Photography – Greg Urbano

Milky Way Interrupted: The Anthropocene Inscribed in Starlight

“Milky Way Interrupted,” a photograph by Greg Urbano, captures a unique blend of three realities—the Milky Way, Colorado mountains, and an aircraft’s light trail. This interplay creates tension between the timeless cosmos and modern human impact, emphasizing how even remote landscapes reflect our influence. The image invites varied interpretations while acknowledging evolving wilderness photography’s complexities.

The Milky Way stretches across a star-filled night sky above silhouetted mountain ridges, with a bright aircraft light trail crossing the stars. — The Milky Way appears above the mountains of Rocky Mountain National Park as an aircraft passes through the night sky near Rainbow Curve.

Among the selections comprising Chapter 3 of Greg Urbano’s Top 100 Journey, “Milky Way Interrupted” stands as perhaps the most conceptually layered work—a photograph that captures not one subject but three distinct temporal and spatial realities coexisting within a single frame. Captured from Rainbow Curve in Rocky Mountain National Park, the image presents the galactic core of the Milky Way, the ancient mountain silhouettes of Colorado’s high country, and a striking diagonal light trail that bisects the celestial display with unmistakable human presence.

The composition’s power lies precisely in this interruption. The aircraft’s light trail—rendered as a warm, golden-orange streak through long exposure—cuts diagonally across the frame, creating a dynamic tension between the timeless and the contemporary. While astrophotography typically seeks to eliminate such intrusions, this photographer has embraced the collision, transforming what might be considered a technical flaw into the photograph’s conceptual strength. The work becomes a document of our current moment, when even the most remote wilderness viewing points cannot escape the signatures of human movement across the planet.

Technical execution reveals careful consideration of the challenges inherent to night sky photography. Shot with a Nikon Z5, the image demonstrates the full-frame sensor’s capability to resolve stellar detail while managing the noise characteristics of extended ISO settings. The photographer has successfully balanced multiple exposure considerations: maintaining star sharpness through appropriate shutter speed selection, capturing the subtle gradations of airglow near the horizon, and rendering the mountainous foreground as legible silhouettes rather than featureless black masses.

The color palette deserves particular attention. The frame transitions from deep indigo and blue-black in the upper reaches, through the dusty rose and purple tones of the galactic core, down to the unexpected warmth of light pollution painting the horizon in amber and gold. This terrestrial glow—emanating from Front Range cities invisible beyond the mountains—creates an almost painterly quality along the lower third of the composition. The photograph thus captures three light sources simultaneously: starlight millions of years old, the reflected sunlight from a pressurized aluminum tube at 35,000 feet, and the collective illumination of human civilization diffused through atmosphere and distance.

Within the context of the Colorado Landscapes & Cityscapes chapter, this work occupies a unique position. It represents the photographer’s willingness to document Colorado not as pristine wilderness separate from human influence, but as a landscape inevitably marked by contemporary life. The image acknowledges that wilderness photography in the 21st century must contend with satellite constellations, flight paths, and light pollution—that the “natural” landscape exists now only in relationship to human infrastructure.

The title’s simple declaration—”Interrupted”—functions with appropriate restraint. It states fact without judgment, allowing viewers to bring their own interpretations to the juxtaposition. Some may read the aircraft trail as intrusion, others as a reminder of our species’ brief moment against cosmic timescales. The photographer wisely resists imposing a singular reading, instead presenting the visual evidence and trusting the inherent complexity of the image to generate meaning. This restraint marks a mature approach to landscape photography’s evolving role in documenting our changing relationship with the natural world.

St. Vrain Waterfall: A Study in Motion and Permanence

The photograph of a small waterfall along St. Vrain Creek embodies the tension between geological permanence and water’s fleeting essence. Using long exposure, it transforms the scene into a contemplative study of motion and stillness. The intimate scale highlights the beauty of overlooked subjects, emphasizing the profound within Colorado’s landscapes.

Long exposure view of a small waterfall flowing through smooth granite boulders along St. Vrain Creek. — A small waterfall flows between granite rocks along St. Vrain Creek in northern Colorado.

Within the third chapter of Greg Urbano’s Top 100 Journey—devoted to Colorado Landscapes & Cityscapes—this long exposure photograph of the St. Vrain presents a meditation on the fundamental tension between geological permanence and hydrological flux. The image captures a modest cascade in Northern Colorado, yet its technical execution elevates what might be considered a commonplace subject into something altogether more contemplative.

The photographer’s decision to employ long exposure proves essential to the work’s success. Water, rendered as gossamer curtains of white and pale green, flows through the frame with an almost supernatural quality. This technique transforms the kinetic energy of rushing water into something visually paradoxical: movement frozen into silken stillness. The effect creates a temporal ambiguity that refuses to commit to either instant or duration, existing instead in a liminal space between photographic modes.

Compositionally, the work demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of how natural forms interact within the frame. Pink-hued granite boulders, weathered and moss-touched, provide structural anchors throughout the image. These stones—products of millennia—stand in stark contrast to the ephemeral blur of water that has shaped them. The photographer positions these elements with careful attention to visual weight and balance, allowing the eye to trace pathways through the composition that mirror the water’s own journey through the rocky terrain.

The color palette reveals itself as deliberately restrained. Warm earth tones of pink and tan granite dominate, punctuated by touches of green moss and the cool, milky whites of the flowing water. This chromatic restraint prevents the image from becoming overly dramatic, instead maintaining the documentary authenticity that characterizes much of this chapter’s work. The photographer resists the temptation to over-saturate or manipulate, trusting the natural beauty of the Colorado landscape to speak for itself.

What distinguishes this photograph within the broader context of the Colorado Landscapes & Cityscapes chapter is its intimate scale. Rather than pursuing the grand vistas often associated with Rocky Mountain photography, the work turns its attention to a more modest subject—a small waterfall that countless hikers might pass without particular notice. This choice reflects a maturing sensibility within the photographer’s practice, one that finds profundity in the overlooked rather than the obvious.

The technical execution warrants recognition as well. Managing long exposure in daylight conditions requires careful control of light through neutral density filtration and precise shutter speed calculation. The photographer has balanced these elements skillfully, maintaining detail in both the highlighted water and shadowed crevices of stone. Branches visible at the top of the frame remain relatively sharp, suggesting a shutter speed calibrated to render water motion without sacrificing all structural definition in the surrounding environment.

Within the arc of the Top 100 Journey project, this image represents an important moment of focus. The work demonstrates that landscape photography need not rely on sweeping panoramas or dramatic weather to achieve visual and emotional resonance. Instead, it proposes that careful attention to the quotidian—to the small waterfalls tucked into Northern Colorado’s piedmont—can yield images of equal contemplative depth. The St. Vrain Waterfall stands as evidence of a photographer learning to see not just the spectacular, but the quietly profound.

Lights Camera Action: Urban Pulse and Architectural Legacy

The photograph captures the Broadway and Tremont intersection in downtown Denver, highlighting the contrast between historic architecture and modern life through long exposure techniques. It features the Brown Palace Hotel amidst urban vitality, emphasizing Denver’s artistic complexity. The image challenges traditional views on Colorado’s landscape, advocating for cityscapes’ recognition in photographic surveys.

