Composition at Sunset

For some reason a lot of people see this as a picture of the foreground

material and do not view it as I intended - a total composition, integrating

the man-made with nature.

It is difficult not to focus attention on the foreground as it dominates the image.  The background is too subtle to allow for a more obvious contrast.  The background also includes a man-made object - the ferry (or whatever kind of boat that is).  Although your intent was different, I think this is successful on a more fundamentlal level.  The geometry of the structure is amplified by the more bland background and allows it to jump out at the viewer.  It's a real attention grabber.  The added touch of the bird on top of the light pole is the clincher.