Orientation wise, this works better in my perception. Reason is that I feel the very heavy black tonality on top kind of weighs down on the rest of the image. This one feels more like opening up into something bright and beautiful, while the other one feels a bit brooding and as if going into something dark and a bit menacing. That's how I see it.
Thomas, Thank you for the thoughts on this. My feelings are very similar to yours... Though I kinda of like the dark, brooding aspect of the upside down version... I think I'm going to wait to dry-mount this for awhile. Live with it for a bit.