing Greg Urbano’s skill in monochromatic winter photography. Emphasizing subtlety over grandeur, it conveys solitude and wilderness through careful composition and tonal restraint, highlighting ecological specifics and the beauty of intimate landscapes.

Snow-covered hiking trail winding through evergreen forest at Hidden Valley in Rocky Mountain National Park. — A snowy trail leads through dense evergreen trees at Hidden Valley in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

Within Chapter 3 of Greg Urbano’s Top 100 Journey—devoted to Colorado Landscapes & Cityscapes—this photograph from Hidden Valley in Rocky Mountain National Park represents a masterful engagement with the challenges of monochromatic winter photography. The image captures a snow-laden trail ascending through dense coniferous forest, where atmospheric conditions have reduced the distant peaks to mere suggestions within a veil of falling snow and fog.

The photographer’s compositional strategy reveals a sophisticated understanding of visual hierarchy. The trail itself functions as both literal and metaphorical pathway, drawing the viewer’s eye from the textured foreground snow through the middle ground’s architectural arrangement of pines and firs, before dissolving into the atmospheric void of the background. This recession creates a palpable sense of depth despite the flattening effect that overcast winter light typically imposes on landscape photography.

What distinguishes this work within Urbano’s broader Colorado portfolio is its restraint. Rather than pursuing the dramatic vistas and saturated alpine glow that characterize much Rocky Mountain photography, he has chosen to document a moment of visual subtlety—a soft, nearly monochromatic palette punctuated only by the warm sienna of exposed tree bark. The decision to work within such a limited tonal range demonstrates confidence in form and composition rather than relying on chromatic spectacle.

The technical execution merits particular attention. The photographer has maintained remarkable detail in the snow-weighted evergreen boughs while preserving the delicate gradation of gray tones that define the misty background. This balance suggests careful exposure management in conditions that would challenge most practitioners—the high reflectivity of fresh snow against dark timber, compounded by active precipitation and low contrast lighting.

From a thematic perspective, this photograph speaks to the contemplative dimension of Urbano’s landscape practice. The absence of human figures—save for the implicit presence suggested by the trail itself—invites meditation on solitude and the experience of wilderness in its less hospitable moments. This is not the Colorado of tourism brochures, but rather an intimate encounter with the state’s winter reality, where beauty reveals itself through subtlety rather than grandeur.

The image also functions as documentation of a specific ecological zone within Rocky Mountain National Park. The mixed conifer forest, dominated by what appear to be Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir, places the photograph within the park’s upper montane and subalpine life zones. The photographer’s attention to these botanical particulars grounds the work in a specific geographic and ecological context, elevating it beyond generic winter scenery.

Within the arc of the Top 100 Journey project, this photograph demonstrates stylistic evolution—a willingness to embrace quieter moments alongside more conventionally dramatic subjects. It suggests that Urbano’s curatorial eye has matured toward valuing atmospheric mood and compositional sophistication over spectacular subject matter alone.

The final consideration is one of timing and patience. Winter photography in Rocky Mountain National Park demands both technical preparation and willingness to work in physically demanding conditions. That this image exists at all speaks to the photographer’s commitment to documenting the full range of Colorado’s landscape character, not merely its most accessible or comfortable manifestations. The result is a work that rewards sustained attention, revealing its carefully calibrated tonal relationships and spatial complexities gradually, much like the trail itself emerging from and dissolving into winter’s embrace.

Hallett Peak: A Study in Motion and Permanence

In a captivating long-exposure photograph of Hallett Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, the artist merges landscape photography with technical artistry. The image features dynamic cloud streaks, contrasting geological permanence, and rich tonal variations, creating an engaging interplay of time and nature. This work illustrates a mature artistic voice, enhancing familiar landscapes.

Hallett Peak rises above evergreen forest and snow-dusted slopes beneath streaked clouds in Rocky Mountain National Park. — Hallett Peak towers above forested slopes near Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

In this striking capture from Rocky Mountain National Park, the photographer demonstrates a sophisticated command of long-exposure technique to transform a familiar Colorado landscape into something both ethereal and architectural. The image of Hallett Peak, taken from the Bear Lake area, exemplifies the technical precision and artistic vision that defines Chapter 3 of his Top 100 Journey project.

