Very imaginative! There seems to be no limit to the creativity of caedes members. I would suggest doing a little more work on the islands here, the ones in the foreground are a little angular, and I would lighten or remove the surface texture near the water to give a tideline effect. But the water and sky are perfect, and the way you have integrated the "pillar" into the scene is very beleivable, great idea and well executed.
This is good, really good! Hehe. Surreal when you know what it is from the beginning. Do you want to know what subject I had in the starter image or maybe you think it would ruin the contest? ^_^ Give me a holler. As far as I know no one told me I can't say it...
Thanks to all of you for your comments. I had experimented with making it into a tower/lighthouse, but didn't seem able to do a convincing job of it, so I decided it should just be a simple pillar/monolith thing.