Sony A7ii – Page 3 – Greg Urbano

Mike Groth: Classical Studio Portraiture and the Language of Formality

Mike Groth’s studio portrait, featured in Chapter 4 of the Top 100 Journey, exemplifies traditional portraiture through controlled lighting and composition. Shot at Old Town Yoga Studio, the image focuses on character and presence, utilizing a classic backdrop and professional techniques. Its formal simplicity highlights the subject’s confidence, making it versatile across various contexts.

Mike Groth is photographed in a studio portrait at Old Town Yoga Studio in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Within Chapter 4 of the photographer’s Top 100 Journey, this portrait of Mike Groth represents a return to the foundational principles of studio portraiture—controlled lighting, deliberate composition, and the timeless formality of traditional headshot aesthetics. Shot at the Old Town Yoga Studio in Fort Collins, Colorado, the image demonstrates the photographer’s facility with classic studio techniques while exploring the psychological dimensions of formal masculine presentation.

The technical execution adheres to established conventions of corporate and editorial portraiture. Utilizing a Sony A7ii with an 85mm f/1.8 lens, the photographer has positioned his subject against a pure black backdrop, eliminating all environmental context to focus entirely on character and presence. A Godox V1s flash paired with a shoot-through umbrella provides the primary illumination—a traditional modifier choice that produces soft, diffused light with gentle shadow gradation across the subject’s features. This approach creates dimensional modeling without the harsh contrast of direct flash, revealing the contours of the face while maintaining a polished, professional quality.

The composition centers the subject in a classical three-quarter view, shoulders angled slightly to create visual interest while the face turns toward the camera. This positioning—neither fully frontal nor profile—has been a cornerstone of portraiture since the Renaissance, offering both dimensionality and direct engagement. The subject’s formal attire—dark suit, white shirt, burgundy tie—reinforces the traditional corporate aesthetic, while his neutral expression and direct gaze suggest confidence tempered with approachability.

What distinguishes this work within the photographer’s broader practice is its embrace of restraint. Where other images in Chapter 4 explore environmental integration and spontaneous moments, this portrait strips away context to examine how lighting, posture, and expression alone can convey character. The black void backdrop functions not merely as a neutral background but as an active element, creating psychological weight and directing all attention to the subtle details: the catch lights in the eyes, the texture of facial hair, the precise fall of shadow along the jawline.

The post-processing in Luminar 4 maintains the studio’s carefully controlled atmosphere. Skin tones are rendered with natural warmth while preserving texture and detail. The lighting reveals itself as directional yet forgiving, highlighting the subject’s facial structure without creating unflattering shadows. This balance between revelation and flattery characterizes effective professional portraiture—honest without being harsh, polished without appearing artificial.

Within the context of Chapter 4’s mission to document studio, outdoor, and workshop methodologies, this image anchors the studio component with particular authority. It demonstrates that contemporary portrait photography need not abandon classical techniques in pursuit of innovation. The photographer’s choice to work within established conventions reflects an understanding that certain approaches endure precisely because they succeed in their essential task: revealing the subject’s presence and character with clarity and dignity.

The formal simplicity of this portrait allows it to function across multiple contexts—editorial, corporate, archival. This versatility speaks to the photographer’s understanding of portraiture not merely as artistic expression but as functional communication. As part of the Top 100 Journey, the image represents a technical benchmark, showcasing the fundamental competencies upon which more experimental work can build. It is portraiture in its most distilled form: light, subject, and the photographer’s ability to orchestrate their interaction with precision and purpose.

Maia del Mazo Urban : A Study in Contemporary Youth Portraiture

Maia del Mazo’s portrait, captured in Old Town Fort Collins, exemplifies the intersection of contemporary youth culture and environmental portraiture. Utilizing natural light and artificial enhancement, the photographer balances technical precision with spontaneity. The subject’s confident pose and styling reflect a subcultural moment, fostering an authentic connection with the viewer.

Woman wearing red shorts and knee-high socks crouches on a concrete surface in an urban setting with bright sky behind her. — Maia del Mazo poses in an urban location in Old Town Fort Collins, Colorado.

Within Chapter 4 of the photographer’s Top 100 Journey—dedicated to studio, outdoor, and workshop portraiture—this image of Maia del Mazo emerges as a compelling examination of contemporary youth culture and environmental portraiture. Shot in Old Town Fort Collins, Colorado, the photograph demonstrates the artist’s evolving command of natural light augmented by carefully controlled artificial illumination, a technical approach that has become increasingly refined throughout this chapter of his documentary project.

