Minimalist Photographer of the Year 2021: Allen Koppe, “On Route” (Also 1st Place Winner in Conceptual and Fine Art categories.)
Back for its third edition, the Minimalist Photography Awards has announced its list of winners for the year 2021. Open to both amateur and professional photographers anywhere in the world, the annual competition’s goal is to recognize talented photographers and reward them by exposing their work and introducing them to the professional photography industry. This year's contest received more than 3,700 entries from 39 different countries in a total of 12 categories, ranging from abstract to street photography. A panel of five judges—all prominent figures within the industry—chose a first, second, and third place winner for each category from the large pool of hopefuls, also selecting an overall winner as the Minimalist Photographer of the Year.
“The quality of the competition lies in the diverse range of images submitted,” says Nick Moore of the British Journal of Photography, a member of the competition’s jury. “Contained within the Minimalist Photography Awards are a set of artists who refuse to be overwhelmed by the ‘visual noise' that surrounds them and instead find those moments of poetry, order, and the sublime which gives this competition its strength.”
Australian photographer Allan Koppe took home the $2,000 grand prize and the Minimalist Photographer of the Year title with his series called On Route. The captivating, semi-monochromatic images focus on areas of transit—roadways and vast lots—notably devoid of any means of transport. His minimal photographs communicate a narrative through the line and form of their solitary subjects, with the occasional cameo of an expressive traffic sign.
“For my series On Route I wanted to try something new, something different,” Koppe explains. “I wanted to challenge myself and discover a technique that had been sitting in the back of my mind for several years. I wanted to move forward and take what had merely been a concept, an idea, a thought process and make it into a visual reality.”
Scroll down to see the rest of the incredible winning images from the 2021 Minimalist Photography Awards. Visit the competition's website for more information about the contest and its participants.
Take a look at the incredible winning images from the 2021 Minimalist Photography Awards!
Abstract
1st Place Winner, Abstract Photographer Of The Year: Daniel Dencescu, “Murmurations”
2nd Place Winner: Guido Klumpe, “Hidden Connections”
3rd Place Winner: Svetlana Smirnova, “Primitives”
Aerial
1st Place Winner, Aerial Photographer Of The Year: Brad Walls, “Pools from above”
2nd Place Winner: Gysel Fernandini, “Swimming Pool, Barcelona 2019”
Saddleback College Football Stadium and Practice Fields
Architecture
1st Place Winner, Architecture Photographer Of The Year: Sandra Herber, “North Dakota Winter”
2nd Place Winner: Alessandro Gallo, “The Cube and the silence”
3rd Place Winner: Max Morawski, “Regional Command Centre, Ziy”
Conceptual
2nd Place Winner: Anna Belozerova, “It is not what it seems”
3rd Place Winner: Timo Lemmetti, “Repel”
Fine Art
2nd Place Winner: George McLeod, “Ignition”
3rd Place Winner: Anna Lazareva, “Metaphysical Body Landscapes”
Landscape
1st Place Winner, Landscape Photographer Of The Year: Rosario Civello, “Tree in a Square”
2nd Place Winner: Ricardo Cuartero, “Camino”
3rd Place Winner: Pierre Pellegrini, “Imperceptible tensions”
Long Exposure
1st Place Winner, Long Exposure Photographer Of The Year: Vera Conley, “Signal”
2nd Place Winner: Sebastian Raabe, “Stranded”
3rd Place Winner: Michael Richard, “Niemeyer Centro Avilés”
Night
1st Place Winner, Night Photographer Of The Year: Mihail Minkov, “Reflection”
2nd Place Winner: Thom Middlebrook, “Night Tree”
Open
1st Place Winner, Open Photographer Of The Year: Liz Barker, “Hidden in Plain Sight”
2nd Place Winner: Jan Prengel, “Past Times”
3rd Place Winner: G.B. Smith, “Rounded”
Photomanipulation
1st Place Winner, Photomanipulation Photographer Of The Year: Francisco Riquelme-Montecinos, “Toronto 100Variety”
2nd Place Winner: Ilya Trofimenko, “Reconstruction of Augustus Bridge in Dresden”
3rd Place Winner: Gustav Willeit, “Perspe”
Portrait
1st Place Winner, Portrait Photographer Of The Year: George Mayer, “Anima”
2nd Place Winner: Pauline Petit, “The Woman Who Collects Men”
3rd Place Winner: Piotr Marciński, “Human body”
Street
1st Place Winner, Street Photographer Of The Year: Jonas Dahlström, “07:27:47”
2nd Place Winner: Pedro Londoño, “The other side”
3rd Place Winner: Fred Mortagne, “Street Treats”
