Gerry Allen, Channel Marker in Mono (MINIMALISM - Entries close 31 July 2026)

I wanted to focus entirely on visual structure and tonality for this shot. I framed the isolated navigation tower dead-center to create a rigid, symmetrical focal point that splits the horizontal lines of the water and sky evenly across the frame. I locked the camera on a tripod and used a 10-stop Neutral Density filter to achieve a 150-second exposure. The long shutter speed stripped all texture and ripple out of the surface, flattening the waterway into an even plane and smoothing out the overcast light across the sky. Converting the RAW file to black and white allowed me to ignore color variables and focus purely on luminosity, contrast, and form without visual distraction. My goal with minimalism is execution through reduction—using long exposure and tone control to eliminate environmental noise until only the fundamental geometry of the scene remains.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.