The composition presents the subject in a confident, grounded squat position against a minimalist architectural backdrop. Her styling—vintage band aesthetic meeting modern streetwear, complete with floral combat boots, striped knee socks, and layered chokers—speaks to a specific subcultural moment. The photographer has positioned her centrally within the frame, allowing the clean lines of the urban architecture to recede into soft focus, creating negative space that amplifies the subject’s presence rather than competing with it.

Technically, the image represents a sophisticated balance between available daylight and artificial enhancement. Shot with a Sony A7ii paired with an 85mm f/1.8 lens, the photographer employed a handheld Godox V1s flash without modification—a bold choice that suggests confidence in reading ambient conditions. The direct flash technique produces a subtle fill that lifts shadows without flattening the image’s dimensionality, while the 85mm focal length compresses the background just enough to isolate the figure without creating unnatural bokeh. The slight wind-swept quality of the subject’s hair adds dynamism to what might otherwise read as a static pose.

What distinguishes this work within the chapter’s broader context is its departure from traditional studio control. While maintaining the technical precision associated with formal portraiture, the photographer embraces environmental elements—concrete surfaces, architectural geometry, natural wind movement—that introduce spontaneity into the frame. This hybrid approach reflects an evolution in his practice, moving beyond purely controlled studio environments toward a more flexible methodology that captures authentic personality within structured compositions.

The post-processing in Luminar 4 demonstrates restraint appropriate to the subject matter. Color grading emphasizes warm tones in the subject’s skin and the amber cast of her sunglasses while maintaining the cooler neutrals of the concrete and sky. The processing enhances rather than transforms, supporting the documentary quality inherent in the photographer’s approach to his Top 100 Journey project.

The subject’s body language—relaxed yet assertive, casual yet deliberate—suggests a collaborative relationship between photographer and sitter. This comfort level allows for genuine expression rather than performative posing, a quality that distinguishes effective contemporary portraiture from mere documentation. The direct, knowing gaze above the rose-tinted frames establishes connection with the viewer while maintaining a degree of cool remove characteristic of youth subculture.

As part of the photographer’s long-term Top 100 Journey, this image contributes to an ongoing investigation into portraiture’s capacity to capture both individual personality and broader cultural moments. It represents the workshop and outdoor component of Chapter 4’s mission, demonstrating how environmental factors and technical adaptability can produce work that honors both formal photographic traditions and contemporary visual language. The result is a portrait that feels simultaneously timeless in its compositional confidence and distinctly anchored in its cultural moment.

Nocturnal Gateway: Union Station Illuminated

The photograph of Denver’s Union Station at night highlights its Beaux-Arts architecture through dramatic neon and electric blue lighting. Captured at ground level, it displays harmonious contrasts of light and structure, emphasizing the station’s role as a vibrant urban hub. This image underscores both preservation and the ongoing transformation of civic identity.

The illuminated front façade of Denver Union Station at night, with glowing neon signage and a clock above arched windows. — The front façade of Denver Union Station is illuminated at night, highlighted by its neon sign and historic architectural details.

In this nocturnal study of Denver’s Union Station, the photographer captures the transformation that occurs when historic architecture meets contemporary illumination. The image presents the iconic Beaux-Arts facade bathed in electric blue uplighting, while the famous neon signage glows in warm orange against the night sky—a study in complementary contrasts that speaks to both heritage and urban vitality.

The composition demonstrates restraint and classical sensibility. Shot with the Sony A7ii and kit lens, the photographer positions himself at ground level, allowing the building’s ornate cornice and horizontal bands to sweep across the upper portion of the frame. The three arched entrances anchor the lower third, their rhythmic repetition creating visual harmony while the vertical pilasters between them establish structural order. This frontal approach honors the station’s Beaux-Arts symmetry, respecting the intentions of the original 1914 design while documenting its twenty-first-century theatrical presentation.

What distinguishes this photograph is its embrace of artificial light as primary subject matter. The cool cyan wash transforms classical architectural details—the decorative moldings, the sculptural cartouches, the rusticated stonework—into relief elements that appear almost aquatic in their luminosity. This dramatic lighting choice, typically employed during special events or seasonal celebrations, removes the building from everyday documentation and positions it as urban spectacle. The warmth of the neon lettering provides essential counterpoint, its orange glow referencing mid-century Americana and the golden age of rail travel.

The working clock embedded within the signage adds temporal specificity, a reminder that this is a functioning transportation hub rather than mere architectural monument. The small silhouettes of gathered observers at the frame’s base provide crucial human scale, grounding the building’s theatrical presentation within the social realm. Their presence suggests communal gathering, the station serving its historic role as urban meeting point and threshold between destinations.

