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This was shot somewhere in New Mexico in 2004. It's pretty clear

what I was going for, and it's also pretty clear it didn't work. Do

you think this might have been salvaged with slightly less blur on

the windmill? Should the flower and the windmill both be in sharp

focus? Should I have gone for a different composition altogether (I

could have moved around and "placed" the sunflower anywhere I wanted

in the frame, but chose to put it as far from the windmill as

possible)? Is it just a silly shot to take in the first place?

Thanks, and please don't hold back!

No shot is silly. And the placement would go along with what you were trying to say or how you were feeling. This shot, to me, is about the sunflower, the windmill acts as a distraction. If you wanted the windmill to play a more active role, yes, I'd have had it at least in focus a bit more (wouldn't have to be as sharp as the flower). That would give you more depth in photo as well, creating a mid ground for the windmill separate from the hill in the background.

This shot separates the sunflower and windmill a lot. Could you articulate why you wanted them so separate. That might help identify what you could have done more effectively. I could see this also coming from the perspective where we felt that the windmill was more behind the sunflower, so that we were seeing past the sunflower to the windmill, but that would tell a different tale. Another way to have viewed this would have been to get the top part of the flower to rise above the line of the hill, keeping the windmill below it, if you could get that angle. It might make for interesting geometry. Also, you might have shot on more of an angle so you weren't at such a direct perpendicular angle from the hill, so the hill itself felt like it was more fading away from you instead of just sitting there.

Looking through your portfolio, I think you have a good eye and encourage you to keep shooting and mostly to experiment. Whenever your gut tells you to take a shot a certain way, do it. Then stand around and fool around with other perspectives just for fun.