The composition is anchored by the geological drama of Hallett Peak itself—that distinctive snow-dusted formation rising with muscular authority against the left portion of the frame. Yet it is the sky that commands immediate attention. Through extended exposure, the photographer has rendered clouds as diagonal streaks of motion, creating dynamic vectors that sweep across the upper two-thirds of the image. This technique transforms the sky from mere backdrop into active participant, suggesting the passage of time within a single frozen moment. The effect is cinematic, almost reminiscent of time-lapse sequences compressed into still photography.

The tonal range demonstrates careful exposure management in challenging high-altitude conditions. Deep blues saturate the upper atmosphere while softer, almost pearl-like whites and grays occupy the middle zones where cloud and sky intermingle. The snow-covered peaks and rock faces provide textural counterpoint—solid, immutable, sharply defined—against the fluid sky. This juxtaposition between the permanent and the transient becomes the photograph’s central artistic statement.

In the foreground, dense stands of evergreens establish both scale and context. The forest appears in rich greens and shadow-dark tones, creating a horizontal band that grounds the viewer’s eye before it ascends to the peaks and sky beyond. These trees serve multiple functions: they frame the composition, they provide Colorado’s signature ecological context, and they emphasize the vertical drama of the mountain forms rising behind them.

What distinguishes this work within the Colorado Landscapes & Cityscapes chapter is its sophisticated balance between documentary and interpretive approaches. While the location remains recognizable to anyone familiar with Rocky Mountain National Park, the artistic treatment elevates the image beyond straightforward landscape photography. The photographer has chosen to emphasize process—geological, meteorological, temporal—over simple representation.

The technical execution reveals careful planning. The long exposure required for cloud streaking demands stable tripod work, precise timing, and likely the use of neutral density filtration to manage the bright mountain light. The sharpness maintained throughout the frame, from foreground forest to distant peak, suggests a narrow aperture and careful focus technique. These are not accidental achievements but rather the results of deliberate craft.

Within the broader context of his Top 100 Journey, this photograph represents a mature artistic voice. It demonstrates that the photographer understands landscape work as more than capturing beautiful places—it involves interpreting those places through technical means that reveal aspects invisible to casual observation. The streaming clouds make visible the wind, the time, the atmospheric dynamics that define mountain environments but typically escape photographic capture.

This image invites extended viewing. Initially, one registers the dramatic sky; subsequently, the eye explores the geological complexity of the peaks, the play of snow and rock, the forest’s quiet density. It is work that rewards attention, revealing the photographer’s ability to transform a well-visited location into something that feels simultaneously familiar and newly seen—a hallmark of accomplished landscape photography.

Fly Fisherman, Poudre River: Solitude and Seasonal Transition

The photograph of a fly fisherman in the Poudre River during autumn integrates human presence into Colorado’s natural landscape. Positioned mid-stream, the figure enhances the scene’s narrative and scale. This image balances aesthetics and documentary elements, showcasing a peaceful coexistence between nature and human activity amid vibrant seasonal colors.

A lone fly fisherman stands in a calm river beneath a small bridge, surrounded by autumn trees with yellow foliage. — A fly fisherman wades the Poudre River beneath a bridge during autumn in Colorado.

Among the works comprising Chapter 3—Colorado Landscapes & Cityscapes—this autumn scene along the Poudre River introduces a human presence that has been notably absent from much of the photographer’s natural landscape documentation. A lone fly fisherman stands mid-stream, his figure providing both scale and narrative focus within a composition dominated by seasonal color and the interplay of light on moving water. The image succeeds in balancing documentary observation with careful aesthetic consideration, capturing what appears to be a chance encounter during the photographer’s search for the last vestiges of fall color along this northern Colorado waterway.

The composition employs a classic landscape structure, divided roughly into thirds by the horizontal elements: the reflective water surface in the foreground, the bridge and human figure in the middle ground, and the autumn-touched forest rising beyond. The fisherman, positioned slightly off-center, serves as the crucial point of human scale that transforms what might otherwise be a standard seasonal landscape into something more contemplative. His solitary presence—the photographer notes he was likely the only other person at this remote turnoff—adds an element of quietude and shared appreciation for the conditions that drew both individuals to this location on a Saturday afternoon.

