slow shutter speed – Greg Urbano

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.

Long exposure photograph of Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach at sunset, with pink and purple sky tones reflecting on calm water. — Long exposure pink sunset at Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach.

In this contemplative study from Chapter 2 of the Top 100 Journey, the photographer demonstrates a sophisticated command of long-exposure technique to capture the liminal hour where day surrenders to night along Florida’s Gulf Coast. Shot at Clearwater Beach, this sixty-second exposure transforms the volatile surf into a glassy, ethereal plane that mirrors the atmospheric drama unfolding above.

The composition centers on Pier 60, an iconic structure that extends into the frame with geometric precision. The photographer has positioned himself to capture the pier in its full dimensionality—the wooden pilings create a rhythmic vertical pattern that draws the eye toward the pavilion structure, where warm sodium lights pierce the deepening blue hour. These artificial punctuations of yellow and magenta provide crucial counterpoints to the natural color palette, preventing the image from dissolving entirely into monochromatic twilight. The long exposure has softened the lights into glowing orbs, their reflections stretching across the wet sand in elongated streaks that echo the horizontal thrust of the pier itself.

The technical execution reveals deliberate choices throughout. At f/22, the photographer has prioritized depth of field and the creation of diffraction spikes around the light sources, adding a subtle stellar quality to the illumination. The ISO 100 setting ensures maximum image quality, while the 18mm focal length—shot on a full-frame Nikon D610 with an 18-35mm lens—provides expansive coverage that encompasses both the architectural subject and the vast atmospheric canvas surrounding it. This wider perspective situates the human-made structure within the broader natural context, a recurring tension in his Florida landscapes.

The sky commands nearly two-thirds of the frame, and rightfully so. The textured cloud formations—rendered in deep indigos and cobalt blues—create a dramatic ceiling that seems to press down upon the horizon line where pink and peach tones persist from the recently set sun. This color gradient, from warm horizon to cool zenith, demonstrates the photographer’s understanding of transitional light and his patience in waiting for the precise moment when competing color temperatures achieve balance.

The wet foreground sand serves multiple compositional functions. Its reflective quality doubles the visual information, creating subtle mirror images of the pier lights, while the barely perceptible texture of the beach—preserved despite the long exposure—grounds the image in physical reality. This detail prevents the photograph from becoming overly abstract, maintaining the delicate equilibrium between documentary observation and interpretive vision.

Within the broader context of Chapter 2—Florida Landscapes & Cityscapes—this image exemplifies the photographer’s evolving relationship with his adopted coastal environment. Where earlier works might emphasize the region’s vibrant daylight character, this photograph engages with Florida’s more contemplative aspects: the quiet moments of transition, the interplay between natural beauty and recreational infrastructure, the way tourism and wilderness coexist along these developed shorelines.

The photograph ultimately succeeds as both technical achievement and aesthetic statement. It captures a specific place at a specific moment while transcending those particulars to evoke the universal experience of standing at the edge of vast water as darkness approaches—a meditation on transience rendered permanent through the camera’s patient eye.

Tag: slow shutter speed

Passagrille Sunset