Within Chapter 3’s exploration of Colorado landscapes and cityscapes, this image represents the photographer’s engagement with Denver’s architectural heritage and its ongoing urban renewal. Union Station, revitalized in recent years as a mixed-use hub, embodies the tension between preservation and progress that defines many American cities. The photographer documents this transformation without editorial comment, allowing the dramatic lighting to speak to both celebration and commodification of historic space.

Technically, the night exposure presents challenges that the photographer navigates successfully. The deep black sky eliminates distracting context, focusing attention entirely on the illuminated facade. The exposure balances the intense neon signage against the softer architectural lighting, maintaining detail in both the brilliant highlights and the deeper blue shadows. The kit lens, often dismissed by photography purists, proves adequate to the task, capturing the scene with sufficient sharpness and minimal distortion.

This photograph pairs effectively with the earlier Denver Public Library study, together presenting divergent approaches to civic architecture. Where the library image emphasized monumental permanence through stark monochrome daylight, Union Station celebrates temporal display through saturated nocturnal color. Both reveal the photographer’s interest in how built environments express civic identity and cultural values.

The image ultimately serves as document, celebration, and subtle meditation on urban transformation—the historic gateway reimagined as luminous beacon in Denver’s evolving downtown landscape.

Architectural Authority: The Denver Public Library

The photograph of the Denver Public Library showcases the interplay of monumental architecture and urban landscape. The black and white imagery emphasizes geometric shapes and textures, transforming harsh midday light into stark contrasts. This representation transcends mere documentation, reflecting civic aspiration and how societies express values through built form within the Colorado context.

Black and white view of the Denver Public Library exterior, showing a cylindrical central structure framed by angular stone façades. — The exterior of the Denver Public Library is shown in black and white in downtown Denver, Colorado.

In this commanding study of civic architecture, the photographer demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of how monumental structures assert themselves within the urban landscape. Shot at midday when harsh overhead light typically challenges photographers, he transforms potentially difficult conditions into an asset, using deep contrast to emphasize the building’s geometric severity and sculptural mass.

The composition centers on the Denver Public Library’s distinctive cylindrical tower, which rises from the frame like a monolithic drum. The extreme upward angle, facilitated by his Samyang 18mm wide-angle lens, creates a dramatic sense of monumentality while the symmetrical flanking wings establish visual order. This architectural framework—circular form nested within angular geometry—speaks to postmodern design principles that dominated American civic architecture in the late twentieth century. The photographer’s decision to shoot in black and white strips away temporal markers and weather conditions, rendering the structure as a timeless study in form, shadow, and material.

What distinguishes this image within Chapter 3’s exploration of Colorado landscapes and cityscapes is its departure from natural grandeur toward human-made authority. Where mountain vistas offer sublime, untamed power, this photograph presents institutional permanence. The stone cladding, methodically rendered in graduated tones from light gray to near-black, becomes a study in texture and depth. The dramatic diagonal supports visible at the structure’s crown introduce dynamic tension, their angular thrust contrasting sharply with the tower’s curved facade.

The technical execution reveals maturity in the photographer’s approach to architectural documentation. Shot with the Sony A7ii, the image maintains clarity across multiple planes of depth despite the wide-angle distortion inherent to the 18mm focal length. The midday timing, often avoided by landscape photographers, proves deliberate here—the high sun creates stark shadows that carve out the building’s volumes and reveal the recessed windows as dark voids. This interplay between solid and void, light and shadow, transforms descriptive documentation into interpretive art.

The street lamp appearing at center-bottom provides crucial human scale, a reminder that this imposing structure exists within the pedestrian realm. Its modest presence underscores the building’s overwhelming verticality and mass. The text carved into the facade—”DENVER PUBLIC LIBR”—becomes both identifier and compositional element, the letterforms creating horizontal rhythm that grounds the tower’s upward thrust.

Within the photographer’s Top 100 Journey project, this image represents an important evolution. Chapter 3’s focus on Colorado landscapes and cityscapes broadens beyond wilderness to encompass how humans shape their environment. The library, as a democratic institution dedicated to public knowledge, carries symbolic weight that elevates the photograph beyond mere architectural record. It becomes a meditation on civic aspiration, on how societies express values through built form.

The conversion to monochrome proves essential to the image’s impact. Color would introduce distraction—blue sky, stone variations, surrounding urban context. Instead, the black and white treatment creates graphic clarity, emphasizing pattern, geometry, and tonal relationships. The nearly black sky becomes void, pushing the building forward as the sole subject demanding attention.

This photograph confirms the photographer’s ability to find compelling visual architecture within urban environments, applying the same compositional rigor and tonal sensitivity he brings to natural landscapes.

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.