The treatment of water demonstrates technical proficiency with the Sony A7ii and kit lens combination. A moderate exposure time renders the river surface with subtle motion blur, smoothing ripples into gentle gradations of reflected light while maintaining enough definition to distinguish current patterns and submerged rocks. The right portion of the frame captures direct sunlight on the water, creating a bright zone of contrast against the darker, shadowed areas. This tonal range—from deep amber reflections to brilliant highlights—gives the water substantial visual weight and complexity.

Autumn color saturates the background, with golden aspens and cottonwoods forming luminous masses against the darker evergreens. The trees are captured at what the photographer sought—the final days of peak color—evident in the richness of the yellows and the beginning transitions toward bare branches. The small bridge, a modest steel and concrete structure, provides architectural grounding without overwhelming the natural elements. Its weathered construction suggests a rural access point rather than a major thoroughfare, reinforcing the sense of a discovered location rather than a destination.

What distinguishes this photograph within the broader chapter is its acknowledgment of human interaction with Colorado’s landscapes. Where other works present wilderness as untouched or urban environments as purely architectural, this image occupies a middle ground. The fisherman is neither intruder nor irrelevance; he belongs to this scene as much as the bridge or the turning leaves. His activity—fly fishing, with its requirements of patience, skill, and intimate knowledge of the water—suggests a relationship with place rather than mere passage through it.

The photographer’s decision to include this figure, captured during what he describes as a casual Saturday excursion, reveals an evolving understanding of how to represent place. Colorado’s identity encompasses not only its dramatic geology and seasonal transformations but also the quiet pursuits of those who seek out its rivers and forests during brief windows of perfect weather and fading color.

Aspen Stand, Poudre Canyon: A Study in Natural Geometry and Seasonal Light

The photograph of aspen trees along Poudre Canyon Road showcases their autumn colors, balancing structural elements with individual characteristics. It features a rhythmic vertical pattern in soft light, capturing a unique moment in Colorado’s landscape photography. This singular image asserts confidence in representing the iconic aspens effectively and artistically.

Tall white-barked aspen trees with yellow autumn leaves standing among green forest vegetation. — A stand of aspen trees displays fall foliage along Poudre Canyon Road in Colorado.

Within Chapter 3 of Greg Urbano’s Top 100 Journey—dedicated to Colorado Landscapes & Cityscapes—this photograph of aspen trees along Poudre Canyon Road represents a pivotal encounter with one of the American West’s most celebrated subjects. The image captures a dense stand of aspens in their autumn transformation, their white-barked trunks creating a rhythmic vertical pattern against a backdrop of golden and green foliage. What distinguishes this work from countless other interpretations of the same subject is the photographer’s restraint and his attention to the structural elements that give the composition its quiet authority.

The vertical emphasis dominates immediately. Dozens of aspen trunks rise through the frame, their characteristic pale bark marked by dark knots and horizontal striations that break the otherwise smooth surfaces. These natural imperfections serve as visual anchors, preventing the repetition from becoming monotonous. The photographer has positioned himself to maximize this rhythm while maintaining sufficient depth to reveal the layered complexity of the forest. Evergreens punctuate the composition in the background, their darker masses providing tonal contrast to the luminous aspens and golden understory.

The treatment of light deserves particular attention. Soft, even illumination suggests either overcast conditions or the photographer’s careful timing to avoid harsh midday sun. This choice allows the full tonal range of the foliage to register—from the brilliant yellows of peak autumn color to the deeper golds and lingering greens of leaves in transition. The post-processing, executed using DXO’s Color Efex Pro 4, enhances these chromatic relationships without pushing them into artificiality. There is saturation here, certainly, but it reads as an intensification of what was present rather than an invention.

For a photographer whose body of work encompasses diverse subjects and geographies, this image represents his only definitive statement on the iconic Colorado aspen to date—a fact he acknowledges directly in his own description. This singularity is worth considering. Rather than pursuing multiple variations or returning season after season to refine his approach, he has selected this single frame as representative. The decision suggests confidence in what was captured during that Saturday excursion from Fort Collins, and indeed, the composition supports that confidence.

