Napoleon before rain storm

The composition is a square-on view, but the light really makes this shot. Talk about your golden hour!

Thanks JDM, you are of course right that it is somehow violating basic rules of good photography (centered, not straight, not particularly sharp..) but as you mention the light is off the common and made me shoot it before the rain poured down !

This is a fascinating image. I'll keep my questions to two specific elements in it.  Did you work to ensure the birds in the air would be recognizable as birds (unlike many images where it's not clear if they're objects/subjects or photographic artifacts) and that the trimmed hedges would reflect painterly properties as has been done by various (usually European) artists in varying periods so that they would suggest human form and elicit a response in the viewer that would draw his/her attention to them so that they would invite different interpretations/readings?

alan

Thanks Alan. You are right that one of the reasons I shot this was not only because of the extraordinary light but also because of the black birds flying over the dome as if they communicated with the deceased "owner" of the place. I wanted them to stand out clearly. Happy you noticed it.