Long exposure light trails streak through a downtown Denver intersection at night, with tall buildings and streetlights surrounding the scene. — Long exposure traffic moves through the Broadway and Tremont intersection in downtown Denver, Colorado, with city buildings illuminated at night.

In this dynamic nocturnal study of downtown Denver, the photographer captures the essential duality of contemporary urban experience—the historic permanence of architecture set against the ephemeral flow of modern life. Positioned at the intersection of Broadway and Tremont, the image exemplifies his expanding vision within Chapter 3 of the Top 100 Journey, demonstrating how cityscapes demand entirely different technical and conceptual approaches than the natural landscapes that dominate much of his Colorado work.

The composition centers on the iconic triangular form of the Brown Palace Hotel, its distinctive Italianate Renaissance architecture rendered in warm amber tones against the deep blue of evening sky. This historic structure, framed between modern high-rises including the recognizable Republic Plaza tower, serves as both literal and metaphorical anchor—a touchstone of Denver’s Victorian-era prosperity surrounded by evidence of contemporary economic vitality. The photographer’s selection of this particular vantage point acknowledges the city’s layered temporal identity, where preservation and progress coexist in productive tension.

Working with an 18mm Samyang wide-angle lens mounted to his Sony A7II, he employs long exposure to transform vehicular traffic into ribbons of light—brilliant red taillights streaking horizontally across the frame’s lower third. These light trails provide kinetic energy and directional movement, leading the eye through the urban canyon while simultaneously suggesting the ceaseless motion of city life. Street lamps contribute their own starburst effects, punctuating the composition with points of crystalline brilliance that add theatrical dimension to the scene.

The technical execution reveals sophisticated understanding of night photography’s particular challenges. The exposure balances multiple light sources—artificial street lighting, illuminated building interiors, vehicle headlights, and residual ambient sky—without sacrificing detail in highlights or shadows. Corporate signage for KeyBank and Bank of Colorado glows with intentional clarity, grounding the image in specific place while contributing to the overall color harmony. The photographer’s post-processing in Luminar 4 has enhanced these chromatic relationships without pushing them into garishness, maintaining naturalistic tonality despite the inherently artificial lighting conditions.

What distinguishes this photograph within the broader chapter is its successful integration of Colorado’s urban identity alongside the state’s more frequently celebrated natural splendor. While mountain vistas and wilderness landscapes tend to dominate photographic representations of Colorado, this image argues persuasively for Denver’s visual complexity and photographic merit. The cityscape becomes landscape—vertical rather than horizontal, constructed rather than geological, but equally worthy of sustained aesthetic attention.

The wide-angle perspective introduces subtle geometric distortion that emphasizes the vertiginous quality of urban space, the way buildings frame and compress sky into channels of deep blue-black. Empty pavement in the immediate foreground provides breathing room, allowing viewers to enter the scene before being swept into the light-streaked energy of the intersection itself. This compositional breathing space demonstrates restraint and confidence, resisting the temptation to fill every pixel with information.

Within his evolving practice, this photograph represents important formal development. The controlled chaos of long-exposure urban photography requires different skills than landscape work—timing traffic flow, managing mixed lighting, balancing architectural detail against motion blur. His success here suggests a photographer expanding his technical vocabulary while maintaining consistent artistic sensibility. The image asks viewers to reconsider what constitutes Colorado landscape, proposing that cityscapes deserve equal consideration in any comprehensive photographic survey of the state’s visual identity.

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.

Holiday Traffic: Urban Kinetics and the Ground-Level Perspective

Greg Urbano’s long-exposure photograph captures holiday traffic at a city intersection, blending urban dynamism with modern landscape photography. The low, ground-level perspective emphasizes movement and depth, contrasting traditional views. Utilizing experimental techniques, Urbano transforms mundane urban elements into visually engaging art, reflecting an intersection of Colorado’s natural and built environments.

Long exposure light trails streak across a city intersection at night, with a sewer grate and patches of ice in the foreground. — Long exposure light trails cross a city intersection at night, viewed from curb level during holiday traffic.

This long-exposure photograph marks a decisive departure from traditional landscape photography within Chapter 3 of Greg Urbano’s Top 100 Journey, demonstrating that the “cityscapes” component of his Colorado documentation extends beyond skyline silhouettes into the kinetic reality of urban infrastructure. Positioned at street level—literally at the curb—the photographer has created a dynamic study of nocturnal traffic patterns that transforms the mundane intersection of College Boulevard into a theater of light and motion.

The technical approach reveals deliberate experimentation with newly acquired equipment. Working with a Samyang 18mm wide-angle lens on his Sony A7ii, the photographer has exploited the optical characteristics of ultra-wide focal lengths to create exaggerated perspective and spatial depth. The low vantage point amplifies this effect dramatically: the sewer grate in the immediate foreground looms with tactile presence, its metal bars and residual ice providing textural anchor, while the light trails streak overhead in explosive radial patterns that suggest velocity and urban energy.

The compositional strategy employed here is remarkably sophisticated for what the photographer describes as “one of my early outings” with this lens. The image functions as a composite of multiple 25-30 second exposures, a technique that allows for selective accumulation of specific light sources while maintaining overall exposure balance. The resulting layering creates what might be termed a temporal palimpsest—multiple moments collapsed into a single frame, where red taillights and white headlamps trace the choreography of holiday traffic against the static geometry of traffic signals, street lamps, and seasonal decorations visible in the background.

What distinguishes this work from conventional light trail photography is its grounded perspective. Rather than adopting the elevated, observational stance typical of urban night photography, the photographer has chosen a worm’s-eye view that positions the viewer within the street infrastructure itself. This decision transforms the image from documentation into experience—we are not watching traffic from safe remove, but inhabiting the same plane as the vehicles themselves, separated only by the curb’s modest elevation.

The inclusion of the ice-rimmed drain grate serves multiple functions. Practically, it provides a foreground anchor that prevents the eye from being immediately swept into the light trails. Conceptually, it connects this urban image to the winter conditions documented elsewhere in the chapter, suggesting continuity between Colorado’s natural and built environments. The detail also introduces narrative specificity—this is not generic cityscape, but a particular moment following “last week’s big snowfall,” situating the photograph within both seasonal and meteorological context.

Within Urbano’s broader practice, this image represents important evolution. It demonstrates willingness to explore the full spectrum of Colorado’s visual character, from wilderness solitude to urban dynamism. The experimental nature of the work—testing new equipment, exploring composite techniques, embracing an unconventional viewpoint—suggests a photographer actively expanding his technical vocabulary rather than retreating to established formulas.

The photograph ultimately succeeds by finding aesthetic potential in overlooked urban moments. The holiday season’s increased traffic becomes raw material for abstract light painting, while municipal infrastructure—storm drains, asphalt, street furniture—gains unexpected visual dignity through careful framing and extended exposure. It is urbanism made kinetic, infrastructure rendered poetic.

Contemporary Urban Narrative: The Scooter as Cultural Marker in Denver’s Historic District

The photograph captures Denver’s Union Station, highlighting urban mobility through an electric scooter, symbolizing the modern sharing economy. Blending historic architecture and contemporary transit, it embodies Denver’s revitalization. The technical execution showcases skill in low-light conditions, emphasizing the cityscape’s complexity as part of Colorado’s evolving identity.

An electric scooter stands on a plaza at Denver Union Station, framed by brick buildings and evening traffic under a cloudy sky. — An electric scooter sits in the foreground near Denver Union Station as evening light and traffic move through downtown Denver.

