MDJAK wrote in post #15003236
Just don't have an artistic eye and probably never will.
Woah there. The pervasive social notion that artistic ability is something you're born with or not is largely misguided; while people are certainly born with various aptitudes, aptitude is not the same thing as skill, and even someone born with a strong aptitude has to work to develop an associated skill. Likewise, someone who may not have an inherent aptitude for something can nevertheless develop their skill, it just may take a little longer. My point is that anyone can develop an artistic eye if they work at it, so don't give up. Read some books about composition and other artistic factors which apply to photography, and then just keep practising and practising until it becomes second nature. Believe me, it will. You just have to keep at it, and drop this destructive belief of yours that you can't.
Having said all that, I unfortunately do have to admit that I don't feel these images are particularly strong. Argh, I hate doing this after posting some encouragement above, so please don't think I'm now destroying your dreams! There's a saying something along the lines of every painter having 1000 bad paintings in them, which they need to get rid of before the good ones start coming out. I guess it's just a flowery analogy for practice. In the case of these photos, I think it's great that you were trying something creative (looking for an area of interest to crop to is a good thing) but I don't personally feel that the monochrome processing is really adding anything to the photo. Mono works really well for subjects with strong shapes, outlines, lines, contrast and texture. It's best to actually shoot with monochrome specifically in mind, which I don't think was the case here.
The shot doesn't, as you asked, "suck" but it's not particularly evocative or memorable either. But don't despair! If this place is near you, then why not go back with your Stopper and try more angles and exposure times? Don't be afraid to try lots of different approaches with the same subject. Try to look for strong, interesting shapes in the scene and focus on those to create a composition that works well. Instead of looking in a photo for something interesting after the fact, look for the interesting features when you're there in front of the subject itself with your camera. Having an "artistic eye" is really just about being able to spot shapes and work with them. It really is something that anyone can master if they read the right instructional material and put what they've learned into practice. Michael Freeman's The Photographer's Eye is a really great book which may help you by giving you things to think about when you're out and about with your camera.
But at the end of the day, the most important thing for you is that you're having fun.