The photograph functions effectively within its designated chapter, contributing to a broader portrait of Colorado’s varied landscapes. Where other images in this collection might address the state’s dramatic peaks, urban environments, or expansive vistas, this work explores the intimate scale of the mid-elevation forest. The aspens become both subject and structure, their seriality creating pattern while their individuality—visible in every unique scarring and branch configuration—asserts the organic nature of the scene.

Technically, the image demonstrates solid fundamentals: adequate depth of field to maintain sharpness across the forest layers, balanced exposure that preserves detail in both the bright foliage and darker bark, and a color palette that feels cohesive despite its range. The vertical format suits the subject matter, emphasizing the trees’ upward growth and the viewer’s sense of standing within the grove rather than observing it from outside.

This photograph documents a specific moment along Poudre Canyon Road while simultaneously engaging with a broader photographic tradition of Western landscape representation. It is work that respects its subject without overstating its case—a measured, observant addition to an ongoing artistic journey.

Boulder Falls Long Exposure

The photograph of Boulder Falls captures the intricate interplay of water and rock in Colorado’s canyon, showcasing the photographer’s mastery of long exposure techniques. Using a Nikon D610, the image balances smooth water motion with structural clarity. This work signifies a matured artistic voice within the broader context of his evolving landscape photography.

Long-exposure view of Boulder Falls flowing over rocks into a shallow pool within a rocky canyon. — Long-exposure photograph of Boulder Falls cascading through a rocky canyon in Colorado.

The photographer’s mastery of long exposure technique reaches full maturity in this commanding portrait of Boulder Falls, where water, stone, and light converge in a composition of remarkable spatial depth and textural complexity. Captured with a Nikon D610 and an 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5 lens at its widest setting of 18mm, the image employs a half-second exposure at ƒ/4.0 and ISO 100 to render cascading water as ethereal veils against the canyon’s ancient geological architecture.

The composition operates on multiple planes, drawing the eye through a carefully orchestrated visual journey. In the immediate foreground, stream-smoothed boulders—some dry and tan, others wet and rust-colored—create a rocky platform that grounds the viewer’s perspective. Water flows around and between these stones in delicate ribbons, their motion captured as soft blur that contrasts with the sharp detail of stationary rock. The middle ground presents the falls itself, a luminous white cascade plunging through a dramatic cleft in the granite amphitheater. Finally, the background reveals towering rock walls in warm earth tones, their fractured surfaces speaking to millennia of geological upheaval, crowned by evergreen forest and a brilliant blue sky.

What distinguishes this work from countless waterfall photographs is the photographer’s sophisticated understanding of how long exposure serves composition rather than merely creating predictable aesthetic effects. The half-second shutter speed proves precisely calibrated—long enough to smooth the water into silken forms while short enough to preserve structural definition in the cascade. The falls maintain sculptural presence rather than dissolving into amorphous white masses. Similarly, the foreground stream retains enough texture and gradation to read as water in motion rather than abstract blur.

The technical choices reveal deliberate control over the medium. The wide 18mm focal length encompasses the entire scene’s grandeur while maintaining exceptional corner-to-corner sharpness, crucial when working with such complex spatial relationships. The ƒ/4.0 aperture balances depth of field considerations—keeping both foreground rocks and distant walls acceptably sharp—with the light reduction necessary for the extended exposure. At ISO 100, the image maintains optimal clarity across its tonal range, from the brightest highlights in the falling water to the shadowed crevices in the surrounding stone.

The inclusion of this photograph in Chapter 3—Colorado Landscapes & Cityscapes—marks a significant development in the photographer’s journey. Where earlier chapters saw him exploring beyond Florida’s boundaries, this chapter formalizes Colorado as a central subject within his practice. The image embodies what might be termed “high country aesthetics”: the interplay of water and granite, the vertical drama of canyon topography, the crystalline light of elevated altitude. These elements recur throughout Rocky Mountain landscape photography, yet the photographer brings fresh eyes to familiar territory through precise craft and compositional intelligence.

Within the broader context of the Top 100 Journey project, “Boulder Falls Long Exposure” represents an artist who has moved beyond technical experimentation toward mature artistic voice. The photograph demonstrates that mastery emerges not from discovering novel techniques but from wielding established ones with intention, subtlety, and unwavering attention to the specific demands of place and moment.