In this street-level composition from Denver’s Union Station district, the photographer constructs a narrative about contemporary urban mobility that extends beyond mere documentation. The electric scooter, positioned prominently in the foreground, functions as both subject and symbol—a deliberate choice that anchors this image firmly in its specific cultural moment while engaging with the broader themes of his Colorado cityscapes chapter.

Shot with the Nikon Z5 and Nikkor 14-30mm wide-angle lens during the transitional blue hour, the image demonstrates technical command over challenging mixed-lighting conditions. His HDR processing through Aurora software balances the warm sodium vapor glow of street lamps with the cooler tones of approaching dusk, creating a color palette that feels authentic to the urban evening experience. The dramatic cloud formations overhead add atmospheric weight without overwhelming the architectural elements below.

The composition’s strength lies in its layered storytelling. The scooter occupies the immediate foreground, a symbol of the sharing economy and evolving transportation patterns that have reshaped American cities in recent years. Behind it, motion-blurred pedestrians and vehicle light trails suggest continuous movement—the perpetual flow of urban life. The red brick Victorian-era buildings flanking the street provide historical context, their solid permanence contrasting with the ephemeral nature of the modern transit device and the transient human figures.

This juxtaposition between historic preservation and contemporary innovation becomes the photograph’s central thesis. Denver’s Union Station neighborhood represents a successful urban revitalization, where nineteenth-century industrial architecture has been adapted for twenty-first-century use. The photographer captures this temporal complexity not through obvious before-and-after documentation, but through subtle visual relationships: old brick against new pavement, traditional street furniture against app-based transportation, architectural permanence against digital-age impermanence.

The wide-angle perspective creates dynamic leading lines through the paved plaza, drawing the viewer’s eye from the scooter through the middle ground and toward the vanishing point where downtown high-rises punctuate the skyline. Pink flowers frame the right edge, their organic forms softening the geometric rigor of the built environment while adding unexpected color that complements the warm building tones.

Within the context of Chapter 3’s exploration of Colorado landscapes and cityscapes, this image represents an important counterpoint to mountain vistas and natural panoramas. It acknowledges that Colorado’s contemporary identity includes rapidly growing urban centers navigating questions of density, mobility, and livability. The photographer treats the cityscape with the same observational care one might afford wilderness photography, suggesting that urban environments deserve equally thoughtful documentation.

The technical execution reflects growing proficiency with the Z5 system in low-light scenarios. The exposure balances bright highlights from street lamps and vehicle headlights while retaining shadow detail in the building facades and foreground elements. This dynamic range management, enhanced through HDR processing, avoids the artificial appearance that often compromises such techniques.

Ultimately, this photograph functions as cultural documentation—a moment preserved when electric scooters had become ubiquitous urban fixtures, when historic districts balanced preservation with progress, and when cities like Denver negotiated their identity between Western heritage and metropolitan aspiration. The photographer’s choice to include this image in his curated Top 100 Journey acknowledges that landscape photography can encompass the human-altered terrain of city streets, where the stories being told are equally complex and worthy of attention.

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.

Convention Center Station: Urban Infrastructure as Light Study

The photograph at Denver’s Convention Center RTD station captures an arriving light rail train through long exposure, emphasizing urban environments over natural landscapes. The technical choices create depth and contrast between warm light trails and cooler architectural tones. This piece illustrates Colorado’s identity, showcasing urban transit as significant as its natural vistas.

Text: Long exposure view of the RTD light rail platform at the Convention Center with blurred train lights in downtown Denver. — A long exposure captures an arriving RTD light rail train at the Convention Center station in downtown Denver, Colorado.

In the urban component of Chapter 3—Colorado Landscapes & Cityscapes—this long exposure photograph of Denver’s Convention Center RTD station marks a deliberate shift from natural subjects to the constructed environments that define contemporary Colorado life. The image captures a light rail train arriving at the platform, its motion rendered as luminous streaks of amber and red that cut through the architectural geometry of the underground station. This is urban photography that privileges process and temporal collapse over the decisive moment, transforming public transit infrastructure into an exercise in controlled abstraction.

The photographer’s technical approach is fundamental to the image’s success. Using a Sony A7ii paired with a Samyang 18mm wide-angle lens, he has embraced the distortions and expansiveness that such focal lengths provide. The wide angle compresses the station’s perspective while simultaneously stretching its architectural lines, creating a sense of depth that pulls the viewer’s eye from the central platform toward both vanishing points. The long exposure—likely several seconds given the degree of light trail elongation—allows the moving train to register as pure energy rather than solid form, a ghost of motion suspended within the static framework of concrete, steel, and tile.

Color plays a crucial structural role. The safety-yellow platform edges create strong horizontal bands that anchor the composition and provide visual weight at the bottom of the frame. These bright strips contrast sharply with the cooler tones dominating the upper portions—cyan-tinted fluorescent lighting that bathes the ceiling panels and creates atmospheric zones of cool illumination. The train’s light trails introduce warm amber tones that bridge these temperature extremes, serving as the compositional focal point despite their ethereal nature. The signage identifying the Theatre District/Convention Center stop glows in the upper third, grounding the image in specific geographic and civic context.

What distinguishes this work within the broader chapter is its commitment to representing Colorado’s urban character with the same attention previously devoted to its natural landscapes. Denver’s RTD system, as critical infrastructure connecting the metropolitan region, deserves documentation as much as any mountain vista or aspen grove. The photographer recognizes this and approaches the subject with seriousness of purpose. The empty platform—devoid of waiting passengers—allows the architecture and light to speak without human interruption, though the absence of people also raises questions about time of day, accessibility, and the photographer’s relationship to urban space during off-peak hours.

The symmetry is notable but not absolute. The central platform creates a strong vertical axis, reinforced by support columns and the overhead ceiling structure. Yet the composition retains enough asymmetry—particularly in the light trails and architectural details—to avoid static formalism. The textured platform surface, captured with clarity despite the low light conditions, provides tactile detail that prevents the image from becoming purely graphic.

Within a collection that spans Colorado’s diverse visual territories, this photograph asserts that the state’s identity includes its cities and their infrastructure. It is work that finds aesthetic potential in transit stations, that sees light trails as valid subjects alongside geological formations, and that expands the definition of landscape to include the spaces humans build for movement and connection.

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.

Colorado Capital Rotunda: Vertical Aspiration and Ornamental Complexity

The photograph of the Colorado State Capitol rotunda represents a shift in architectural perspective, focusing on the interior’s ornate details rather than external views. Using a wide-angle lens, the image captures the dome’s grandeur and intricate design, embodying the civic experience and inviting public engagement while highlighting historical and democratic ideals.

Upward view of the ornate rotunda ceiling inside the Colorado State Capitol, showing concentric arches and a central skylight. — An interior view looking up into the rotunda of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver, Colorado.

This interior study of the Colorado State Capitol rotunda marks a significant compositional departure within Chapter 3 of the Top 100 Journey. Where previous images in this collection have examined architecture from external vantage points—emphasizing façade, silhouette, and contextual placement—this photograph inverts the perspective, directing the viewer’s gaze upward through concentric rings of ornamental detail toward a luminous oculus. The shift from exterior monumentality to interior intimacy reveals the photographer’s expanding investigation of how architectural space shapes civic experience and visual perception.

