Between States is a series of monochrome photographs by Tony Dutton exploring Japan’s winter waterscapes through long exposure photography and a minimalist visual language.

Created during the quiet winter months, the photographs reduce the landscape to its essential elements—water, snow, sky, rock, light and carefully placed man-made structures. Working in black and white removes the distraction of colour, allowing subtle tonal relationships, texture and form to become the primary subjects.

Using long exposure photography, Tony transforms moving water into soft, ethereal surfaces that blur the boundary between sea and sky. Time is compressed into a single frame, revealing changes and transitions that cannot be seen in an instant.

In Between States, central to the series is the idea of transformation. Winter is a season in which water constantly changes state—from liquid to mist, vapour, snow and eventually back again. These quiet shifts alter the quality of light and become a metaphor for impermanence, inviting viewers to experience the landscape as a place of continual becoming rather than a fixed destination.

Tony’s compositions often place a single structure or landform within a broad expanse of water, snow or sky. Torii gates, piers and distant islands become quiet points of reference within otherwise open spaces. This restrained approach gives the images a strong sense of stillness, while the long exposures soften movement and reduce visual detail. The resulting photographs are not simply records of place. They are meditations on transition, scale and the way winter alters both the landscape and our perception of it.

CREDITS

Artist
Tony Dutton

Exhibition
DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES, Group exhibition, Maud Gallery 2026

Medium
Archival pigment print on Canson Arches BFK Rives Pure White Paper

Dimensions 540 x 44mm
$400 Framed

Enquiries
For purchase enquiries, please contact  Maud Gallery, quoting the artwork title.