Raspberry Island, St Paul, 2015

The subject (the bridge) is very central in the frame, which leaves a lot of 'negative space' above and below it. As a result, there is nothing in the foreground to lead the eye into the frame and the subject (a boat moving towards the bridge may have worked well in this regard). There is also nothing of interest for the eye above the bridge as the sky is very plain-toned (a few fluffy clouds could have given the eye something to feast on).

Strong landscapes (or seascapes) often have foreground, middle-ground and background interest, all of which may not necessarily be sharply focused, but they serve to fill the frame and give the scene a sense of depth, from front to back. This one has all the subject matter in close proximity, so it's is basically a flat line in the middle with nothing above or below it. As such, the scene has no depth and not much to interest the eye at the top or bottom.

This is all meant to be helpful and I trust you will find it useful.

Stephen, I appreciate your very good comments. I considered cropping a lot of the water and a bit of the sky for showing, but decided to just leave it in the full square format.

No viewer would know this, but the photo is more of a personal remembrance for me than a landscape photo to be shown. I made it the day after we buried my sister, as I wandered downtown St. Paul in the silence and emptiness of an early Sunday morning, waiting to catch my plane home. I had worked downtown for several years and always wanted to photograph it at such a time, but only had this one opportunity, several years after having moved out of state. It was shot from a place I used to go for lunch hour solitude during the dark days after 9/11. The empty sky above and water below capture a bit of my desolation from those days and on this day.