Shot with a Nikon D610 and an 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5 lens at 19mm, the wide-angle focal length proves essential to capturing the rotunda’s full vertical sweep within a single frame. The fisheye-like distortion inherent at this focal length amplifies the dome’s centripetal geometry, creating a vortex effect that draws the eye inexorably toward the coffered ceiling and its central aperture. The exposure settings—f/8.0 at 1/10s, ISO 400—balance the need for depth of field across multiple architectural tiers with the practical constraints of handheld low-light shooting. The resulting image maintains sharpness from the foreground balustrade through to the uppermost decorative elements.

The color palette divides into two distinct thermal zones. Warm golden tones dominate the lower registers, where artificial lighting illuminates gilt detailing, coffered panels, and classical ornamentation. These warm hues gradually transition to cooler whites and pale blues as the eye travels upward, culminating in the natural daylight filtering through the oculus. This chromatic shift reinforces the spiritual and hierarchical symbolism embedded in rotunda architecture—earthly richness below, celestial purity above—while simultaneously demonstrating the photographer’s attentiveness to mixed lighting conditions.

Compositional rigor anchors what could easily become visual chaos. The photographer positions himself at the precise center point beneath the dome, ensuring perfect radial symmetry. This decision transforms architectural documentation into geometric meditation, where repeating patterns of coffering, balustrades, and Corinthian capitals establish rhythmic visual cadence. The inclusion of the ornate balustrade in the lower left introduces human scale and tactile detail, preventing the image from becoming pure abstraction while emphasizing the building’s accessibility—a public space designed for citizen engagement.

Within the broader narrative of Chapter 3, this rotunda photograph functions as conceptual bridge between exterior civic monumentality and the quotidian experience of urban space. It reveals what lies beneath the gilded dome captured in his nocturnal exterior study, exposing the elaborate craftsmanship and symbolic program that nineteenth-century architects employed to manifest democratic ideals through built form. The image documents not merely architectural opulence but the spatial theater of governance—the designed environment through which political power seeks legitimacy through aesthetic grandeur.

The photographer’s note regarding access—”as simple as passing through a metal detector”—introduces subtle contemporary commentary. This threshold between public and civic space, between everyday citizen and architectural spectacle, becomes invisible in the final image yet remains conceptually present. The photograph captures a space designed for transparency and public access, its ornamental complexity serving not to exclude but to dignify the democratic project. In rendering this vertical architecture with technical precision and compositional thoughtfulness, the photographer documents both historical aspiration and ongoing civic function, making visible the constructed environments through which Colorado’s political identity continues to be performed and experienced.

Boulder Theater Marquee: Neon Vernacular and Urban Memory

The Boulder Theater marquee in Colorado signifies a shift in the photographer’s focus from grand landscapes to community identity through vernacular architecture. The vibrant neon colors and design highlight cultural memory and urban vitality, capturing the theater as a living space that merges historical aesthetics with contemporary relevance, reflecting the complexity of Colorado’s identity.

Neon-lit marquee of the Boulder Theater viewed from below against a deep blue evening sky. — The illuminated neon marquee of the Boulder Theater glows at night in Boulder, Colorado.

Within Chapter 3 of the Top 100 Journey—Colorado Landscapes & Cityscapes—this vibrant study of the Boulder Theater marquee represents a deliberate shift in the photographer’s engagement with place. Moving beyond natural terrain and monumental civic architecture, he turns his attention to vernacular structures that anchor community identity. The theater marquee, with its layered neon typography and saturated color palette, becomes a subject through which to examine cultural memory, commercial aesthetics, and the relationship between preservation and vitality in Colorado’s urban fabric.

The composition exploits the dramatic convergence of neon signage against the deepening blue hour sky. Shot at 28mm with the Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS kit lens, the wide angle captures the marquee’s full architectural gesture—the sweeping curves of blue neon tubing that frame the illuminated message board, the iconic “Boulder” script rendered in brilliant red and orange, and the classic Art Deco detailing that situates this structure within a specific historical moment. The exposure settings—f/5.6 at 1/125s, ISO 400—balance ambient light with the intense luminosity of the neon, preventing blown highlights while maintaining detail in the surrounding architecture.

Color becomes the image’s primary narrative force. The red-to-orange gradient of the “Boulder” lettering contrasts sharply with the cool blue neon below, creating complementary tension that draws the eye across the frame. The yellow marquee board, studded with bulbs and announcing “BOOMTOWN DEMO D,” introduces a third chromatic element while grounding the image in specificity and time. This is not a sanitized historical recreation but a working theater captured mid-programming, its marquee functioning as intended—communication, invitation, spectacle.

The photographer’s decision to include surrounding context—the modern glass facade rising behind the vintage marquee, the darkening sky, the subtle presence of street elements—situates the theater within its contemporary environment rather than isolating it as nostalgic artifact. This approach speaks to his evolving methodology within the chapter, where place is understood not as static subject but as palimpsest, layered with temporal and cultural inscriptions. The Boulder Theater, a 1906 structure renovated and preserved, embodies this complexity: historic form activated by present-day use.

The low vantage point emphasizes the marquee’s projecting geometry, its thrust into public space. This compositional choice transforms signage into sculpture, highlighting the physicality of mid-century commercial architecture. The neon tubing, with its visible mounting hardware and electrical infrastructure, reveals construction and craft—elements often obscured in more polished architectural photography but celebrated here as integral to authenticity.

Within the broader trajectory of Chapter 3, the Boulder Theater image functions as cultural counterpoint to wilderness landscapes and governmental monuments. It represents Colorado’s smaller-scale urban centers, places where preservation efforts maintain continuity with architectural heritage while accommodating contemporary cultural production. The theater becomes microcosm—a site where community gathers, where entertainment and commerce intersect, where historical aesthetics remain relevant.

The photographer captures not merely a building but an experience of place, translating the visceral impact of neon light into two-dimensional form. In doing so, he documents Colorado’s layered identity: natural grandeur, civic aspiration, and the quieter vernacular spaces where daily life unfolds. The marquee, brilliant against evening sky, asserts that urban landscapes possess their own compelling beauty—electric, temporal, human-scaled, and essential to understanding the full spectrum of place.

Colorado Capital Rotunda: A Study in Civic Monumentality

The photograph of the Colorado State Capitol at night showcases the blend of technical skill and atmospheric expression in architectural photography. Captured during the blue hour, it emphasizes the dome’s gilded brilliance against a cobalt sky, revealing a balance of light, color, and human presence, while symbolizing civic power and cultural heritage.

Night view of the Colorado State Capitol dome with a motion-blurred American flag against a deep blue sky. — The illuminated rotunda of the Colorado State Capitol rises above the building exterior at night in Denver, Colorado.

In this commanding nocturnal study of the Colorado State Capitol, the photographer demonstrates a refined understanding of architectural photography’s dual responsibilities: technical precision and atmospheric interpretation. Selected for Chapter 3 of his Top 100 Journey project—Colorado Landscapes & Cityscapes—this image represents a pivotal moment in his exploration of the built environment, where civic architecture becomes a vehicle for examining light, color, and symbolic presence.

