If an image can't grab the eye from a distance, it will never be an interesting photo, regardless of how many fine details it might have. Details don't matter if there's no story behind it. The reason my images are appealing is because of their strong structure. What is this structure? It is the broad underlying colors, shapes and contrasts between light and dark upon whose structure all the other
far less important details lie. Once a photo has caught your attention, it needs to have details to keep the eyes interested. This is easy. Every photo has details. The problem is how few photos have any sort of underlying structure to catch your eye in the first place. All good photos, are about shapes, colors and balances. It has nothing to do with the actual subject at hand. Most photographers snap photos, paying attention only to the details, but ignoring the far, far more important fundamentals. Most photographers don't even know that there are fundamentals! These fundamentals are the largest, obvious elements of light and dark, colors and shapes. You have to get this underlying structure right, otherwise the photograph has no basis on which to stand. You should be able to de-focus your eyes and look at your image from a hundred feet away, and the basic organization of elements within your frame should still be obvious. If your image goes away as a thumbnail-sized image, it has no structure. It sucks. If it doesn't jump out at you as a thumbnail, you've made a boring image, regardless of how big or detailed you print it.