Traveling in my discomfort zone

I have long admired people who can see things artistically in this world. To be able to capture a mood or  a moment and relay that feeling to another is, well, magical.A great-great uncle of mine was Alexander Wyant, a tonalist, whose work hangs in several museums. When I was in junior high school, it was the cool thing to learn to use oil paints in an after school program. I am afraid that one or two of those paintings may survive somewhere in an attic.This week, I entered two photographs in the Westford Regional Art Event, mostly to live in my zone of discomfort. I do not have any illusions of becoming a photographer - one per family is plenty and we actually have two: Adrien and my son Matt.Very few of my own photographs are ones that I would consider worthy of showing to anyone else. Maybe once a year I'll shoot something that I'm actually not embarassed to show. Making a decision to show two photographs was a giant leap outside of the zone in which I am most comfortable. While I don't harbor any illusions of giving up my day job, it was interesting, to say the least, to experience exposing the inner artist, to actually seek the opinion of another on a work so personal.Here are the two photographs that I entered in this years art exhibit (raw files, hence the chomatic abberations on the rope photograph): Living with a photographer has advantages: one is on-demand instruction and advice. Can you spot any of Adrien's recommendations in the composition of these two photographs?