The composition centers on the capitol’s gilded dome, captured during the blue hour when natural and artificial light exist in delicate equilibrium. This timing proves essential to the photograph’s success. The deep cobalt sky provides a saturated backdrop that amplifies the dome’s golden luminosity, creating a color relationship that feels both dramatic and harmonious. The warm interior lights visible through the arched windows add a third tonal layer, suggesting human activity within the monumental structure and grounding the image in the present moment rather than rendering it as pure abstraction.

Technical choices reveal deliberate restraint. Shot with a Sony A7 II and the modest FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS kit lens at 67mm, the equipment demonstrates that compelling imagery emerges from vision rather than gear acquisition. The exposure settings—f/6.3 at two seconds, ISO 50—indicate careful balancing of depth of field with the need to maintain sharpness during a moderately long exposure. The low ISO preserves image quality while the aperture ensures adequate detail across the dome’s ornate surface. The two-second shutter speed captures the flag’s motion blur, introducing a kinetic element that contrasts with the building’s permanence.

The symmetrical framing amplifies the capitol’s authority. By positioning the dome centrally and shooting from a low vantage point, the photographer emphasizes verticality and grandeur, compositional strategies long employed in architectural documentation to convey institutional power. Yet this image transcends mere documentation. The illuminated structure against the darkening sky transforms civic architecture into something more atmospheric—a beacon, a sculptural form isolated from its urban context.

Within the broader narrative of Chapter 3, this photograph serves as an essential counterpoint to natural landscape work. Where mountain vistas and wilderness scenes explore Colorado’s geological character, the capitol image examines human imprint on the landscape. The gold-leafed dome—a material detail worth noting for its literal and metaphorical weight—echoes the state’s mining heritage while asserting permanence and prosperity. The photographer captures not merely a building but a symbol, rendering it with enough aesthetic sophistication that the image functions simultaneously as architectural record and contemplative study.

The cool base lighting washing across the pediment introduces contemporary illumination techniques into classical architecture, creating temporal layering that speaks to preservation and adaptation. This detail, easily overlooked, suggests the photographer’s attention to how light shapes meaning and perception.

As part of the Top 100 Journey, this image demonstrates evolving technical confidence and conceptual maturity. The photographer moves beyond straightforward landscape capture toward work that interrogates place, power, and representation. The capitol becomes more than subject matter—it becomes a meditation on how we mark territory, assert identity, and illuminate what we value. In this nocturnal portrait of civic architecture, monumentality meets vulnerability, permanence meets fleeting light, and documentation becomes art.

Boulder Creek Long Exposure

The aerial photograph of Boulder Creek, captured with a DJI Mini 3 Pro drone, showcases a harmonious blend of long exposure techniques and modern technology. The composition balances flowing water and angular granite boulders, creating an abstract visual narrative that highlights the juxtaposition of motion and permanence in landscape photography.

Long-exposure view of flowing creek water cascading over large rocks in a narrow channel. — Long-exposure water flows over boulders in Boulder Creek along Boulder Canyon Drive, Colorado.

This aerial perspective of Boulder Creek represents a striking departure in both technical approach and creative vision, captured not with traditional camera equipment but with a DJI Mini 3 Pro drone equipped with a Freewell ND2000 filter. The photographer’s willingness to embrace emerging technologies while maintaining classical long exposure techniques demonstrates an adaptive practice that refuses to be constrained by conventional methodologies. Shot at 6.7mm with ƒ/1.7 aperture, 1/2 second exposure, and ISO 100, the image transforms cascading water and weathered granite into an abstract study of motion and permanence.

The aerial vantage point offers what might be termed a “god’s eye” perspective—looking directly down upon the creek as it navigates through massive boulders along Boulder Canyon Drive. This top-down orientation fundamentally alters the traditional landscape viewing experience. Rather than observing the scene from a human standpoint at creek level, the viewer hovers above, granted access to compositional relationships and water patterns typically invisible from ground perspective. The half-second exposure blurs the rushing water into silken ribbons that weave between dark stones, creating organic shapes that appear almost calligraphic against the textured rock surfaces.

The geological elements provide crucial counterpoint to the flowing water. Angular granite boulders, their surfaces marked by striations and mineral deposits, display warm ochre and gray tones that anchor the composition’s cooler water tones. These stones reveal billions of years of geological history—compression, uplift, erosion—rendered in layers and fractures visible even from the drone’s elevation. The photographer frames the scene to balance solid mass with liquid movement, allowing neither element to dominate but instead creating a dynamic equilibrium between opposing forces.

The technical execution demonstrates sophisticated problem-solving. Achieving long exposure effects from an airborne platform presents unique challenges—the drone itself must remain perfectly stable while the camera shutter stays open. The ND2000 filter proves essential, reducing light transmission sufficiently to permit a half-second exposure in daylight conditions without overexposure. At ƒ/1.7, the lens operates wide open, yet the minimal depth of field concerns inherent in macro or portrait photography become irrelevant when shooting from such elevation; everything within the frame exists at roughly equivalent focus distance.

Within Chapter 2—Florida Landscapes & Cityscapes—this Colorado waterway continues the photographer’s geographic expansion evident throughout this section of the Top 100 Journey. The consistent choice to photograph Rocky Mountain landscapes suggests deliberate exploration of environments radically different from Florida’s flat, subtropical character. Perhaps this juxtaposition serves the project’s broader narrative: an artist defining his vision through contrast, discovering what landscape means by experiencing its various manifestations across diverse topographies.

“Boulder Creek Long Exposure 001” ultimately represents the democratization of aerial perspective through consumer drone technology, married to time-honored long exposure aesthetics. The photographer recognizes that tools matter less than vision—that a small drone can produce work as artistically valid as traditional large-format equipment when wielded with intention and compositional awareness. The image stands as testament to adaptive practice in contemporary landscape photography, where technical innovation serves timeless artistic goals.

Big Thompson Long Exposure

The photograph of the Big Thompson River showcases a masterful interplay of permanence and fluidity through long exposure techniques. Captured in Colorado, the image emphasizes detail in granite boulders alongside soft, flowing water. It reflects the photographer’s evolving artistic journey, expanding thematic boundaries while presenting a cohesive and naturalistic landscape composition.

Long exposure view of fast-moving water flowing over a rocky drop on the Big Thompson River between granite boulders. — Water flows over a small rocky drop along the Big Thompson River, photographed with a long exposure.

The photographer’s technical mastery converges with natural drama in this commanding study of the Big Thompson River, captured in Colorado’s rugged high country. Shot with a Sony Alpha a7 II paired with the Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS lens at 62mm, the image employs long exposure technique enhanced by neutral density filtration to transform rushing water into ethereal ribbons of motion. At ƒ/9.0 and ISO 50, the exposure settings reveal a deliberate approach to capturing both sharpness in the surrounding geology and the silken blur of flowing water.

What immediately arrests the viewer is the dramatic interplay between permanence and fluidity. Massive granite boulders—textured, ancient, immovable—frame a cascade that appears simultaneously powerful and gossamer-soft. The long exposure technique transforms the torrent into bands of cream and amber, creating visual movement that guides the eye through the composition in sweeping arcs. The golden tint in the water suggests the presence of sediment or tannins, lending warmth to what might otherwise read as a cool mountain scene.

The compositional architecture demonstrates sophisticated understanding of visual weight and balance. A substantial boulder occupies the right foreground, its weathered surface rendered in exquisite detail, while a piece of driftwood creates a diagonal element that adds depth and natural geometry. The left side reveals stratified rock walls, their vertical presence providing counterpoint to the horizontal flow. This triangulation of elements—stone, water, wood—creates a cohesive environmental portrait rather than merely documenting a waterfall.

The inclusion of this image within Chapter 2—Florida Landscapes & Cityscapes—presents an intriguing curatorial question. Clearly captured in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain ecosystem rather than Florida, the photograph signals an expansion in the photographer’s geographical scope and thematic boundaries. This apparent departure from the chapter’s titular focus suggests an evolving artistic journey, one where the photographer moves beyond regional constraints to explore universal themes of landscape and natural process. Perhaps the chapter title reflects the photographer’s home base or primary focus, while individual works demonstrate his widening field of exploration.

The technical execution reveals growing confidence with long exposure photography as a expressive tool. The neutral density filter allows for extended exposure times in daylight conditions, creating that characteristic motion blur while maintaining proper exposure across the frame’s dynamic range. The choice of ƒ/9.0 ensures adequate depth of field to keep both foreground rocks and background elements acceptably sharp, a critical consideration in landscape work where context matters as much as subject.

What elevates this beyond technical exercise is the photographer’s eye for natural composition. The cascade’s S-curve creates inherent grace, while the careful positioning relative to the boulder forms suggests patient observation and deliberate framing. The subdued color palette—grays, tans, muted greens—speaks to naturalistic rendering rather than heightened saturation, allowing texture and form to dominate over chromatic spectacle.

Within the broader trajectory of the Top 100 Journey project, this image represents an artist testing boundaries and methodologies. It demonstrates that landscape photography, when executed with technical precision and compositional awareness, can reveal the sublime within the observable—the eternal dance between stone and water, stillness and motion, captured in a single decisive exposure.

City Pier on Anna Maria Island: A Study in Patience and Atmospheric Drama

The long exposure photograph of the City Pier on Anna Maria Island captures the unique interplay of land, water, and sky under dramatic storm clouds. Through technical mastery, the image transforms fleeting moments into timelessness, blending sharp details of the pier with ethereal human figures and smooth water, reflecting deep engagement with Florida’s coastal landscapes.

Long exposure photograph of the City Pier on Anna Maria Island, showing a wooden pier leading to a waterfront building under dark storm clouds. — Long exposure view of the City Pier on Anna Maria Island beneath dramatic storm clouds.

Within the photographer’s carefully curated Top 100 Journey, this long exposure study of the City Pier on Anna Maria Island stands as a masterful example of how technical discipline can amplify emotional resonance. Positioned within Chapter 2—Florida Landscapes & Cityscapes—the image demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of the Gulf Coast’s unique visual character, where land, water, and sky exist in constant, subtle negotiation.

The composition reveals itself through classical simplicity: a weathered wooden pier extends from foreground to middle distance, leading the viewer’s eye toward a modest building crowned with an American flag. Yet what elevates this photograph beyond documentary record is the photographer’s deliberate manipulation of time itself. Shot with a fifteen-second exposure at f/18, the image transforms fleeting atmospheric conditions into something more permanent and contemplative. The threatening cloud formations above, rather than appearing frozen in mid-motion, achieve a painterly quality—their movement compressed and softened into bands of gray and white that suggest both weight and ethereality.

This temporal expansion creates a fascinating duality throughout the frame. While the pier’s wooden planks remain sharp and detailed, bearing the textural evidence of salt air and countless footfalls, the human figures near the building dissolve into ghostly presences, their individual identities surrendered to the longer rhythm of place. The water, too, undergoes transformation; what would typically appear as distinct waves and surface texture becomes a smooth, almost metallic gradient stretching from jade green to soft gray, merging seamlessly with the horizon.

The technical execution here deserves careful consideration. Working with a Nikon D610 and an 18-35mm lens set to 35mm, the photographer has achieved remarkable sharpness across the entire frame. The f/18 aperture ensures deep depth of field while the ISO 100 setting maintains clean tonal gradations essential for the image’s subtle atmospheric rendering. These choices reflect not mere technical competence but aesthetic intention—a desire to capture both concrete detail and ephemeral mood simultaneously.

Within the broader context of Chapter 2, this photograph exemplifies the photographer’s evolving relationship with Florida’s coastal environments. Where lesser practitioners might seek the obvious drama of golden hour or storm-tossed seas, he finds complexity in overcast conditions and the patient observation they demand. The image refuses easy categorization: it is neither purely documentary nor overtly romantic, but occupies a thoughtful middle ground where observation and interpretation merge.

The architectural elements—particularly the modest pier building with its peaked roof and practical design—anchor the composition in specificity while the long exposure technique universalizes the experience. This is simultaneously a portrait of a particular place and a meditation on impermanence, on how human structures persist while human presence itself becomes fluid and uncertain.

As part of a long-term project, this photograph suggests an artist committed to deep engagement rather than superficial tourism. The willingness to wait for proper atmospheric conditions, to set up the necessary equipment for extended exposures, and to see beyond the immediate toward something more contemplative marks this as serious photographic inquiry. Within his Top 100 Journey, it stands as evidence that Florida’s landscapes, often dismissed as visually unchallenging, reward patient observation with unexpected subtlety and depth.

Nocturnal Geometry: The Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg

This photograph captures the illuminated Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, showcasing the contrast between its geodesic structure and concrete form during twilight. The image highlights Florida’s cultural evolution through art, exemplifying a balanced compositional approach that emphasizes architectural integrity and the atmosphere, marking a sophisticated chapter in the photographer’s journey.

Nighttime long exposure photograph of the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, showing its illuminated geodesic glass structure and concrete facade. — Nighttime long exposure view of the Dali Museum’s illuminated glass structure in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Within Chapter 2 of this photographic journey through Florida’s landscapes and cityscapes, this nighttime study of the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg stands as a meditation on architectural dialogue—the convergence of structural rationality and organic form captured in the quietude of evening hours.

The photographer has positioned himself to emphasize the museum’s defining architectural gesture: the dramatic geodesic structure that emerges from the building’s otherwise austere concrete mass. Shot at 18mm, the wide-angle perspective accentuates the spherical dome’s imposing presence while maintaining the monumental quality of the adjoining concrete volume. This compositional choice creates a visual tension between geometric order and sculptural fluidity, perhaps an intentional echo of Dalí’s own artistic preoccupations with rigidity and metamorphosis.

Technical execution here demonstrates considerable deliberation. The 30-second exposure at f/11 has transformed the museum’s interior lighting into a warm, inviting glow that radiates through the triangulated framework, effectively rendering the geodesic dome as a luminous lantern against the deep blue-black sky. At ISO 250, the photographer has preserved tonal integrity in the shadows while avoiding the noise that might compromise the concrete’s textural detail—those subtle gradations and panel divisions that speak to the building’s material honesty.

The time of day proves critical to the image’s success. Shot during the transitional moment when civil twilight yields to night, enough ambient light remains in the sky to differentiate it from pure black, providing context and atmospheric depth. The surrounding landscaping, illuminated by strategic ground lighting, frames the architectural subject without competing for attention. The wet pavement in the foreground introduces specular highlights that guide the viewer’s eye toward the main structure while adding a layer of urban authenticity.

What distinguishes this photograph within the broader chapter is its representation of Florida’s cultural infrastructure rather than its natural or purely urban environment. While other images in this collection might emphasize the state’s coastal vistas or metropolitan skylines, this work acknowledges Florida’s role as a destination for arts and culture. The Dalí Museum, with its contemporary architectural interpretation housing works of surrealist mastery, becomes a symbol of Florida’s evolution beyond tourism clichés.

The photographer’s technical approach—the choice of a full-frame Nikon D610 paired with an 18-35mm lens—suggests a commitment to capturing architectural subjects with minimal distortion while maintaining portability for location work. The f/11 aperture provides sufficient depth of field to render sharp detail from the foreground plantings through to the building’s illuminated upper reaches, while the extended exposure time smooths any transient elements, creating a sense of permanence and contemplation.

In the context of the Top 100 Journey project, this image represents a maturation in the photographer’s documentation of Florida’s built environment. There is restraint here—a willingness to let the architecture speak through careful observation rather than dramatic intervention. The composition honors both the building’s geometry and its setting, creating a document that functions simultaneously as architectural photography and as a portrait of place, capturing a specific moment in Florida’s ongoing cultural narrative.

First Baptist Light Trails

The photographer captures long exposure light trails in front of Tampa’s First Baptist Church, merging urban movement with Neoclassical architecture. This duality creates an image of modernity and tradition, showcasing the church’s historical significance against dynamic traffic patterns. The piece illustrates Tampa’s evolving identity, emphasizing beauty in its urban landscapes through innovative techniques.

Long exposure nighttime photograph of the historic First Baptist Church in Tampa, Florida, with vehicle light trails in the foreground. — Long exposure light trails in front of the historic First Baptist Church in downtown Tampa.

In this nocturnal study of Tampa’s historic First Baptist Church, the photographer transforms urban infrastructure into kinetic painting, employing a twenty-second exposure to capture the ceaseless motion of vehicular traffic as ribbons of light that both frame and animate the Neoclassical architecture. The resulting image operates simultaneously as documentary record and abstract composition, a duality that characterizes his most successful explorations of Florida’s urban environments.

The church itself commands the frame with dignified authority. Its illuminated dome, rendered in theatrical green uplighting, draws the eye upward through classical columns toward the cupola’s glowing clock faces. This architectural landmark, likely dating to the early twentieth century, represents Tampa’s ambitions during its period of rapid growth—a permanence and civic gravitas that contrasts sharply with the ephemeral streaks of red and white light that sweep through the foreground. The photographer has chosen an exposure duration that allows traffic to complete its passage through the intersection, creating continuous trails rather than fragmented segments, a decision that required both technical precision and patience in timing.

The technical execution reveals careful calibration of competing priorities. The f/20 aperture serves multiple functions: it extends the exposure time necessary to capture substantial light trails while creating pronounced starbursts from the streetlamps and building lights that punctuate the scene. This diffraction effect, often considered a technical liability, becomes here an expressive tool that enhances the image’s sense of urban energy and nocturnal luminosity. The ISO 160 setting represents a pragmatic compromise, maintaining clean shadow detail without the noise that would emerge at higher sensitivities during a twenty-second exposure.

What distinguishes this work within the Florida Landscapes & Cityscapes chapter is its engagement with the state’s urban identity—a counterpoint to the natural environments that dominate popular conceptions of Florida photography. Tampa, often overshadowed by Miami’s architectural flash or Orlando’s manufactured spectacle, possesses a layered history visible in buildings like this repurposed church structure, now apparently serving commercial functions while retaining its ecclesiastical form. The photographer documents this transformation without nostalgia or critique, allowing the juxtaposition of classical architecture and contemporary traffic patterns to speak to ongoing urban evolution.

The composition demonstrates sophisticated spatial organization. The church occupies the middle ground with centered dignity, while the light trails sweep diagonally from lower right to left, creating dynamic movement that prevents the symmetrical architecture from becoming static. Flanking buildings and street trees provide contextual depth, establishing the church within its urban fabric rather than isolating it as a monument. The streetlamp at left edge, its starburst perfectly rendered, serves as a visual anchor that balances the compositional weight of the church’s mass.

Within his broader photographic journey, this image represents an expansion of the long-exposure vocabulary established in his Bay Pier work. Where that earlier piece explored natural elements transformed by time, here he applies similar temporal techniques to the urban realm, revealing how extended duration can render the chaos of city traffic as elegant abstraction. The photograph succeeds in making visible the patterns underlying apparent disorder, suggesting that beauty in Florida’s built environments requires not different locations but altered ways of seeing—a perspective shift measured in seconds rather than miles.

Long Exposure Bay Pier

This long-exposure photograph from Fort De Soto Park captures the interplay between water and human infrastructure beneath the Bay Pier at sunset. The technical precision transforms the scene into a study of temporality, where smooth water contrasts with weathered concrete, exploring beauty in overlooked spaces. The image balances tranquility and depth, prompting contemplation.

Long exposure sunset photograph taken beneath the Bay Pier at Fort De Soto Park, showing symmetrical concrete pilings and smooth reflective water. — Long exposure sunset view beneath the Bay Pier at Fort De Soto Park.

The photographer’s technical mastery and compositional restraint converge in this striking long-exposure study from Fort De Soto Park. Captured beneath the Bay Pier at sunset, the image demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of how extended exposure transforms the ephemeral into the architectural, rendering water as smooth as polished stone and reducing the atmospheric gradient to its essential chromatic progression.

The 124-second exposure at f/16 achieves precisely what such technical specifications promise: a complete metamorphosis of the transient into the permanent. The water’s surface becomes a mirror of silk, its glassy uniformity disrupted only by the weathered pier columns that puncture the frame with rhythmic precision. These pylons, darkened by time and barnacled at their waterline, create a vanishing perspective that draws the eye inexorably toward the distant horizon where structure meets light. The photographer has positioned himself not merely under the pier but within its geometric logic, allowing the concrete deck above to function as both literal and compositional ceiling, establishing boundaries that paradoxically expand the viewer’s sense of spatial depth.

What distinguishes this work within the Florida Landscapes & Cityscapes chapter is its meditation on infrastructure as organic form. The pier’s weathered concrete surfaces—mottled with rust stains and biological growth—speak to the peninsula’s relentless humidity and salt air. Rather than presenting Florida’s more commonly depicted pristine beaches or crystalline waters, he has chosen to explore the liminal space where human construction gradually surrenders to natural forces. The corroded texture of the support beams and deck creates a counterpoint to the water’s supernatural smoothness, establishing a dialogue between industrial decay and elemental transformation.

The color palette rewards careful attention. The sky transitions from pale lavender at the zenith through bands of peach and amber toward the horizon, while the water adopts cooler tones of green and slate. This chromatic division creates temperature contrast that enhances the image’s sense of tranquility without veering into sentimentality. A yellow structure visible in the middle distance—likely a utility building or navigation marker—provides a necessary accent of saturated color, preventing the composition from becoming too subdued.

The technical execution reflects deliberate choices rather than automatic settings. The 31mm focal length on a full-frame sensor provides sufficient width to encompass the pier’s structural rhythm while maintaining proper perspective correction, avoiding the distortion that might occur at the wide end of his 18-35mm lens. The ISO 100 setting ensures maximum detail in the shadows where barnacles cling to concrete, while the extended shutter speed required neutral density filtration to prevent overexposure during the lingering twilight.

Within the photographer’s larger journey, this image represents a maturation of vision—a willingness to find beauty not in Florida’s celebrated natural wonders but in the overlooked spaces where infrastructure and environment intersect. The pier becomes a study in temporality: concrete designed to last decades, water that renews itself constantly, and light that exists only for minutes. By freezing this convergence through long exposure, he creates a document that feels both immediate and timeless, a quality that defines his most successful landscape work. The photograph succeeds because it refuses spectacle in favor of contemplation, inviting sustained viewing rather than demanding instant admiration.

Night at the Marina: A Study in Urban Reflection

The photograph from Greg Urbano’s Top 100 Journey captures St. Petersburg’s Municipal Marina at night, showcasing a dialogue of architecture, water, and light. Through a long exposure, the image blends city and reflection, revealing duality in urban nature. Urbano’s technical choices highlight Florida’s beauty within its metropolitan context.

Nighttime long exposure photograph of the St. Petersburg, Florida skyline viewed from the Municipal Marina, with boats and colorful reflections on calm water. — Long exposure nighttime view of the St. Petersburg skyline from the Municipal Marina.

In this striking nocturnal composition from Chapter 2 of Greg Urbano’s Top 100 Journey, the photographer transforms St. Petersburg’s Municipal Marina into a stage where architecture, water, and light perform an intricate dialogue. Shot with a Nikon D610 at the wide end of an 18-35mm lens, the image demonstrates his evolving command of the Florida landscape—this time rendered not through the state’s iconic natural vistas, but through the geometry and luminescence of its urban waterfront.

The technical approach reveals deliberate choices that serve the image’s contemplative mood. A 150-second exposure at f/20 has allowed the photographer to capture not merely a moment but an accumulation of light and stillness. The water becomes a flawless mirror, its surface so calm that the distinction between city and reflection dissolves into symmetry. This extended duration smooths away any transient ripples, creating an almost surreal doubling effect where the marina’s vessels and the downtown skyline exist in perfect vertical equilibrium.

The color palette is equally considered. The twilight sky transitions from deep violet to warm amber along the horizon, providing a graduated backdrop that never competes with the main subject. The buildings’ golden illumination—ranging from honey tones to brilliant white—creates rhythmic vertical accents across the frame, while the marina lights introduce unexpected splashes of emerald and ruby that punctuate the composition with chromatic variety. These colored reflections stretch and shimmer in the foreground water, adding texture to what might otherwise be an overly static scene.

Compositionally, the photographer has positioned himself to maximize the reflection’s impact while maintaining architectural legibility. The yacht in the immediate foreground serves as an anchor point, its substantial form providing scale and depth to the scene. The vessel’s subtle green illumination connects it visually to the reflected lights while distinguishing it from the darker water surrounding it. Behind, the forest of masts creates a delicate counterpoint to the solid mass of the high-rises, introducing organic irregularity into an otherwise geometric composition.

What distinguishes this work within the Florida Landscapes & Cityscapes chapter is its meditation on duality—the way human development interacts with the natural world, specifically water’s capacity to both accept and transform urban light. The photographer has found in St. Petersburg’s marina a location where Florida’s maritime character persists even within its metropolitan context. The palm fronds visible at the frame’s edge remind viewers of the subtropical environment, preventing the scene from becoming generically urban.

The technical execution supports this conceptual balance. The ISO 160 setting has preserved clean shadows and prevented noise in the darker areas, while the narrow aperture has rendered sharpness from the foreground yacht to the distant towers. The starburst effects visible on some light sources—a result of the f/20 aperture—add a subtle decorative element without overwhelming the image’s naturalistic foundation.

Within his broader body of work exploring Florida’s diverse landscapes, this photograph represents an important expansion of scope. Here, the photographer demonstrates that the state’s visual poetry exists not only in its Everglades, beaches, and wetlands, but also in the moments when its cities pause and reflect—literally and figuratively—upon themselves. The result is an image that honors both the constructed and the elemental, capturing a Florida that is simultaneously modern and timeless.

Passagrille Sunset

The photograph of a sunset over the Gulf of Mexico from the Pass-a-Grille jetty captures a sense of departure and geometric clarity. It juxtaposes the structural jetty against soft, ethereal water and sky, reflecting the photographer’s evolving approach while highlighting the tension between permanence and impermanence in landscapes.

Sunset photograph of the Pass‑a‑Grille jetty in Florida, with a concrete pier extending into the Gulf of Mexico and silhouetted figures at the horizon. — Sunset over the Gulf of Mexico from the Pass‑a‑Grille jetty.

This image from Chapter 2 of the Top 100 Journey carries with it a distinct sense of departure—a final engagement with a familiar location rendered with the careful attention of someone taking leave. Shot at Pass-a-Grille, the southern terminus of St. Pete Beach, the photograph distills the photographer’s technical vocabulary into a study of geometric clarity against atmospheric flux.

The concrete jetty commands the composition with unwavering linear authority, stretching from the immediate foreground toward the distant horizon where the sun hangs in perfect alignment. This centered positioning—often avoided in landscape photography as overly symmetrical—here becomes an asset, emphasizing the directional thrust of both structure and light. The jetty serves as more than mere subject; it functions as visual pathway, invitation, and barrier simultaneously. Flanked by massive boulder riprap on either side, the walkway creates a corridor that focuses attention while the rough-hewn stones provide textural contrast to the smooth concrete surface.

The technical approach reveals the photographer’s continued exploration of extended exposure. At fifteen seconds and f/22, the water on both sides of the jetty transforms into a milky abstraction, its individual waves collapsed into a singular luminous mass. This treatment—shorter than the sixty-second exposure employed in his Pier 60 work yet still substantially extended—suggests a refinement in his methodology. The turquoise-tinted water retains enough definition to read as liquid rather than dissolving into pure atmosphere, maintaining a crucial anchor to physical reality.

Above, the sky performs its transitional theater. Wispy cirrus formations streak diagonally across the frame from upper left, their directional movement contrasting with the horizontal stratification of color closer to the horizon. The gradient moves from deep slate blues through amber and peach tones to the incandescent disc of the sun itself. A single contrail cuts through the upper portion—a contemporary detail that situates this timeless scene firmly in the present moment, a reminder that even pristine natural settings exist within our flight-path-crossed modern reality.

The photographer has positioned himself low, allowing the foreground boulders to occupy significant visual weight in the left portion of the frame. These lichen-stained rocks, rendered in earth tones that echo the warm sunset palette, ground the image literally and figuratively. Their solidity counterbalances the ethereal qualities of water and sky, creating a dialogue between permanence and impermanence that resonates with the image’s contextual note about departure.

Within the framework of Chapter 2—Florida Landscapes & Cityscapes—this photograph demonstrates the photographer’s evolving relationship with infrastructure as subject. Where tourist piers offer human presence and activity, this utilitarian jetty provides something more austere: pure form against elemental forces. The viewing platform visible at the jetty’s terminus, occupied by silhouetted figures, offers scale and human connection without sentimentality.

The work succeeds in balancing documentary precision with interpretive mood. It captures a specific engineered structure at a specific coastal location while transcending those particulars to engage broader themes: the paths we walk toward light, the structures we build against erosion, the moments we choose to mark as endings before moving forward.